Dungeon Clearing by Design: A Review of the Roguelike RPG Moonlighter 2 – The Endless Vault [Early Access]

Moonlighter returns seven years later and surprises with how carefully the developers handle the original formula. It begs the question: why did it take so long, especially in Early Access? A look at Digital Sun’s track record—they’re also the creators of The Mageseeker and Cataclismo—and you realize they haven’t wasted any time. But is a sequel “safe” enough for 2025, and what to expect from the full version? We’ll explore this in this article.

Change of perspective

I should start with the most noticeable thing—the visuals. Otherwise, someone will inevitably latch onto my “safe sequel” line, because even the naked eye can see how dramatically Moonlighter 2 differs from the original.

The developers abandoned pixel graphics in favor of 3D isometric views, while maintaining the overall feel and recognizable color palette. The decision proved successful: the transition to 3D doesn’t radically change the game’s character, but it does make it more modern and visually cleaner.

Improved animation, clear attack telegraphy, and careful lighting make the visuals expressive but not overly cluttered. Character and environment models look neat and natural. The atmosphere, however, remains unchanged—the same measured pace, the same cozy atmosphere, only executed in a more composed and fluid manner.

The overall harmony is emphasized by Christopher Larkin’s score, which sets the mood for each location. And this is perhaps the perfect result for such a cautious sequel, which at first glance might seem almost like a remake of the original. Although, of course, this is anything but.

Three months – like seven years

Moonlighter 2 takes place three months after the original’s ending. In the game’s world, that’s not much time, but for players, it’s almost seven years of waiting. Will, Tomo, and Zenon are trying to start a new life after Moloch’s invasion of Rynoka. Apparently, they spent those three months doing nothing, until one day Mrs. Cash kicked Will in the ass and literally threw him into the dungeon to mine relics, sell them, and finally start making money.

The basic motivation is clear, but after a short tutorial prologue, Will and company encounter the Infinite Vault, which suddenly appears in the middle of the city. It promises to grant any wish to anyone who passes all the trials. Tomo sees this as a chance to return to Rinoka, and the gameplay loop gains additional meaning because earning gold becomes the key to the trials.

Thus begins a new adventure, essentially repeating the path of the first game: another shop, more forays for relics, and the same eternal temptation to grab a little more from the dungeon than you can carry. Digital Sun, however, takes its time building the suspense. The plot unfolds fragmentarily, without attempting to unfold a grand drama, and the only thing you manage to understand over the fifteen hours of play is that Moloch is still hungry and will sooner or later reach Tresna, the heroes’ current refuge.

Three in one

The core gameplay remains classic, but has acquired a more modern structure. After choosing a starting weapon, the player sets out to conquer one of six locations—two for each of the three worlds. These are no longer traditional dungeons, but branching zones with their own settings, enemies, and environments.

Each map offers a choice of routes: relic chests, resources, temporary bonuses, or events with special rules. The layout is familiar from many roguelikes, but it works reliably and sets a basic level of strategy.

Initially, the variety of bonuses and room types is limited: only one world is accessible, with new effects appearing as you progress. Each zone boils down to clearing enemies, periodic mini-bosses, and a final boss unique to each location.

The developers don’t yet offer any additional activities or variable events in the classic formula, and combat buffs are simplified—mostly numerical boosters like increased damage or decreased incoming damage.

In a vacuum, this seems modest for 2025, and it’s especially disappointing that it’s missing that magical moment that so many fell in love with the genre: when, in the midst of a run, the synergy between upgrades reaches its peak, breaking conventional mechanics and turning chaos into joy. However, to say that there’s no synergy here at all or that the player doesn’t feel a surge in power would be wrong—it’s all there, it’s just structured differently.

In the context of Moonlighter, this feels natural because the game itself is about so much more. Sometimes, when setting out to clear a location, the player isn’t even aiming to defeat the boss. After all, this isometric roguelike game houses three games at once: a combat action game, an inventory management game, and a trading simulator. Let’s discuss each one separately.

Heavy arguments

The first and most dynamic part of Moonlighter 2 is combat. Melee combat remains at the core, supplemented by simple but useful ranged weapons. Before starting a run, the player selects two weapon types—one for melee and one for ranged combat. Both weapons work in parallel: regular attacks, rolls, and special moves are combined with shooting without the need to switch weapons.

Plus, Will has a backpack strike—a separate move that allows him to deal devastating damage to a stunned enemy and send them flying, for example, straight into another enemy or into a trap—a very nice thing!

