4/5 ★ – ThumbsMckenzie's review of Moonlighter.

Part rogue-like, part merchant sim? The rogue-like part of this game isn't anything new or different, it is well crafted and plays good which certainly helps but in the overcrowded world of rogue-likes, the general gameplay of Moonlighter doesn't do anything THAT different. The merchant stuff is really what sets this apart from other things however and is something I really got into for some reason. To go into better detail, when you go through the various dungeon areas of this game, you pick up a variety of random items. Instead of just selling these off and then headed right back into the dungeon to try and get farther, Moonlighter has you playing someone that is a merchant with their own shop, so you take the items you've found in dungeons and then sell them in your shop to people in the village. You have to set the prices, so if they are too expensive, customers won't buy them so you have to figure out a solid price point where you can make money without going too high or going too low. On top of that, you can upgrade your shop to make it bigger and present more items for customers to pick up, get items to place in your store to make customers shop faster or more patient waiting or even more willing to tip you, you can get an assistant that, for a fee, can run the store while you go to the dungeon if you want. You even have to look out for shoplifters and items getting more popular/less popular and how that could effect their price point. It's the perfect thing to break up the dungeon exploration monotony while still making the dungeon stuff the focal point of the game, since it's key to getting more items to make money which is needed to buy new gear/upgrades/etc. Overall, Moonlighter is a really solid rogue-like game that does enough to differentiate itself in the crowded genre. The controls are tight, the mechanics are well done, the combat is not overly frustrating, and it has an alright story mixed in. Though I can see the merchant/store running portion of this game being a turn off for some and without that, it might come across as just another rogue-like game for those. It's well worth giving a shot to though if these types of games are something you enjoy.