Moonlighter 2 The Endless Vault, the dungeon-delving shopkeeper game from developer Digital Sun and publisher 11 Bit Studios. The intrepid shopkeeper Will is faced with the need to bring in some cash to help establish a new life. With their hometown stolen, Will and his friends struggle to move on. Things seem bad until the Endless Vault appeared, promising great treasure if Will can prove himself worthy.
Moonlighter 2 The Endless Vault‘s Steam Next Fest demo manages to make one of the most convincing cases a demo could hope to achieve. It utilizes the repeating flow of the roguelike genre to introduce the player to its numerous elements, all of which do a great job of establishing why they are worth further exploration when the core game drops.
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The biggest draw of this game is how it enhances the tried-and-true roguelike dungeon crawler concept. On top of the endless variance of customizing kits and collecting loot, the devs at Digital Sun find a way to layer more systems onto the familiar core, making the game interesting, but not overcomplicated.
The first element that makes the game stand out from its contemporaries is the shop management mechanic. Bringing your loot back, putting it on display, and selling it provides a fun break from endless runs into monster-filled areas. When you open your shop, you put out your recovered items and wait for customers to come. As items catch their eyes, you can haggle with them using limited, but refeshable, skills to boost the amount they’ll pay you. These sales are also augmented by skills you unlock as you sell items.
The shopkeeping in Moonlighter 2 The Endless Vault makes the gameplay loop pop.
Skills are acquired at your desk, and as items sell, Will must restock displays with other relics until he runs out. Customers will only wait so long before they storm off, so moving between tasks is important. Making the time crunch even more significant are the random appearances of chores. Spots on the floor may need cleaning, and display cases may require repair, placing additional demands on the player’s time. Failing to address these issues hurts the shop’s sales success.
Having to balance making sales with cleaning the store and picking up temporary buffs to improve the prices you get for your relics becomes a frenzied activity that could almost be a game unto itself. It has just enough happening to keep things busy, but never crosses the line into stressful. All the elements of managing the shop are presented quickly, and it’s impressive how quickly you can see yourself making strides in how much you can get for the relics you bring home.
The shopkeeping helps break up the standard flow of doing runs and getting loot. However, it is how Moonlighter 2 The Endless Vault enables the player to maximize their hauls of relics that truly makes the gameplay loop pop as something special.
Rather than simply grabbing up items of various values, the items interact with each other, creating a highly addictive and nuanced puzzle. And even though it’s easy to grasp the core concepts of using relics to merge, destroy, and manipulate each other, mastering when to do what and what paths have the most potential promises a long, enjoyable path to mastery.
Discovering how new relics could alter the growing value of a haul within the limited space of the backpack is far more exciting than it had any right to be. Making a sort of mini-game out of resource management is a brilliant way for Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault to breathe more fun and creativity into an element of gaming that is frequently viewed as a chore.
The mix of close and long-range combat keeps the fighting fresh.
These portions of the game are great, but when it comes down to it, the core of Moonlighter 2 The Endless Vault‘s gameplay is the combat. It takes some getting used to at first—the pace of the encounters is a little slower than expected. However, once you adapt to the cadence of dodging, slashing, popping off a shot with their ranged attack, and dodging again, it all begins to click together.
Along with Will’s primary melee weapon, a choice of gauntlets or sword in the demo, he also has a ranged attack. Reloading ammo requires you to hit enemies with melee attacks. This makes it so kiting around the periphery of stages, pinging away at enemies, is out of the question. This forced mix of close and far helps keep the combat from growing stale.
Moonlighter 2 The Endless Vault‘s melee options promise a fair amount of variety, even before his range option comes into play. Standard and special attacks for each weapon are also available, along with upgrades during each run to allow for customization.
The sword and gauntlets each feel noticeably different to play, with speed being the gauntlets’ primary strength. While the sword is slower, it covers a larger area with each swing. With clear signs of additional weapon options to come, it feels certain that the variety of combat choices will only grow with the full game.
The visual presentation in Moonlighter 2 The Endless Vault is colorful and charming.
Further adding nuance to fights is how enemies can be broken. Initially, this is introduced fairly simply in one class of opponents. On their health bar, a set of arrows divides the bar into two sections. When you knock the enemy past it, they become stunned and are susceptible to a special knockback attack that Will does by slinging his bag at the foe. The enemy flies away, crashing into walls, setting off traps, or even going clear off ledges.
This basic concept is quickly expanded on with unique twists. A charging enemy that breaks when it misses you and hits a wall, as well as a ground/flying hybrid enemy that, if shot while airborne, breaks and falls back to earth. Taking full advantage of these weaknesses becomes crucial quickly. Even in the early portions of Moonlighter 2 The Endless Vault, things can become challenging. Battlefields can quickly become chaotic messes if you don’t knock out enemies quickly. Making the most of every advantage becomes important.
The colorful and charming visual presentation can easily catch unwary adventurers off guard. Surviving trips into enemy territory requires a high level of focus. The world is full of bright colors and goofy characters. Even the monsters look more silly than menacing. At least until they start taking chunks of your health bar.
Also contrasting with the cheerful look of the game are some melancholy moments that the story uses to set the stakes for Will’s mission. With their home gone, Will and his friends are very much adrift, struggling to make ends meet. The animation and writing during somber moments do a great job getting the point across, while the ligh-hearted presentation keeps the proceedings from ever becoming depressing.
Moonlighter 2 The Endless Vault‘s Steam Next Fest demo is grabbing from the start and never has a dull moment. The variety of approaches to runs and the original gameplay elements that break up the familiar core concept left a striking impression, allowing it to stand out in a highly saturated genre.
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault currently has a 2025 release date and can be wishlisted on Steam.
