Moonlighter 2 is a huge departure from the first, but I still can’t stop playing

I wasn’t sure about Moonlighter 2 when I first played it. It’s very different from the first Moonlighter, a game that I love. I described it as “nothing short of wonderful” when I wrote about it back in 2018. And so, when I jumped into Moonlighter 2 to find that almost everything had changed, I was rather disappointed.

Gone is Moonlighter’s charming pixelated art style. Gone are its Zelda-meets-The Binding of Isaac style dungeons. Even its shop system has had a huge overhaul. Really, all that remains is the fact that Moonlighter 2 is a game of two halves: your time is split between adventuring and managing a shop.

The change to Moonlighter’s dungeons is the one that’s taken me longest to get used to. In the first Moonlighter, you’d move through a Binding of Isaac-style map, tackling a wave of enemies before the doors to the next room would unlock. It felt like an early Zelda game and, while it was difficult, it was rewarding. Now, that Zelda-like feeling has been replaced with a more roguelike system, with progression that feels more akin to Slay the Spire.

You’ll move across a map, choosing certain paths that determine the reward you’re going to get. You can opt for loot, an upgrade to your character or a mystery, and there are other opportunities like minibosses and blacksmiths thrown in too. Most rooms have some enemies for you to defeat, but occasionally you’ll be lucky enough to get a chest without needing to fight. If there are enemies, however, there’s a big change from the first game. In the first Moonlighter, loot drops instantly upon defeating enemies. Not so here: you’ll have to clear an area before you get your reward.

That bothered me slightly to begin with, but once I realised how important inventory management is to Moonlighter 2, it made a lot of sense. You’ll initially pick up fewer items in one run compared to the previous game, but you’ll need to carefully consider where each one is placed in your inventory. Items can affect other items, sometimes making them better or perhaps getting rid of them altogether. The goal, really, is to have the best quality items possible — because a high quality rating means a higher sale value — so if you’re strategic about item management, you could end up with a handful of seriously valuable goods to sell.

The actual running of your shop feels different, too, but the changes here are for the better. Menus are better laid out, making it easier to see at a glance what items are worth. You’ll still need to guess their price in the first instance, but it’s part of the fun of Moonlighter, so I’m glad it’s still a key element of the game. Modifiers within your shop will allow you to increase the value of items or garner higher tips, too, so even if you return from a mission with nothing but common items, you still have a chance of earning a decent wage.

There’s a wealth of upgrades you can unlock between runs, but you’ll first need to earn a good amount of money in your shop before you can afford anything meaningful. Over time you can increase your health, how many potions you can carry, improve your weapons and craft new ones, and a whole lot more. Of course, you can also improve your shop in a number of ways, by adding more sales stands, changing the decor and more.

But here’s the kicker: Moonlighter 2 is launching into early access this week. That means developer Digital Sun is still very much actively working on the game, and it’s likely to change in a myriad of ways before it launches into version 1.0. That might be quite some time away, too: according to the devs, Moonlighter 2 will remain in early access for “as long as the game needs it”. The good news is that it’s already in great shape: while it isn’t content-complete, there’s plenty to get stuck into, including three unique biomes and “most of” the story.

Over the course of early access, Digital Sun will be adding new environments, new enemy types, new events and expanded shop systems. There’ll also be new NPCs, different quests and “story moments” to engage with. And, as the team have already done based on feedback from the demo, I’ve no doubt that it will respond to player feedback.

Honestly, I hope it doesn’t change too much now, though. Once I accepted the differences between Moonlighter and Moonlighter 2, I started to love what’s here, and now I just can’t get enough. Did Moonlighter really need a sequel? I’d argue not. And maybe Moonlighter 2 feels more like a reimagining than a sequel; a what-could-have-been rather than a what-came-after. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and both games can still exist side-by-side.

I see a place for both, but the refinements made to Moonlighter 2’s inventory system and its shop make this altogether the better experience in my opinion. Sure, I still love the Zelda-inspired dungeons of the first, but there’s no reason I can’t go back and enjoy those as well as this newer, more roguelike-style sequel. It’s a win-win, really.

Moonlighter 2 is launching into Early Access on Steam on 19th November.