Just about a year ago, I previewed an interesting new game, poised to enter early access. Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault combines an action roguelike with a shopkeeping economic sim. Whether you call it a reboot, remake, or sequel of the 2018 original, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is out of early access and fully open for business.
In Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault, you play as Will, one of the residents of Tresna. I should say, survivors, since you and everyone in town were the victims of Molloch the Collector. Molloch threw an interdimensional monkeywrench into time and space, displacing the gentlefolk of Rynoka into a dimensional void. Your tasks are to trek deeper and deeper into the Endless Vault to recover — and sell — relics, find and rescue survivors and help rebuild a town. As narratives go, this is a more than adequate setup for the game’s twin mechanics: fighting monsters and selling treasure.
Let’s look at combat first. If you’ve played any one of a thousand roguelikes, you know the drill. You fight across a series of short stages. In between, there’s a grid that offers you choices for the next level. If you die in battle, your collected loot loses half its value, not ideal for reselling. But you can also forfeit your loot and try again, or use a portal during a level and head back to town. As roguelike loops go, Moonlighter 2 offers enough options that you never feel like a run has been wasted.
If you clear one of the game’s three main biomes and defeat the boss, you can return in Night Realm, which offers even greater risks and rewards. It’s a great way to extend gameplay and add even more high-end merch to your shop.
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault has a number of systems and mechanics when it comes to combat and progression. Following the lead of many roguelites, Will picks up temporary use scrolls, buffs and spells during a run, but there are persistent gear and ability upgrades as well. In this regard, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault feels a little like Hades 2, which is a very good thing.
Another very good thing is combat itself, which is a lot of fun. A year ago, I was disappointed by the variety of enemies. A year later, there are dozens of enemy types, plus level-ending bosses and mini-bosses. There’s still a minor issue of negotiating multiple AOEs from simultaneous enemies. However, over the early access period Will’s movement speed and animations have been refined, and combat continues to improve.
Combat is only half of Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault’s gameplay. The other half is managing and growing your shop and economy, plus restoring the town of Tresna itself. As you fight and explore, you find relics to sell in your store. But you also find and rescue tradespeople caught in the interdimensional rift and crafting/building materials that are needed to expand the settlement. Additionally, the folks that you rescue will often have specific requests or quests for you to take on as you explore.
While maybe not quite as fleshed out as the combat system, fans of economic sims and cozy games will find a lot to keep themselves occupied. Moonlighter 2’s economy and selling mechanics have continued to expand during early access. Options for pricing goods, market fluctuations and managing customer satisfaction have been added.
The fact that there are a number of difficulty options means that players can find their focus. If you want to concentrate on shop management, you can lower the challenge of combat. But you can also opt for the Hardcore mode, which naturally ups the demands and increases the payoffs of combat. One thing I particularly appreciate about Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is the way the two systems integrate. You actually feel like combat has a purpose beyond killing monsters.
The original Moonlighter was had a retro pixel art style, but Moonlighter 2 has switched to colorful and attractive 3D art. Both the monsters and NPCs have a lot of character. I wish that there was some voice acting because the economic half of the game is very dialogue-heavy. The game’s music is pleasant and generally lighthearted.
Although it can get grindy and the shopkeeping aspects feel a little slow at times, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault offers a lot of entertainment for both action-roguelike fans and cozy economic sim devotees. Both combat and shopkeeping have really grown and improved during early access, thanks to developers who listened to the community of players. Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault releases in good shape and it’s easy to recommend.
***PS5 code provided by the developers for review***
