Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault review: “Dungeon delving, balancing sacks of loot, then hawking your wares is still a compelling loop – but the exchange rate between those pillars is wobbly in early access”

When I played Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault during Steam Next Fest in June, I came away very impressed at the way the three main pillars of its gameplay loop overlapped. Alongside its more traditional dungeoneering gameplay were inventory management and shop keeping systems that worked beautifully, encouraging you to manipulate every aspect of the game to chase your goal. But while the core ideas are all still present, the five months since I last played have brought changes to this early access build that have left me a little cold.

Moonlighter 2 picks up the story of the original Moonlighter a few months down the line. Forced to flee their home at the end of that game, the cast end up in the village of Tresna, where protagonist Will has pushed the patience of his landlord a little too far. She’s desperate for cash, so she sends you back to your adventuring life – dungeon-crawling to gather relics that you can sell in your store. It’s a repeat of the original game’s excellent elevator pitch, though Moonlighter 2 has replaced top-down pixel art with an isometric 3D presentation that offers a little more tactical breadth to some fights.