The original Moonlighter came out in 2018, honing a burgeoning but still young, modern roguelite genre into a wonderful repeat of item grab-and-sell, which I’ll admit, I fell for pretty heavily back then. Now, a full seven years later, the genre has become massively mainstream (it’s everywhere), and there are releases and imitators released virtually every day. It’s impossible to keep up. Moonlighter 2 enters this new market still largely unchallenged in its little niche of running a shop with your pillaged items (except for maybe Dave the Diver). But with all that time to cook, it manages to hone and distil every advancement in the genre into one of the best examples of an addictive roguelite loop I’ve ever played. Even in Early Access, this is a hefty release.
Full Disclaimer: As this is Early Access, these are impressions, not a full review. We will not be giving the game a final score, but looking to the future and what the game could be when it reaches 1.0
Return of the Retailer
Moving the setting on from Rynoka to the new 3D town of Tresna, the story has it that a malicious being known as Moloch took control of the portals in town for himself, and banished the townsfolk, including ol’ Will. Nice that he didn’t just kill them all, to be honest. Will is now making his way as a merchant pillager all over again, setting up a new shop and beginning all over again. The Rynokans have been taken in by the odd, multi-species inhabitants of Tresna, who are more than happy to buy every broken trinket Will can find from across the dimensional blob portal thing. Story isn’t the most important part of Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault, or at least it’s not terribly meaty in this Early Access version, but it’s a nice backdrop to continue getting stronger, repeating the dungeons, and selling your loot, until the game reaches its 1.0 release.
Back To Business
The story speaks of a change from one dimension to another when the town was taken, but whether it’s right or not, my head canon is that they mean from 2D to 3D. The step up, the glow up, the evolution, whatever you want to call it, of Moonlighter, the 2D indie darling, to Moonlighter 2, the 3D cel-shaded beauty, is nothing short of incredible. I was a massive sceptic of the transition from 2D to 3D when first announced (why alter something so perfect), but when you are handed 3D so intensely beautiful and somehow in keeping with the tone and pastel vibe of the original, I got on board and then some.
A Persistent Hunter
Somehow, despite the change to 3D, Moonlighter 2’s combat doesn’t feel that different. Which is quite the feat in a completely different engine. Will still has his signature weapons, he rolls and combos a simple special, and he moves quickly despite a very heavy backpack. A favourite of the new system is when you really pummel an enemy to low health, they’ll rupture, glowing purple, and you can whack them across the room with said backpack. Enemies are a nice mix of simple and difficult, and even getting to the final boss room on a run can prove tricky early on. Best to get a few upgrades, some armour, some potions, and try, try, try again.
Combat was the only place where I really found glitches, with enemies who rolled away or got backpack-whacked ending up stuck in the scenery, ready for merciless slicing. The run features are strong and robust, offering a ton of perks, or treasure rooms, or battles, whichever you want for maximising your intentions that run. Maybe you want more items for sale, so it’s best to prioritise treasure rooms and sales multiplier perks, or maybe you want to reach the boss with minimum damage accumulated, so make for the battle perks only and speed past that treasure. If you can.
Market Recon
The other side of the coin with Moonlighter is, of course, your shop. It seems, from the many hours I’ve already put into the constant loop of item grab-and-sell, that there’s simply very little more addictive than gathering my items, getting home, arranging them lovingly on plinths, setting their prices to get the best returns, trying to get tips and perks and then opening my doors to the village folk, and hawking absolute junk to them at inflated prices. It’s somehow thrilling, and Moonlighter 2 has lost none of the magic from the first game.
If anything, it’s even better. There are games within games in Moonlighter 2; the backpack item management that burns items or increases their value, or crystallises them, or turns them into dolls; the back and forth with customers trying to find that sweet spot price where they aren’t discouraged, but instead go away both happy and poor; the constant choices to be made about increasing your loadout, item spaces, potion number, or weapons, or instead to spend it all on upgrades to the shop, so that you can rake in more cash next time.
Moonlighter 2 refines the systems and makes them even more satisfying and just-one-more-run than ever before.
The Price Of Greed
So Early Access can be a crapshoot in many cases, but 11bit Studios is a trustworthy publisher and Digital Sun is a trustworthy developer, neither of which want to ruin their great record. Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is in great condition, and you get a good chunk of the game for your Early Access purchase.
In Early Access you can explore three unique biomes (with two different flavours for each – so its kind of six) filled with enemies to battle, collect and sell over 120 relics in your shop, use four main weapons with different moves and feels and plenty of upgrades, customize your shop, set prices, and keep customers happy, experience a big part of the story and discover nearly 100 perks to power up each run.
During the months ahead the game will be tweaked with balance changes to combat and shopkeeping, a full glossary/encyclopaedia, more of all the perks and customisation options (as currently there’s a few ‘Coming Soon’ stickers over some functionality), and hopefully further biomes, weapons and most importantly a way towards battling Moloch and reaching the end of the story, and whatever end-game they have ideas for. I mean, it’s called The Endless Vault, right? There should be a substantial and meaningful way to just keep playing after the credits roll.
Of course, Early Access is only half the story, but we are very encouraged by a beautiful roguelite merchant pillager, chock full of content already, as it races towards a 1.0 release. We really are hoping for more narrative and many more biomes, in order to be able to rate the final version highly.
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault will be available on Steam Early Access from November 19th, 2025.
Developer: Digital Sun
Publisher: 11 Bit Studios
Disclaimer: In order to complete this Early Access preview, we were provided with a promotional preview build of the game.
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