Retail Therapy, Dungeon Chaos: Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault Review
- Antal Bokor
- 12 hours ago
- 6 min read
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is approaching 1.0, and I got a chance to play the final build ahead of release. And while I didn’t really enjoy the first Moonlighter, I got weirdly addicted to Moonlighter 2. Anyone who was a fan of the first will find little in this game beyond a continuation of the story and fleshing out of lore. A lot of reviews will (and have) go over the differences in the two games–from the art style, to the adoption of Hades style combat–but I’m going to avoid making any comparisons and talk about Moonlighter 2 on its own–for all it does well, and all it ends up fumbling.
While my initial impressions of Moonlighter 2 weren’t great, it had an insidious way of making me want to keep playing. While I felt the first game juggled two disparate systems (shopkeeping and dungeon delving) and made neither one enjoyable, I at least enjoy aspects of every bit of Moonlighter 2, even if I don’t like it all.
In Moonligher 2 you play as the same enterprising adventurer from the first game, Will. After the events of the first game, Will and the people in his town were forced out by an interdimensional collector named Moloch. Forced to start over again in a different dimension and a new town, you have to fight through new dungeons and sell acquired relics to fuel upgrades that help you adventure further. Rinse and repeat.
Moonlighter 2 is played in basically two phases: a roguelite combat phase where you choose a route, battle, resolve events, etc. until you either choose to leave or beat the boss at the end of the dungeon. After that, you go back to town for the second phase, where you talk to townsfolk, upgrade your shop and accouterments, and then sell all the crap you acquired while in the dungeon. Simplified a bit, but that’s how it goes for the most part. There’s also an inventory minigame that changes based on what dungeon you’re in (and therefore, what relics you’re collecting).
Again, I’m not going to spend time making comparisons, but Moonlighter 2 made some significant changes to the way it handles dungeon exploring and combat. Moonlighter 2 works in a way a more traditional roguelike/roguelite would work: you can see what path leads to what rooms, and choose accordingly. There is, of course, combat. But there are rooms that give you upgrades for that run, events to add a bit of risk/reward, and more. I actually didn’t have a problem with this system, except for the way it’s presented to the player.
It might not matter to some, but I felt like traversal between different rooms was contrived. I would almost have preferred just normal doorways than the multitude of ways that our protagonist travels between rooms–which is different depending on the dungeon you’re in. I don't change anything about the game mechanically, I just think it’s an inelegant addition that takes away immersion for me. Functionally, however, it changes little about the actual game itself save for adding a visual style to a loading screen. But I hate it.
Combat itself is done well enough. I heard Moonlighter 2’s combat described like Hades “but worse.” I don’t really agree with that. To dodge yet another comparison, I’ll just say: Moonlighter 2 does a great job at combat. Character movement feels tight and responsive. The weapon varieties all feel unique and satisfying–even if upgrading/unlocking higher tiers of those weapons can be a bit cryptic. And there’s a fantastic variety in enemies, both visually and behaviorally. Each world has a variation (think: day/night) and there are even enemy variants for these that change up known enemies just enough to make them interesting and dangerous again.
I’m not always a fan of how attacks are telegraphed by enemies. Sometimes I feel like I’ll be eagle-eye watching an enemy just to be somehow surprised by an attack I missed. I learned the enemy behaviors eventually, but I felt like I wasted a lot of good runs for dumb reasons. And of course, healing items are scarce and non replenishable (without an expensive upgrade) so every hit hurts.
As far as in run upgrades, this is where I think Moonlighter 2 had me hooked. Sometimes I would get a great set of upgrades that stack well and absolutely crush everything in sight. Unfortunately, there isn’t much in the way of synergizing builds. Instead, it seems like stacking abilities with similar abilities (like ignite with ignite, foam with foam) is preferred instead of finding a few that work well together. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it takes away a lot of fun discovery that I have had with other similar games in the past.
Shopkeeping in Moonlighter 2 is its own entire game, practically. Which is to be expected. Even though shopkeeping probably won’t take as much time as dungeon crawling, it is arguably more important. The system is simple: set prices that your customers like. If they like it enough you get a tip. Each shopping day is like a run through the dungeon, and you even get an opportunity to get perks that can get you more money as the shopping day goes on. That’s not to mention the furniture, display cases and other upgrades that bestow their own bonuses. While you start off with a modest little shop, it can eventually become a huge shopping center
Meta progression depends a lot on how much money you make in your shops, not necessarily how good you are at combat. If you’re not savvy, it can take you a bit longer to get through the monetary requirements brought on by the demands of the Endless Vault–both a character and a concept here. Of course, being smart about what you upgrade and how can go a long way towards progression. For instance, there's a character that upgrades your inventory–and if you do that, then you can bring more items from the dungeon to sell. Upgrade your shop and display cases, and you can get more money coming in from the bonuses those provide, too.
But that brings me to a complaint I have even after spending a couple dozen hours playing Moonlighter 2–there are almost too many vendors and NPCs that you need to keep track of. Thankfully they all use the same currencies–for the most part. But more often than not if I was missing a specific ingredient, I figured I’d run across it eventually. There’s also an in game codex that helps keep track of everything, if you’d rather be proactive and informed.
Another complaint is one that is echoed from the first game: the grind. I know this is another comparison, and I’m sorry. But Moonlighter 2 feels like there is just so much you have to do and sell just to unlock the next challenge from The Endless Vault. On the other hand, there are so many different progression systems in place, it feels like you’re always moving forward a bit so you’re never at a total standstill.
And while some progression systems in the game feel fun and meaningful, others don’t really make sense. For instance, you don’t craft better versions of things most of the time–just different versions. You don’t get armor that gives you more defense or upgraded stats, you just get one or two random boosts. Like one piece of armor allows you to mitigate one hit from the boss for free. One hit. From the end of run, boss. That’s it.
I wish I could tell you that Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is a great follow-up to the original game. It’s a great game in its own right, but I have a feeling it will continue to alienate players that were looking for more of what made the first game special. Still, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is fantastic in its own right.
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault releases into 1.0 on September 2nd
Comments