Moonlighter
It wasn't until I saw the credits that I realized the game was actually a Kickstarter Project that was announced back in 2016. They just released Patch 1.11 on Steam in October 11, 2019. Digital Sun also seemed to add some free content alongside their new DLC Pack in July 23, 2019. Honestly, $6.99 just doesn't seem worth it to visit an extended 5th dungeon (and a few other added things in the mix) for what I experienced playing the game. What do I mean?
Review: Moonlighter is a decent game. It does everything it is supposed to do. You kill monsters, get items, haggle prices, and buy equipment. Grinding, upgrading, and farming is at the heart of the game. You don't have to rush or make any difficult decisions as there is no innkeeper renting fee or complimentary mini-game with deciding where to put your items. There are some decent pets, shop decorations, and different weapons to choose from. Although you cannot bomb hidden passages like in Zelda, there are special areas you can "fall into" that will accommodate several different kinds of rooms to explore. This isn't Outward where you can put your backpack down and fight nor is it a game where you can upgrade the number of inventory spots your backpack can hold. You must balance yourself with exactly what kind of items you wish to bring back to your shop and when.
In the end, there were too many problems and too little content to fully enjoy the game. On the technical side, playing with a gamepad is a must! The game is terrible when it comes to basic keyboard bindings and no mouse support. I only crashed once. There is no way to manually save the game other than to force a day and night cycle from teleporting out of a dungeon, your shop closing, or sleeping. Then there was a wide-range of bugs - hidden items that are split cannot be combined again, certain shop items don't update even though you can still relist the same price, dust appears on the other side of the room when rolling out a door, secret passages don't glow until you re-enter the room, and certain pets can somehow be reacquired a second time.
Then there are a lot of decisions that don't make sense. If the customer wants something at a specific time frame, why not allow us to "deliver" the items to them since they wander around town anyways instead of forcing us to open shop that day. Why is it I can't sell an item more than the cost of forging one? Can the narration be a little more than blatant questions like "ever wonder why this happens?" Why does it cost the same to upgrade +20 on a chest piece and +5 on a helmet? Is there any point in getting weapons other than the spear and bow? Give me a reason to ever put an item into the 75% off "Sale" basket!
Summary: Unlike Forager, Moonlighter gives you just enough content and changes to keep you entertained for a couple days. Unlike Stardew Valley, the story is completely lackluster and your customizing options is severely limited. It most definitely is not a game I would consider playing at any cost. That said, it was exactly what I expected.
10-18-2019