#i still need to pick up a few base game things from dredge they added

[reliquiaen]

finally finished getting cyberpunk, bg3, and dredge to 100% so i can go back to clearing out my backlog. wonder how many i'll get through before the next game distracts me

[thessalian]

Thess vs The Purpose of Demos

With it being Next Fest on Steam and everything, I got to thinking. Because, like, most AAA companies won't actually give you demos anymore. I think the last one I saw for any of the franchises I actually like was Mass Effect 3, and I would have bought that game anyway (though honestly, I would have bought it on the strength of the demo too, so hey).

So while I was walking out to the shops (taking a break in the weather that has been incredibly bipolar today - bright warm sunshine to torrential rain and thunderstorm with little in the way of transition), I got to thinking about how many games I've picked up on the strength of the demos alone the last few years. Now, I've played around 90 demos according to my looking over of my "Thess vs demos" tag (though I'm sure I'm missing a few), and a fair few of those I haven't got simply because they're not out yet. So ... here's the list of the ones that I have picked up, solely on the strength of the demos, either from memory or from my demo tag:

Dredge (pre-ordered, one of my favourites)

Wylde Flowers (played under a different name, again one of my favourites)

Spiritfarer (another favourite)

Grim Tides (bought both games in the series on the strength of the demo)

A Building Full Of Cats (Devcats is awesome, and I just keep adding their games onto my wishlist on the strength of that one demo)

Logic Town (I have over 200 hours on that damn game and it is my ultimate Zen)

I Was A Teenage Exocolonist

Growing Up

Witchy Life Story

PACK MY STUFF

Sapiens

My Dream Setup (think this one was a gift)

Lake (this one was definitely a gift)

Fabledom

Boxes

Interior Worlds

Locked Up

Book of Hours

Room of Depression

Cook Serve Forever

Fall of Porcupine

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical

Harmony: The Fall of Reverie

Street of Secrets

Venba

House Flipper 2

Code Vein (gift; not my fault I can't play it due to janky keybinds)

WitchSpring R (was fine until they made it controller only post-demo)

So that's more than a quarter of the ones on the list. Of those, sixteen aren't even out yet, five of the ones I played were more up front about requiring a controller than the two at the bottom of my list of purchased games, three timed out before I got around to playing them, and at least thirty didn't make the wishlist at all, either because too janky, not my thing, or other priorities. The rest ... well, the rest and the "not out yet" is why my Steam wishlist is exactly 130 games big.

It makes me sad, honestly. AAA companies will do all the flashy marketing stuff and prevent any reviews from coming out until at least release day, pushing for hype-based pre-orders and refusing to let anyone know what they're actually getting. Meanwhile, here's me buying all manner of games I'd never have otherwise heard of, much less touched, based on Steam going, "LOOK! DEMOS FOR GAMES!" Half the time I wonder if it's that they have no faith in their product. Then I remember that it's more that they don't care; they just want as many people as possible to buy it immediately on release if not sooner. They're perfectly happy to put up any barriers they can to an informed purchase for ... just as a for-instance, people like me, who is literally unable to play certain games and really need to have any given game in my hands for at least a few minutes to figure out whether a game is one I can play or not.

But ... like ... take Veilguard, for instance. It doesn't look like one I can play. Watching the gameplay left me with a migraine that still hasn't 100% quit yet because of all of the camera movement, and the ARPG feel of the gameplay looks like something I might find it fairly painful to do - maybe even impossible, depending on the day. But if I could have it in my hands, see the accessibility options, find a playstyle I could work with, I would be a lot more inclined to buy it. Now I have people all over reassuring me that the accessibility options will surely be enough (even though they're actually refusing to talk about those in Q&As at the moment) and that of course I'll find a playstyle that's right for me ... and yet I have the memory of playing the closed beta of Secret World: Legends and being unable to play. Of getting Code Vein and finding that the limitations they set on changing keybinds means I can't use an entire ability suite. Of buying WitchSpring R and having to return it immediately upon starting the game because while the demo didn't require a controller, the finished game did. Getting Jedi: Fallen Order and discovering just how ARPG it is and how hard it is to find keybinds that work for me given my limitations. Of having a game I really want - actually owning it - and being unable to play because of things I didn't know before I bought the thing (or it was bought for me, which is somehow worse).

So ... yeah, I'm frustrated that the AAA gaming space would rather obfuscate with marketing hype instead of letting us make an informed decision, with the end result that I either avoid games for a long time (if not forever) ... or risk ending up with a new addition to the collection of very expensive games that I only find out after the fact that I cannot play.

