I screwed up. I had a really busy week when Nextfest came around, and all I did was play Moonlighter 2 for 4-5 hours. I played a few other demos, but the time that I had was dedicated to this game and so let me talk about my impressions.

HUZZAH! This week is the Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault demo.

Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is an action-adventure roguelike from Digital Sun and 11 Bit Studios. The game will release on all modern consoles and the PC. The game is set to release sometime this year.

Moonlighter 2, just like its predecessor, is about a shopkeeper who stabilizes and grows the local economy by entering portals to different worlds, killing everything, taking their stuff, and selling it. This time, though, the big baddie wins, and three friends have to retreat to an adjacent town to figure out how to take their town back from the bad guy. Moonlighter 2 has a more in-depth story than I remember the first game having, with the Endless Vault appearing before the trio and claiming to fulfill any one wish if the shopkeeper can pass a set number of challenges.

This highlights the main gameplay of Moonlighter 2, the selling of goods in the shop. The player can enter a realm and immediately start beating otherworldly creatures up and take their stuff. Interestingly enough, the gameplay can be boiled down to: Dungeon combat, backpack mini-game, and the roguelike features.

Dungeon combat is pretty straightforward. The shopkeeper has a standard 3-hit combo, a power attack, and a ranged shot. The combat is engaging, with areas riddled with lots of different enemy types and kind of difficult trap-dodging segments. Honestly, it all works really well on the controller that the game recommends. Once you complete an area, you can choose between chests, passive abilities, two different kinds of shops, and a direct upgrade. These perks are pretty standard: more damage, critical hit chance/damage, hitting faster, and inflicting a status effect.

Looting is one of the most important aspects of Moonlighter 2, and the looting has been updated with a minigame that is quite fun. Items have abilities; some may burn other items, some benefit from relics being destroyed, and others may activate when placed in the corner of the pack. Organizing your pack back is essential to the gameplay, and sorting relics to maximize the amount of gold you can generate at the shop is key to succeeding in the game.

Lastly, the shop mini-game has been updated with a more honed-in experience. You don’t stand around watching people come in and buy stuff anymore; it is more hands-on. Discount and Charm are added to the mix by increasing the price by a standard amount (starting at around 50) and charming the guest for a higher percentage (I think starting at 10%). After a certain amount of sales, a perk is given to the player: Upgrading the next sale, increasing charm/discount, giving enchanted sales, etc.

Rather than standing around, Moonlighter 2 has opted to enhance the already most fun aspect of the original game.

Instead of the over-the-top pixelated style that I came to absolutely love, Moonlighter 2 takes on an isometric 3D style that I was hesitant about like but after playing the game for three hours, I grew to really like it. The desert biome is beautiful with its winding, rocky pathways. I like the look of the bad guys in this area too; they are like humanoid bugs that are goofy, but also serious-looking. The town in which your shop is located really nails the rustic, but also futuristic fantasy atmosphere. There is a portal to other worlds at the edge of town, but there is also a blacksmith with a regular hammer and a potion maker with a simple cauldron.

Moonlighter 2 was the demo that I played the most during Steam NextFest. I really enjoyed the first game, as it was one of the first games that I reviewed, and this game took what made its predecessor great, updated it, and applied it to the same formula. It works really well again, and I am hooked.