Review: Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault (Switch 2) - Shopkeeping Dungeon Crawler Returns With Big Changes, But The Same Addictive Loop
Just one more shift
by Ken Talbot · Nintendo Life2018's Moonlighter was one of the life-sim hybrids released in the wake of notorious time thief, Stardew Valley. The core loop of a day/night cycle and an ever-expanding list of activities to tick off is an age-old formula for getting oneself buried in an experience. Digital Sun added a compelling hook by having Will, a would-be adventurer in a little village called Rynoka, run a shop by day and raid dungeons at night to stock his establishment.
Moonlighter 2 completely overhauls the visual style of the first game, while adding significant changes to combat and exploration. It's a strong sequel that preserves the spirit of the original, while making some bold leaps from the mechanics established so well in that first outing.
We last saw Will and the denizens of Rynoka after they were invited to a multi-dimensional trade agreement by The Watchers. A new era of peace and prosperity dawns and is swiftly thrown into chaos by Moloch, who takes control of the dimensions raided in the first game and strands Will and his buddies in a new trade hub called Tresna.
Will continues to hone his craft as a shopkeeper-cum-relic hunter and soon gets to run his own store again. Meanwhile, a strange device emerges in the centre of town and seeks our hero out. Calling itself the Endless Vault, it compels Will to keep separating the locals from their gold pouches, offering prizes and an intriguing mystery in return.
From that narrative setup, Moonlighter 2 gets its claws into you, sending Will forth into diverse biomes filled with monsters and bosses, where the near-endless build experimentation is painfully addictive.
It's a game of two halves. By day, Will wanders Tresna, upgrading his weapons, glugging potions to get stronger and picking up side quests from the charming roster of villagers. He opens the store and sells relics to hungry punters with more money than sense. By night, he travels to alternate dimensions and battles through a set of randomised stages to fight beasties and hunt relics to line his shelves with. As his sales rack up, the Endless Vault stirs, unlocking unique upgrades to the town and your shop.
There's a story to pursue as well, with Will's companions pining for a homecoming and Moloch attempting to monopolise the multiverse. It's a bit more slow burn when compared to other roguelikes out there (Hades being the gold standard for persistent storytelling), but what's here is well-written and compelling.
Moonlighter 2 has tweaked its formula to be more akin to its contemporaries. Each run sends Will across a series of nodes, the random map comprising combat encounters, bosses, upgrade pit stops and NPC conversations that reward modifiers to affect the encounters beyond.
This kind of progression through a run has a risk-versus-reward balance that can feel exhilarating when you get things just right. Conversely, a poor choice of modifier or an ill-suited weapon can make you want to toss your relics and start all over again. Luckily the option to warp out of a dungeon is always there, should you want to cut your losses.
There are four weapon styles this time around: spear, gauntlets, shortsword, and greatsword. All have utility, and each has a diverse upgrade tree that will have you coming back to a weapon you once struggled with.
Combat has a bit more nuance than in the first game, too. Weapon combos can stagger enemies, leaving them vulnerable to a swing of your backpack that sends them flying off a stage or into another enemy. Then there's a ranged ability for aerial enemies and general crowd control. All of these offensive options can be made more powerful through upgrades or elemental buffs found throughout a run.
Inventory management has been updated, adding some extra mechanics to an already fun sorting system. Placing relics in Will's backpack is an often challenging puzzle, in which rarity can be increased depending on what tile a relic is placed on. There are now relics that can destroy, protect, or copy items they're placed near, adding a moment of tense deliberation on what to take with you before moving onto the next area. It can be deeply satisfying to exit a run with a bag full of high-rarity items, shining on your shop floor, waiting to fetch a high price.
Speaking of shining, the new art style looks lovely and feels like a natural progression from the pixel art of the first game. It recalls Supergiant's Bastion, with chunky isometric environments and cute character models, coupled with a sweeping, epic atmosphere. Each of the dungeon biomes has a distinct visual style and audio landscape across separate regions. Science fiction blends with fantasy as Will plunders his way through these vibrant worlds.
Performance on Switch 2 is comfortably stable, with some slight caveats. Early response to the demo highlighted low and unpredictable frame rates compared to a smoother experience on other platforms. I didn't find this to be the case with the full game. Docked mode seems to run at a stable rate above 30fps with no issues.
Undocked was a slightly different story, with some slowdown in Tresna and in fights involving large numbers of enemies. When it remains stable, Will’s adventure in retail is a joy to play undocked, especially when paired with headphones to get the most of new composer Christopher Larkin's work.
Elsewhere, loading times seemed a bit inconsistent, with some stage transitions being instantaneous and others hanging for a little too long. Ultimately, you will be spending a lot of time with Moonlighter 2, so these smaller issues may erode your enjoyment over time. That said, Digital Sun is already hard at work churning out patches, so it’s safe to assume that concerns will be addressed in good time.
Conclusion
In many ways, this is the same satisfying core experience as the first game. A visual overhaul and some significant changes to combat and dungeon exploration, however, make Moonlighter 2 a bigger, bolder sequel that's worth clocking in for.
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