There is an ever-growing genre of games set not in the perspective of the typical fantasy adventurer but from that of the person who runs the shops that sell heroes their magical weapons and ever-so-important gear. It’s not hard to see why. It’s an appealing twist on the store-simulation genre, taking all of the fun and satisfaction of growing a business and giving it an exciting, deeply nerdy twist with a fantastical setting and an inventory full of those eponymous health potions we’re always burning through in our RPG playthroughs.
What if, however, you were not only a shopkeeper but an adventurer as well? Imagine a game where you are not only running a shop during the day but moonlighting as an adventurer to fill your inventory. That is, in a nutshell, the elevator pitch for Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault.
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is half shop simulator and half action-RPG roguelike where you battle your way through procedurally generated dungeons to complete quests, gather resources for permanent upgrades, and, most important of all, collect rare artifacts to sell in your shop.
The half shopkeeper, half sword-toting adventurer gimmick is not the only unique aspect of Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault, as the game’s aesthetic stands out from other “fantasy shopkeeper sim” games. Set in a sci-fi-fantasy hybrid universe, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault depicts a world connected to many parallel universes through a series of portals. As someone tasked by an artifact that promises endless riches if you prove yourself as a merchant, as well as your impending rent payment, you begin to delve into these alternate worlds to fight back their local monsters and collect rare goods to sell in your shop.
It was, to my disappointment, that Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault seems to have shifted most of its attention toward the roguelike side of its adventurer-meets-shopkeeper theme.
That is to say that most of the game’s mechanical depth shows itself inside the ARPG, procedurally generated dungeons where you collect the rare items to sell at your shop. In these segments, you fight through hordes of enemies with some simple yet varied movesets based on the weapon you brought in with you. Minibosses and full bosses alike are sprinkled throughout these long levels, which also offer rewards split between in-run buffs to keep you going longer or relics to bring back to your shop. It’s not easy to get to the end of one of these levels, and you’re offered the chance to extract at any moment to go home and sell what you’ve picked up without risking them losing value should you be defeated.
The combat mechanics are fine, with a beat-’em-up flavor and simple controls with decent hit feedback.
While personally, I would have liked more time spent in the shop and less in the field, for the mix Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is going for, it isn’t a bad formula at all, and I think most players who find themselves attracted to the game will enjoy it.
That’s not to say, either, that the store side of the gameplay is lacking in depth completely. One of the most interesting mechanics involved in selling relics is the quality system, where you can raise the “quality” of an item through several interactions, which sells the item for more than your actual listing price. Other elements give you flat buffs to how much something sells for, such as putting it on a nicer pedestal or decorating your shop.
Finer details, though, and ones that may seem more realistic, are missing from Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault where they might be present in other store-simulation games. Elements like market demand doesn’t really make an appearance when running your shop, and selling something is sort of a guessing game of figuring out what an item is worth by pricing it absurdly high or low and seeing how customers react, not counting the flat-out modifiers that magically make the price of items higher even if a customer wouldn’t usually pay that much for it before the modifiers.
While the element of running a store isn’t one that feels, say, tacked on or added lazily, I do think a lot more can be done to make this part of the game more appealing during Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault’s early-access run.
A big theme of the game is using the money made from your shop to reinvest into the town around you. While this is present, I don’t think the success of the shop itself contributes enough to the progression or town growth. That is to say that the biggest roadblock to most upgrades, and the goals of essentially every quest, requires you to get something from within the roguelike dungeons. Need a stronger weapon to proceed? Find this rare resource. Want to help an NPC’s house grow? Resource. Selling a lot doesn’t feel like it has the impact the game implies it should, and to progress you really just need to get better at the combat until eventually you have the resources to upgrade your gear, with money often not being nearly as difficult to come by.
Overall, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault was a pretty fun and fairly impressive romp for me. My biggest complaints are with how the game balances its adventuring and shopkeeping, and I wish that a little more depth and importance on running a good shop was present in the version of the game I played. With an early-access cycle ahead of us, however, we just might see that become the case.
Pros
- Unique hybrid premise of shopkeeping + roguelike adventuring
- Fun ARPG combat with solid variety
- Quality system on loot is fun to engage with
Cons
- Shopkeeping isn’t as deep or influential as expected
- Balance leans too hard toward the roguelike side of the experience
- Early Access state leaves out some soon-to-come (?) content
TryHardGuides was provided a Steam code for this PC Early Access Review of Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page!
Comments