Moonlighter

Moonlighter looks great, it's a functional & very pretty game but has very little to offer in terms of mechanics or longevity. The dungeons are as minimalist as they come, the enemy variety is lacking and the weapons all function the same. The upgrades & crafting is barebones. The shopkeeping is very shallow as well. No bartering or haggling with customers, you never even talk to them. They either buy if the price is right or don't buy if it's too expensive. That's it. Every now and then you have to tackle a shopkeeper which amounts to mostly just being a minor nuisance.... There is no story and hardly any townsfolk to talk to either. After reaching the 3rd dungeon I had absolutely lost any incentive to keep playing. Every delve into the dungeons feels the same. Every day at the shop feels the same. Nothing here to keep you motivated to keep going. If you want a dungeoncrawler meets shopkeeper mix, stick to Recettear. If you already played Recettaer then maybe give Moonlighter a try but keep your expectations low.

First off, I want to say I enjoyed this title for a while, but it didn't develop interesting mechanics as the game went on. I'm currently about half way through the third dungeon, and nothing has really changed since the first dungeon. Upgrading your equipment doesn't do anything except make your numbers bigger; there are no special abilities that can be played during the game, which really hurts the longevity of the game. There's no life to the NPCs. There are a few different types, but they only really differ by shopping habits, not by their wallet size or anything like that. There's a thief you have to tackle every now and then. The shopkeeping is "Press A to sell your product at the price you set": no haggling. It's streamlined, which some might enjoy, but it feels far less satisfying to get the right price, as once you have the right price, it remains there forever, as far as I can tell. The combat is okay, but it's a bit sluggish and basic. As mentioned above, no special abilities, just swinging your weapon and rolling around. Maybe that's enough for you, I don't know. There aren't any items that modify combat in any way, as far as I've found. Overall, it's just lacking a lot mechanically. Go play Recettear instead.

Plenty of fun to be had in this game but it's holding itself back from being truly great. Controls feel a bit sluggish in the dungeons, nothing bad or game breaking but they could be tighter and more responsive, YMMV. Rebinding the keys is a hot mess. Reassigning keys with multiple functions only changes one function. The map can't be rebound. No mouse support. Most of the game came out pretty good. I'm not really sure why they didn't spend five more minutes testing custom controls.

This is a very asthetically pleasing game and is really exciting, fun and interesting. The variety of 5 different kinds of weapons is great. You can choose from 5 different types based on your playstyle or the enemies in the dungeon you'll be facing. However, the gameplay get's very repetitive. For me, after about 12 hours of playing the game in total and halfway through the 3rd dungeon, I just got bored because it was the same thing as the first two dungeons. Don't get me wrong, there are different types of enemies in each dungeon, it's just that the core mechanics got boring: Sell things in the shop, trying to get the price right while accepting or rejecting requests from villagers. Go to dungeon and fight and collect loot to make money. Repeat until no more upgrades are available for your gear without going to the next dungeon. Defeat boss. Start process again at next dungeon. There are interesting things about the game and there is a shop upgrade system as well and a bank where you can invest, but these things didn't help to hold my interest. Overall, for €20, if you're just looking for a game where you can turn your brain off for a while and just grind it out until you complete it, it's probably worth it. But if you don't like repetitive mechanics, this game is not for you. Side note: The Linux version still isn't available on GOG (on the 17/10/2018) even though it's been available for Steam users since 16/08/2018. This has frustrated me.