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GAMES Moonlighter
Moonlighter Review
Posted: 3 months ago, last updated 8 weeks ago.
Author: @GeekDadGamer and Jo Robertson.
Overview
Moonlighter is an action role-play game where you play an adventurous shopkeeper who secretly dreams of becoming a hero. It's a game of two halves: shopkeeping and adventuring. It's novel because of how the two aspects play into each other. The better loot you retrieve the better stock you have for the shop. The better the shop the more money you have for kit and crafting.
You start in Rynoka, a small village positioned near an excavation site of a Gate to another realm. You run a store selling equipment to adventurers who go through the gate to bring back treasures to trade. During the day you run the shop then each night you can go explore the dungeon.
In one part of the game you are conducting your business, choosing items for sale, setting their price and managing your gold reserves. You can upgrade the shop as you go to cope with more stock and even recruit an assistant to run things when you are not around.
In the other part of the game you go through the gate to find wares to sell. Once on the other side you must defeat enemies and bosses, master the mechanics of different weapons, perfect your combat timing and positioning and find the best valuables to bring back. But you can only carry so much and must use the clever inventory system to pack away only the most profitable items.
As you progress in both adventuring and commerce you get to know your neighbours and slowly bring prosperity to the small town. This means you help others establish related businesses and watch them grow and trade with you. You can also learn to craft new armour and weapons, and enchant existing equipment to help with your next trip through the gate.
The result is an unusual combination of shop keeping and adventure role-play. It's a bit like the Mr Ben kids TV Show, only you don't bring things back to help you remember but to sell to those who need them.
You start in Rynoka, a small village positioned near an excavation site of a Gate to another realm. You run a store selling equipment to adventurers who go through the gate to bring back treasures to trade. During the day you run the shop then each night you can go explore the dungeon.
In one part of the game you are conducting your business, choosing items for sale, setting their price and managing your gold reserves. You can upgrade the shop as you go to cope with more stock and even recruit an assistant to run things when you are not around.
In the other part of the game you go through the gate to find wares to sell. Once on the other side you must defeat enemies and bosses, master the mechanics of different weapons, perfect your combat timing and positioning and find the best valuables to bring back. But you can only carry so much and must use the clever inventory system to pack away only the most profitable items.
As you progress in both adventuring and commerce you get to know your neighbours and slowly bring prosperity to the small town. This means you help others establish related businesses and watch them grow and trade with you. You can also learn to craft new armour and weapons, and enchant existing equipment to help with your next trip through the gate.
The result is an unusual combination of shop keeping and adventure role-play. It's a bit like the Mr Ben kids TV Show, only you don't bring things back to help you remember but to sell to those who need them.
Game Details
Release Date: 29/05/2018, updated in 2022
Price: 85% off
Platforms: Android, Mac, PC, PS4, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One and iOS
Content Rating: PEGI 7
Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds
Players: 1
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fighting, Role-Play and Strategy
Accessibility: 33 features
Developer: 11 Bit Studios (@11BitStudios)
Lists
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Duration
Play Time: This game will take between 15 hours and 20 hours to complete. There is lots of additional content that extends the game. Once you have finished you can also start again with more equipment in a New Game+ mode.
Play Style
This is a single-player game.
You can play this game in the following styles:
Age Ratings
Content Rating
Skill Rating
8+ year-olds usually have the required skill to enjoy this game. Younger players need to be able to cope with the timing and accuracy required for the combat. They also need to be able to consider how to gain enough gold to progress and craft in other areas.
Costs
Moonlighter usually costs £15.49 to £22.49.
It's important to set up your accounts and devices appropriately. More information is on our Financial Resources page.
Moonlighter
 | PS4 | £15.99 | – | Free PS Plus Extra |
 SALE | PC | £15.49 | £3.09 until 06/02/2023 | – |
 SALE | Switch | £22.49 | £3.37 until 26/02/2023 | – |
| SALE | Mac | £15.49 | £3.09 until 06/02/2023 | – |
Moonlighter: Complete Edition
There are the following additional costs associated with this game:
- In-Game Purchases: Additional in-game purchases are offered for items that enhance the experience.
It's important to set up your accounts and devices appropriately. More information is on our Financial Resources page.
Accessibility
Our Moonlighter Accessibility Report documents 33 accessibility features:
We tested the Xbox and PC versions of the game.
You can select between three difficulties. The game doesn't generally put you on a limited clock, but the trading aspects do require some time-dependant decisions. If you wait for a long time in a dungeon ghosts appear. Although progress is only saved if you get back home from a dungeon. However you keep equipped items and the top row of the inventory when you die.
Although the mouse isn't enabled by default you can set things up to make use of the buttons and mouse wheel.
The game implements a different vibration to indicate taking damage, interacting with specific items, and when performing certain actions.
There's not a full map, but the mini-map provides an indication of which dungeon rooms have been visited and which rooms have chests to loot.
Generally it's quite good contrast but there are areas where enemies are of similar colour to the background. Screen shake cannot be completely disabled but instead can be reduced to 10% where it becomes barely noticeable.
We tested the Xbox and PC versions of the game.
You can select between three difficulties. The game doesn't generally put you on a limited clock, but the trading aspects do require some time-dependant decisions. If you wait for a long time in a dungeon ghosts appear. Although progress is only saved if you get back home from a dungeon. However you keep equipped items and the top row of the inventory when you die.
Although the mouse isn't enabled by default you can set things up to make use of the buttons and mouse wheel.
The game implements a different vibration to indicate taking damage, interacting with specific items, and when performing certain actions.
There's not a full map, but the mini-map provides an indication of which dungeon rooms have been visited and which rooms have chests to loot.
Generally it's quite good contrast but there are areas where enemies are of similar colour to the background. Screen shake cannot be completely disabled but instead can be reduced to 10% where it becomes barely noticeable.
Diversity and Inclusion
We haven't documented diversity and inclusion information for this game yet.
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