The basic set of weapons is unlocked almost immediately: a sword, a longsword, a spear, and gloves. Each has its own set of moves and special attacks. The long-range weapon is the “slurpshooter,” which charges up with close-range strikes and fires bolts of energy. A laser version is added later—slower, longer-ranged, and more powerful. I didn’t like it: the charge-up felt unjustified by both the range and damage, and aiming was awkward when playing with a gamepad.

It’s a similar story with the longsword. Its special attack animation feels like it was made for a rapier, not a bulky blade, and it lasts longer than some enemies’ attacks. There’s no roll-cancelling animation, so Will will be subject to random slaps until the player learns the enemy’s moves. Perhaps this is also a matter of personal preference: if there’s an alternative, I almost always avoid heavy two-handed weapons.

The gloves, however, were a pleasant surprise—quickly slicing through enemies is always satisfying, and elemental effects like lightning build up noticeably faster. The spear, however, stands out for its ability to control distance: a few precise thrusts, a change of position, and the tips fly toward the enemy like projectiles. Later, they can be made homing, although this option isn’t unlocked immediately; it’s acquired through progression at the blacksmith.

Each weapon has four variations with different passive effects—these compensate for the relatively modest power-ups during runs. These upgrades don’t completely revolutionize the game, but they allow you to gradually find your most comfortable fighting style.

Bosses conclude each location and test your attention span—and a little bit of your reflexes. Their attacks are clear, their phases vary in rhythm, but they rarely offer surprises. Patterns are quickly memorized, so the difficulty feels moderate: success depends more on collected power-ups and precision than on skill and a precise sense of timing. A couple of healing potions usually do the trick, but sometimes it’s enough to simply take your time and not be greedy.

Certain encounters, however, stand out for their design and execution. For example, the fight with Monte, who pilots a flying ray in Aeolia’s second location, Howling Bay. It’s spectacular, large-scale, and feels like a final encounter—which makes sense, as he’s essentially the main boss of Early Access.

However, the game doesn’t immediately get its balance right. At the start, enemies seem overly resilient even on normal difficulty, and the hard difficulty isn’t properly calibrated at all. The lack of healing items is particularly noticeable. Upgrading them is available from a dedicated NPC: over time, you can increase your potion supply and unlock a hot spring before the boss. Initially, it only partially restores health, but after upgrading, it fully restores it. But the problem is, upgrading isn’t just about weapons and consumables.

Tetris with a Trick

Once you’ve dealt with the enemies, Moonlighter 2’s next key element comes into play: inventory management. During your runs, you open chests containing relics—two random ones and one of your choice—and you need to carefully place them in your backpack.

“Competently” isn’t just a catchphrase: in addition to regular items with no effects, there are special relics that affect nearby ones. Some enhance them, others destroy them or change their properties, turning filling your backpack into a small tactical puzzle.

Every cell matters: place it poorly and you’ll lose some of your loot, but put together the right combination and you can squeeze the most out of a limited space. Over time, the mechanics become familiar and even enjoyable, although at first the pace noticeably drops after each arena.

Especially considering that the effects of relics differ in each of the three worlds: from burning and armor in the first to electrification and accumulation in the second and metamorphosis in the third.

The latter, by the way, seem to be the least verified: the transformation of some relics into others is more dependent on chance than others, and the backpack often gets cluttered with useless (read: cheap) junk.

The systems are otherwise similar, but the main challenge is the limited backpack space. Initially, there’s not enough room to store relics in reserve without triggering their effects. For example, an item that burns the relic on the left can be placed in the farthest slot to prevent the ability from triggering, and then moved to the appropriate location when needed.

As you upgrade your backpack, these opportunities become more numerous. The quality of loot also improves, increasing the chance of rare relics and combat buffs.

Why is all this necessary? The location and properties of relics directly affect the final collection of trophies, and therefore the income from their sale. After all, after returning to the surface, everything found will be sold in your own shop—the “Moonlight” store.

Work in two shifts

Our protagonist works practically seven days a week and sleeps almost nonstop. A nap on the bed is certainly possible, but usually, as soon as he catches his breath after a strenuous trophy run, his second shift, trading, begins. As before, the player sets the prices for the relics they find, but the system is now clearer and more intuitive.

You can set any initial price, and then just wait and see how buyers react. There are four possible outcomes: they’ll buy enthusiastically if the price is too low; they’ll buy happily if it’s just right; they’ll grumble but pay if you’ve gone a bit overboard; or they’ll simply walk away if the item is clearly overpriced.

At the start, you have to guess when developing your own pricing policy, but the optimal price found is automatically remembered, so repeating experiments is unnecessary. Pop-up emoticons indicate customer sentiment—a simple yet clear solution.

