Gameplay was great. It is reminiscent of many action-platformers, but also stands on its own merits. You start off with a basic set of moves. You expand these moves as the game progresses. Your abilities consist of: moves consist of a basic attack (that is also used as a combo), a single and double jump, a roll/dodge and a ranged bow attack. The bow may be charged to release a 3-arrow shot. Later, there are power ups that add to these abilities. I say add-to, because the original moves remain the same. There are some items in the game - broken down into passive and active slots. The passive items grant a modifier to your character. These modifiers range from combat oriented to exploration oriented. Combat is your typical action-platformer style - enemies take a fixed number of hits. Your character has a health bar to track your character’s remaining health. Enemies will drop the game’s currency when defeated. There are no experience points gained in the game. Your character becomes stronger by collecting a fixed set of health power ups. Bosses drop something special if you manage to defeat them without taking a hit. Speaking of boss fights, they are all interesting and unique. My particular favorites are the battles where more than one character is involved on either side (yours or the enemies). As an aside, I only played this with a 360 controller and thought the experience was great. I can’t comment on other control styles. Sound and music were quite good as well. Some of the enemies help indicate their attack by sound. Each area has a soundtrack that contributes to its ambiance. One of my favorite tracks occurs in the monastery area. The OST is usually one of my favorite parts of a game - the developer did a great job at making this one. The graphics are fantastic. This is an example of how a pixel-art game should look. The characters are well-animated. The environments employ a depth of layers and motion - as well as some nice “frilly” effects. For example, grass will wave as you pass by. There are also some interesting uses of water reflections. There is one room in particular, not too far after the first boss, where your character and the enemies are reflected in the water. It threw me off the first time I encountered it. Story-wise the game is also good. The story is revealed through tidbits from the NPCs throughout the game. There are a couple of sad threads. I am not sure if your choices of progress have an impact on how these threads turn out. There are at least two separate endings that I have discovered as well. Overall, Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight is a great game that is worthy of play. I completed the game in about 5 hours of play. I can’t come up with much criticism, but a lot of praise for it.
