Moonlighter by Digital Sun (Developer) and 11-Bit Studios (Publisher)

First, a word from the publisher: “Moonlighter is an Action RPG with rogue-lite elements that demonstrates two sides of the coin – revealing everyday routines of Will, an adventurous shopkeeper that secretly dreams of becoming a hero.“

What Worked For Me:

The game offered a novel combination of mechanics: you get to run a shop during the day and dungeon-delve at night to restock your supply. With that being said, Moonlighter isn’t the first game to do this; “Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale” comes to mind.
The game’s pixel art graphics were clean, crisp, and consistent. Really, my only (minor) complaint in this department involved the “electric shock” hit boxes; they seemed larger than their visual representation suggested.
I appreciated that the game offered a variety of difficulty settings, from “Normal” to “Hard.” I found it a bit weird that “Normal” mode was pitched as a story-focused “easy” mode, while “Hard” was described as “what the developer intended,” but at least there’s options.
Speaking of accessibility, I found it fun that many of the game’s mechanics were described using pictures alone (ie without the use of text). This included everything from how customers interacted with the shop to some of the mechanics in the dungeon.
The game included a variety of weapons (and thus, play-styles) for me to enjoy. This included sword and shield, spear, fist, giant sword, and bow & arrow. As you probably guessed, each offered a different combination of range, speed, and damage output.

What Didn’t:

The game’s combat wasn’t mechanically complex. Each weapon only offered two “attack” types, with the secondary typically involving some kind of charge attack. (The sword and shield was the exception, as the secondary “attack” raised the shield). To that end, Moonlighter allowed me to hot-swap between two equipped weapons with the shoulder buttons, but I was able to beat the entire game without this feature. In short, once I settled on the spear the game never forced me to change or really mix things up. Instead, I was able to succeed by improving my gear and paying for enchantments (and mashing the attack button, of course). Dodging and potions helped, too, but my success in a given dungeon always seemed to be primarily reliant on my damage output, especially since the game actively punished me for going too slowly through a dungeon (by sending an enemy that killed me in a single hit if I lingered too long).
The shopkeeping mechanic was fun at first; I found a certain thrill in finding the right price for a given item, dealing with thieves, and decorating my shop. Towards the end of the game, though, it felt more and more like a mundane video game shopping mechanic with extra steps. The game seemed to recognize this, too, as the most upgraded version of the shop included an assistant who ran the store outright (for a fee).
For better or for worse, I never had to choose between being a shopkeeper and a dungeon-delver. I could spend all day in the shop and all night in the dungeon, sleep be damned. I get that this game isn’t meant as a simulation; I wouldn’t have minded something meatier to sink my teeth into with how shallow the combat mechanics ended up being, though. To me, this served as another reminder that while Moonlighter’s combination of game mechanics may be novel, they weren’t especially interconnected.
The game suffered from a lot of the same issues as most rogue-lites: there are only so many enemies, items, and dungeon rooms to draw from. This was compounded by the fact that individual room design didn’t change that much floor-to-floor in an given dungeon and some enemies are recolors between dungeons (e.g. the slimes).
I was annoyed that I couldn’t replay bosses after defeating them for the first time. Instead, each “final boss” room was just a handful of enemies from the preceding dungeon. I get why the bosses couldn’t reappear for narrative reasons, but I was still disappointed from a game-play perspective.
The final two bosses were each let-downs. I was able to defeat the boss of the fourth dungeon on my first try; I didn’t even need healing items. It’s not that I’m a “PRO GAMER” either; the second mini-boss of the same dungeon gave me more trouble. I was also able to beat the final boss on my first try, though it involved considerably more potions. Ultimately, the final boss felt more like a damage sponge than a true test of my abilities.
The main character of the game, Will, was bland. He had little to no dialogue, and thus had to be characterized mostly through his interactions with other characters and the game world. If you expect to get into his head over the course of the game, you will be disappointed. If you expect him to offer much at all by way of a reaction to what happens to him, you will be disappointed. Even as the game’s plot / lore reveals itself, Will just keeps swinging his weapon of choice. Digital Sun deserves some credit with regards to the world-building and the mechanics of Moonlighter‘s world, just don’t expect much beyond that.
[nit-pick] Though I unlocked a variety of “companion” creatures to take with me into the dungeon, I couldn’t equip many of them for some reason. I’m not sure if this was the result of a glitch or some gameplay mechanic I missed, but it was still disappointing.

Conclusion:

Completing the game unlocked a “new game plus,” with promise of higher difficulty and secret items. So, will I be playing “new game plus?” Not a chance. The same goes for the game’s DLC, “Moonlighter: Between Dimensions” (which has more mixed reviews on Steam than the original game). I definitely got my money’s worth out of this game (30 hours or so), though, so I can’t complain. Ultimately: though this game isn’t perfect, it’s easy to recommend for those looking to scratch a particular genre-fusion itch. Otherwise, your time might be better spent elsewhere.

Check it out here.