Launched in May 2018, it’s taken us a while to get round to Moonlighter. This was by indie developers Digital Sun from Spain and is a mishmash of genres into one intriguing thing.

Fundamentally an action RPG, it also has elements of roguelite dungeon crawlers and life sims such as the legendary Stardew Valley. Whilst not an outright classic, Moonlighter is nonetheless a charming time of it and offers many a peak.

Run a Shop, Raid a Dungeon, and be a Moonlighter

Okay, the game is set in the town of Rynoka. You’re a young dude tasked with restoring the fortunes of a local shop bequeathed upon your person. To revive its fortunes, you must head into a nearby dungeon, slay monsters, loot swag, and sell it off in your shop.

You do the looting at night. During the day you portray your fanciful stuff in your shop, set the prices, and wait for customers to turn up and buy your stuff.

Some pull a funny face at the price. Others go ape and buy the gear! With the moolah you earn, you upgrade the local town and all that jazz. Want the gist of all that?! Here’s a brief gameplay thing.

Okay, so there’s about 14 hours of gameplay on this one (based on our research). We’ll admit we put five hours in then abandoned ship, simply due to the repetitive nature of the game. That was our experience of it, but we’ve seen plenty of other people say they really love the game.

You do have to fully commit to it to get the most from Moonlighter’s multi-genre purposes.

The Stardew Valley style town-building element is a big comment, diddified here as the developer balanced out various other requirements. It does, and does not, work a treat—overall we liked the game, we just did not love it.

On the plus side, it looks so very charming with its beautiful SNES aesthetic. There’s also a neat little soundtrack from composer David Fenn, too. It doesn’t break any new video game music ground, but it’s still nice to listen to.

10/10 here to Digital Sun for trying something bold. It was really an attempt to balance out several genres, which is some undertaking for any indie team on a tight budget.

Some of the gameplay elements are beautiful, such as wandering around the town at night basking in the glows of lamplights. But that gaming loop of shop, dungeon, kill, shop, sell etc. just didn’t quite do it for us.

Not least as the shop element features sprites pondering over buying goods… for a long time. A section you cannot skip for love nor money.

Sadly, that means this is one we felt a little flat about. But still enjoyed its various peaks. All we can say is, if it appeals to your sensibilities definitely give it a whirl. You may well get something magnificent out of your time here.