Recent reviews by Sophtopus

I went on a feels trip and I don't regret it.

In all seriousness, if you like To the Moon you will definitely want to play this one. It's a continuation in a way.

I'm an Early Bird tier Kickstarter for Moonlighter.

TLDR version: I like it enough to give a thumbs up. It's up to you to decide if it's worth the price. Baby's First Roguelite, perfect for those who're terrible with it like me.

Long version: I like this game enough to give a thumbs up. It's been ages since I had something that's remotely like Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale. Really miss that stuff.

The combat mechanics are well done, though on the slow side. If you're used to faster paced attacks such as Zelda-types and pure rogues you might find this feel rather heavy. But, it certainly beats a pure 'walk there and whack that' as many other shopkeeping style games apply.

I'm okay with the current dungeon size. It's not too long that you're sick and tired without any way to return. Also, it's not too short... unless you're decked out. I do understand why this would be an issue for end-game players. But for beginning and midgame, it's fine. Maybe the main game dungeons would do better as training ground for longer (or tougher) content.

Where this game does suffer somewhat is the shop mechanic. The most challenging part of the game is setting the right price and watching thieves. Haggling doesn't exist (yet). Requests are optional (thankfully).

There's no zany shenanigans with the NPCS. You get some variety of customers, but it doesn't have the same sense of personalization as Racettear. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's fine if Moonlighter chooses to focus more on combat. I like the fighting. If Moonlighter's future content gears toward more combat, I would still be happy.

The best thing about Moonlighter is its graphics. Cute with a nice palette choice. Identifiable. And it fits the game setting. It means the game already had good assets/art-direction for any expansion it wants.

Oh and props to the musician. The soundtrack got me humming away. The soundtrack changes according to location and that is a really nice touch.

I hope the Devs will do at least four things:

1. An Endless Randomized Dungeon. A test of endurance is what many dungeoneers look for.

2. A way to farm Bosses. Of course we want to farm bosses. That's what a dungeon crawl is all about.

3. Make Boss loot important someway. Craft something good for our hero? Or for the shop? Special trophies?

4. Make the town NPCS (or the town itself) more useful. At the moment, my best friend is the potion girl. And the blacksmith. Sometimes the hawker. The rest... is kinda mere space fillers.

All in all, if this is your first time with roguelites, Moonlighter is a good place to start. Baby's First Roguelite. Even I -- a person who can't get past the first levels of Rogue Legacy and Necrodancer -- could make progress in this game.

10/10 would cry again

After 2 years, this game is still one of the most influential indie titles for a number of reasons. Much that couldn't be said without spoiling the experience.

Don't let the simple trailer fool you.
Don't let the overload of non-contexual fanart put you off either.

This game is really worth playing. Blind, if possible. One full run is between 3 to 6 hours.

Go on ahead. Experiment. But remember something:

You don't have to kill anyone. At all.

WHY WOULD YOU NOT WANT THIS GAME???

This title is more Harvest Moon than Harvest Moon. Guarenteed you'll say goodbye to your free time for at least a few weeks. I think by now everyone else had sang their praises in great detail.

Also it's still being updated. Expect more post-release content patch over the next year or two.

My recommendation for this game:

COMPLETELY ABSOLUTELY VERILY YES!!!

Get it.
It's unique.
It's well crafted.
It will teach you stuff on the way. And very forgiving for the most part.
Controls are tight and you don't need to worry about fiddly widdly things.

Best part of the game is its culturally immersive setting. I'm not a Native Mexican in any way. And this whole game provided a whole lot of newness to me.

Live in the Americas? No problem! Still plenty enjoyable for its awesome gameplay alone.

Think about it.

You start out as a burly guy, then a strong luchador, then you become...

LUCHAGOD!

By the time you get to the end of the game you will feel awesome.

Eeeh.... I had high hopes for this. Unfortunately it's a tad too slow and tedious. The parts where you need to gather wood/stone can be incredibly frustrating as you need to click and wait for the zombies to get in a right position.

Improving your farm and restraint also increases the difficulty of the invasion. Eventually it's just not fun.

Aquaria is one of the most invisible metroidvanias in recent years. Which is a huge shame because this is an awesome, awesome gem.

You play as Naija, who's more humanoid than your standard mermaid. She lives alone, remembers nothing about her past, and one day she decides to explore.

Then adventure happened.

I don't think I've seen any other game that is a combination of underwater world and exploration. Beatbuddy is indeed set underwater, but it is stage-based and thus not counted as a true metroidvania.

This game is a true combination of both.

Graphics are beautiful. Music stunning. And the world is haunting tinge of cthulu mindscrew. Things get spooky fast, but never to the point of a jumpscare game.

This game uses some pretty old puppet animation. Graphic assets are layered over movement points, as opposed to being drawn frame by frame. It can be a bit odd for those who're used to hand-drawn wonders, but for most of the game it doesn't matter. It still looks awesome.

Now we talk about mechanics. Without spoiling too much, Naija has the ability to change forms based on the song she sings. The game is very fluid -- pun intended -- until there is no water.

In the water, you're as agile as a water creature can be. Wall jumping off walls enables you to chain speed boosts and add more shots to charged shots. Makes you feel awesome and graceful for pulling those off. Especially in late-game areas when it becomes particularly hectic.

But, when you get to some of the land segments, things can get pretty awkward. And frustrating if you don't know what to do. All Naija can do on dry ground is jump and change forms. There are no crawling mechanics. Expect to flop a lot in your first dry-land segment.

If you can look past its somewhat dated code (released 2007) and some of its indie-flavour mechanics, you're in for a unique treat. This is the first single-player Steam game I've played and it's still one of my treasured favourites.

P.S Your number buttons on the keyboard is your best friend. This enables you to switch forms on the fly. You will thank the buttons really fast.