Moonlighter is a hybrid of management sim and roguelite dungeon crawl in the vein of Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale. I was more intrigued by its shopkeeping side—where you put your loot on display and hope the locals in your hamlet are in the mood for a magic sword or some banged-up armor—than I was by its dungeon runs and boss battles, but your mileage may vary.
That mileage is currently good value, because right now you can add Moonlighter to your Steam account for free. Digital Sun and 11 Bit Studios have set it to zero dollars until August 9 to celebrate the upcoming release of Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault, which is currently in early access but will be hitting 1.0 on September 2.
Moonlighter 2 adds more Hades to the formula, as Sam Desatoff noted in our preview, writing, “It’s impossible not to see the touch of Hades in Moonlighter 2’s combat (it’s isometric now!), or in the way Will gets to know the characters loitering around town. The hub area of Tresna could be a respectable stand-in for the House of Hades or The Crossroads, and I enjoyed familiarizing myself with the town and its residents.”
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Moonlighter 2 also shifts away from the first game’s Binding of Isaac-esque dungeon exploration for more of the FTL/Slay the Spire-influenced node-choosing that’s all the rage. But it’s still embedded in a town full of locals to befriend, to throw some Stardew Valley into the blend. If it’s the sequel you’re more interested in, you can download a demo from Moonlighter 2’s Steam page.