Moonlighter

Disclaimer: Got this game for free Rating: 2/5 In short: What could have been an interesting new take on this genre, offers very little variation past the early-game and feels very shallow. Noteworthy: + Starts out very fun + Solid controls - Core gameplay loop is always the same (for every dungeon) - Shopkeeping feels more like a mini-game with little variation - The story is bland and practically non-existent - Balance (game difficulty) is all over the place

I genuinely had fun, but as a lot of other reviewers have noted, once you've gotten past the second dungeon, you've basically seen everything the game has to offer. The item selling mechanics are basic. Most of the menus seem pretty useless. And the town you're helping to build and develop just doesn't have a lot going on. I will probably play this again. It's genuinely fun. But it is not a deep experience.

It's not a big game, like expected from an Indie Game, but the trouble is that there isn't much replayability value once you're done. Which is usually a big asset of rogue-like games. Visually the game looks quite beautiful and the animations are pretty awesome. One of my gripes are, since this village is so small, they should have given you more to do. Like maybe get sidequests from the villagers and not always from your shop. The village feels like a facade because of the lack of interaction with animals, other buildings, wells, just something... sure there are merchants but they also lack certain perosnality. The difficulty level is pretty good I would say, but there is a lot of grind in this game to get to the more interesting weapon abilities. It depends how much fun you have to hack'n'slay through the enemies and dungeons. Overall I enjoyed it, but because of it's short shelf-life I would pick it up only on Sale.

The game is aesthetically beautiful and plays very nice until you realize it's just a repetitive grindfest. Once you complete the first dungeon, you have enjoyed all the gameplay can offer, and the game becomes boring as no emergent gameplay can happen. Weapons have no special effects, they only differ at strength, and they are costed following a geometric distribution. So do all the items you are supposed to hoard and then sell. There are no paths to victory or strategies for having a better build. There's only a grindfest.

The game can not compare to the old Zelda games. Repetitive game mechanics, which you will be board very quickly- the same enermies, no great equip upgrade, lack variety. Despite the game tries to focus on the gameplay, it lacked any form of story to keep you going at hack and slash.