Moonlighter 2’s new style brings it into the modern age, even if I prefer the pixels

Give me a shop sim, and I’m a happy gal. Give me a shop sim where you can go and get your own products from dungeons, and I’m even happier. Moonlighter is exactly this, with a fun soundtrack, memorable gameplay loop, and cool art style. So when Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault got announced, I was really intrigued.

Except, there’s a bit of a change. The cute, pixel look of the first game with the fixed, almost top-down angle is gone, and it’s been replaced by a smooth, 3D, isometric style. Sorry, I don’t like it; it feels less whimsical and more like it’s trying to be modern. However, the game itself is good.

In this sequel – odd though it feels to call it that – you reunite with the main character, Will, after the alien-filled events of the first game’s ending. Yes, there are aliens, and now, you’re in space. Sort of. It’s an interdimensional town where you now need to set up shop again.

The key points of the game remain the same: it’s a shopkeeping simulator-turned-roguelike, but this time, there’s more of the roguelike side. There’s also more to the story, as you get quests for other NPC’s now, and you can spend more money on things like customizing your shop with wallpaper and flooring options, which is neat. There’s also an ‘easy’ mode this time (and a hardcore mode if you fancy that), to make life a little simpler if you prefer the shopkeep side of things.

A lot of changes have come into effect here, outside of the art style upheaval. When you speak to Eris, the potion seller, you can’t just make or buy a stack anymore; you have to unlock them in a skill tree. I, however, liked having a stack of about ten in the first game, so starting with one and then taking a while to unlock more was troublesome. That said, you can use the pendant to leave the dungeons for free at any time now, so it doesn’t break the bank.

The other health-related hiccup is that now you have to pay 4k gold to Eris to unlock the pre-boss room spa pool, whereas it was there from the get-go in the first game. Look, I know it’s a roguelike, but help me out here.

You do get more moves to combat (heh) the lack of health items from the start. Will can whack enemies with his giant bag; he has a gun now on top of his chosen weapon – though bows and arrows don’t exist anymore – and environmental factors can have an effect, too. I didn’t have much trouble on easy mode, but it certainly feels like much more of a roguelike with all your buffs and boosts and attachments whizzing around after a while.

It can get a little laggy, with all of this going on. The load times on Switch 2 between levels aren’t great, and I did suffer a couple of crashes. This was before an update went out, which seemed to stabilize it, but loading could still be swifter. While the Switch version has only just come out, the PC version of Moonlighter 2 went into early access almost a year ago, so more of this could have been fixed ahead of time.

I have had more fun than I thought I would, honestly. I was immediately put off by the art style, but you can get past it… even if every NPC has had a facelift and looks a bit too sleek. It doesn’t quite give Moonlighter. It also feels like Will is somehow younger in this, as there’s a tiny bit of voice acting – think Link in the Zelda series – and he sounds like a child, whereas he was 17 in the previous game. Who knows, maybe the interdimensional travel changed something.

The game is good, though, don’t get me wrong. While it feels different, it is a good sequel, and the story with more characters is fun. You can try a demo, so if you’re a fan of the first and unsure about the second, give it a shot. Plus, performance issues continue to get fixed, which is great.