One of the lesser-known modern 2D platform series, Momodora has quietly being amassing a cult following since 2010. The last entry in the series was 2016 and this is the seeming end to the franchise.
Momodora: Moonlit Farewell launched on PC in January 2024 and all consoles in February 2025. It’s a marvel a game as beautiful and melodic as this can go by almost unnoticed in the gaming community. But it’s available, brilliant, and boasts some truly memorable platforming.
Explore and Dream in the World of Momodora: Moonlit Farewell
Okay, this one is out and about on all consoles and PC. It was the first (and final) entry in the series since Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (2016). We played that back in April 2023 and were greatly surprised by the excellence of the title.
Brasilian indie dev team Bombservice has delivered again! We’re confident in claiming this to be the best entry in the series. Moonlit Farewell is a captivating Metroidvania experience, with lush atmospherics, dreamy visuals, and a fantastic score.
Players take control of Momo Reinol whose village of Koho is attacked by demons. She sets out to track them down and recover a magical bell, all to restore order to the land. This sets the scene for the platforming excellence, with a vast Metroidvania map to explore and lose yourself in.
Here’s the first 30 minutes of the game in action (this being the Nintendo Switch version).
Whilst the game doesn’t set any landmark new innovations in the Metroidvania genre, what it does do is everything very bloody well indeed. The maze-like map is spot on and rewarding to uncover, which is completed through traditional powerup gaining to unlock new areas.
It’s all very rewarding, sprawling (around seven hours of gameplay), and with its gorgeous pixel art a constant visual delight.
There are two difficult modes as well, one for a more casual experience and the other for a challenge (as compared to Team Cherry’s recent Silksong, which has one option set automatically to Farcical Chore). This makes Moonlit Farewell accessible and welcoming to all player types.
Although it will help if you’ve played this type of game before, we also think it’s a fantastic starting point if you’re new to the genre. It has an easy charm to it, but one that also takes itself seriously with its artistic integrity.
It’s simple, but offers some fancy new additions to the Momodora series. That includes siglis, which you gather during the game to add new magical abilities to your defence rostrum. It’s a small touch, easy to navigate, but welcome. All whilst keeping gameplay focussed on the exploration of Momo’s world.
Plus, we did a feature on Moonlit Farewell’s excellent score (by Notorious Knave). It adds further atmospherics to the experience, as well as emotional heft to the narrative, ensuring the game is always progressing in interesting ways.
Moonlit Farewell was very well received by the gaming press, with Destructoid handing over 8.5/10 and Nintendo Life gifting 9/10. That’s spot on, we think, it’s a definite 9/10 and worthy of much wider gaming community attention.
As it is, Bombservice knows it has a cult following over major industry status.
The last game the team did was called Minoria (2019), which we’ll play at some point, before switching production to Moonlit Farewell. This is a brilliant high point for the studio, who we’ll watch out for in future. They’re already Metroidvania legends, so it’ll be intriguing to see what they can do next.