Selling at the optimal price fills a special meter—a local equivalent of the boosts found in battle runs. When the meter fills, you can activate temporary bonuses for the trading session: increasing the price of relics or increasing the chance (and size) of tips. The number of available upgrades and their strength depend on the individual skill tree.

All of this is managed by the automated assistant 34ВХ03—a robot that calculates markups based on the rarity of the relic, allows you to store goods between runs, unlock new upgrades, and even customize the shop: change the color of the walls, floor, cash register model, and other decorative details.

However, the furniture installed through it has an impact beyond just visual appeal. Display cases, rugs, flags, and statues provide passive effects: they boost tips, increase the price of certain types of relics, or speed up their sale. This forces you to consider your store layout and optimize your retail space.

The customers who frequent the shop also vary. Besides the average person, there are collectors hunting for specific relics and willing to pay premiums for them, as well as mindless spendthrifts who would buy anything at exorbitant prices—essentially the same collectors, only less demanding.

On paper, the trading system seems simple, but when combined with other mechanics, it works. However, it still lacks the depth to truly take things forward. I, for one, find it difficult to recommend the game to those looking for a full-fledged trading simulator—there are far more sophisticated titles out there. Just like for fans of combat roguelikes, I’d suggest starting with Hades II or Curse of the Dead Gods. This feeling of slight underdevelopment permeates almost every aspect of the game.

Yet it’s the interconnectedness of all these elements that recalls what made Moonlighter so beloved: its simple yet honest concept, where every action in one gameplay section resonates with another. Trading, loot, inventory management, and upgrades function as a single, cohesive, and uniquely satisfying cycle. It doesn’t overwhelm or frustrate, but simply provides a pleasant way to spend a few evenings—at this point, fully unlocking and completing the available content will take about twenty hours.

Early Access Bumps

Finally, I’d like to point out a few drawbacks and flaws that don’t seem critical but can spoil the overall experience. At this point, the game, for example, lacks the ability to save during a run. This means you can’t quit the game mid-run and then continue—all progress and loot will be lost.

However, if there’s not enough time to complete a run, you can voluntarily abandon it even during combat, keeping everything you’ve found. Considering that relics in your backpack lose half their value upon death, this option underscores the very idea that sometimes a run is purely for profit: you choose the most profitable route and acquire combat bonuses as needed.

I also encountered a bug during testing: a flying enemy would hover in the air, out of reach for melee attacks, and I couldn’t shoot it—the Squishshot’s ammo was depleted, and there was no one to refill it on, as the other enemies were already dead. Again, the ability to manually interrupt the run and keep the loot came in handy, but the situation was still frustrating.

Otherwise, the game runs smoothly: I encountered no other serious bugs or technical issues. Those that do appear to be isolated incidents, and will likely be fixed in future updates.

Diagnosis

The idea of ​​combining a trading simulator with a combat roguelike once ensured much of the original Moonlighter’s success—it gave meaning to the very essence of loot runs. Moonlighter 2 maintains this formula and develops it selectively, without attempting to reinvent the wheel. However, despite the abundance of cosmetic and systemic improvements, the overall balance between the elements still feels unsettled.

The combat is enjoyable and dynamic—in places even deeper than many of its direct competitors, as all skills truly come in handy. However, its potential is limited by progression within a run.

Inventory management remains interesting, but it clearly lacks flexibility, especially in the third area, where the relic effects feel less well-thought-out.

Trading is exciting at first, but over time it turns into a clear routine based on repeating the rules already learned.

So, no single mechanic stands on its own as a remarkable achievement, but that’s the magic of Moonlighter. Together, they form a cohesive and cozy cycle that’s simply a joy to be in: dungeons yield loot, the shop turns that loot into gold, gold into upgrades, and upgrades give you a boost in confidence for your next run.

The game’s potential is clear. With the addition of new locations, combat buffs will likely become more diverse, with new types of relics and ways to interact with them. Even in already-open worlds, the developers have left direct hints of expansion—”coming soon” signs promise future challenges and events. Not all store upgrades are available yet, and only four of the six Infinite Vault challenges have been completed.

This inspires hope for the deepening of existing systems and the introduction of new ones; Digital Sun also promises “a few more surprises.” If the team succeeds in developing these ideas, Moonlighter 2 could grow from a neat sequel into a full-fledged follow-up that confidently moves forward.

The game is already a definite recommendation for fans of the original, but anyone still hesitant should consider checking it out with an Xbox Game Pass subscription, waiting for the full version, or holding out for a discount.