...Basically, MORE DEMOS, PLEASE.

[theonyxpath]

This is the art for the cover of Cavaliers of Mars by Chris Huth, and it just so strongly reminds me of Mike Mignola’s comic art for Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, but even more detailed. Those comics were early 90s, and I was thrilled to be able to hire Mike Mignola some years later for the covers and some interior pieces for the editions of their adventures White Wolf reissued under our Legends fiction imprint.

Which is a round-about way of saying: I like that Cavs cover!

It’s sword and sorcery, and pretty inspiring, and Rose Bailey absolutely loves that inspirational material. She’s woven a setting that draws on all that great early sword and sorcery, and modern fiction and anime, and more. We’re half-way through Cavaliers of Mars‘ Kickstarter, and she’d be thrilled if you took the time to check it out here: http://ift.tt/2jF6HdQ

    V20 Dark Ages Jumpstart Ventrue

    One thing, if you do: don’t be put off by Cavaliers of Mars‘ Kickstarter Estimated Delivery dates. We’ve had many adventures with those dates, and at this point I just stretch them out far further than we really plan to deliver. I know that scares off some backers, but it’s a trade-off between accuracy and our process that needs to allow creators to take more time than originally estimated in order to nail the feeling and info they want to deliver for the project.

Or to allow creators who have unforeseen life changes come up, that prevent them from delivering when they originally thought they could, to still continue helming their projects. Like I mentioned last week, our creative process has been very much developer-driven going back to when Onyx Path was founded. So our estimates have been mostly based on working out delivery dates with the developer(s) and then extending the estimates out from there.

Rather than tie ourselves to the dates, we’ve extended the time-frames, maybe ridiculously. We’re also aiming to only go live with a Kickstarter after the text is completely finished and not add entire new sections to the KS’d project that would delay delivering the book to backers. And like I also mentioned these last couple of weeks, we’re bringing in more support folks like Eddy Webb to help beleaguered developers finish their projects.

If these initiatives help out, we’re more than likely to pull back the Estimated Delivery deadlines to more normal time-frames.

    Samuel Araya illustration for Half-Damned

    Speaking of initiatives, remember when I wrote about our Extended Media projects? Sure you do! I babbled on about them for quite a few blogs in the early parts of this year. Let’s see how they’re doing!

First, we have our fiction books getting onto Amazon and the Nook marketplace. We have put multiple waves of books up in both places, for a total of 25 books (a combination of novels, anthologies, and a cookbook) all in the proper Kindle and Nook formats for easy and convenient reading. World of Darkness, Chronicles of Darkness, Exalted, and Scarred Lands fiction are all up there. They’re selling and we’ll be adding more as we publish them, but we’re caught up on the backlog, so the new titles are likely to come out as each one is ready.

This was, I think, a win for what we were trying to do, and a big round of applause for Bill Bridges and Valerie Tate!

Val also has been working with our first App team in creating Onyx Path‘s dice rolling app. We’re nearing the time that we’ll be able to release the app, and we’re starting with ten-sided dice pools for Scion, and our licensed WW IPs, but the app is customizable for any 10-sided pool system. (And before we release to the public we need the OK from WW and then we need to send the very patient backers of Werewolf 20th their dice rolling app stretch goal rewards).

This project rolls into another with our App team, and things are looking awesome with it, so another expected win here – but we’ll hold off on actually marking that down until it releases.

Then we have the online gaming accessories, and here we’ve had less success. We are getting more traction on those venues (like Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds) but that’s mostly because fans (in the companies involved or their existing customers) are making stuff, but we have not yet. Mostly, so far I haven’t been able to find creators we can hire on as freelancers.

We’re not giving up though, and with our recent purchase of Scarred Lands, I have some hopes that we’ll be able to work with some of the folks already engaged with SL in the online gaming space. But for now, I’ve got to take the hit for this and call it a loss. For now.

    Arms of the Chosen illustration by Gunship Revolution

    On a different topic, I also said a few weeks ago that I’d relate the new projects and such revealed at Gen Con last August. I’ve done Chronicles of Darkness, so this week it’s Exalted 3rd.

Besides the ongoing monthly monster and antagonists releases, we have The Realm and Dragon-Blooded. Which you pretty much know about. We expect Dragon-Blooded‘s Kickstarter next year to generate additional projects, some DB-oriented and others maybe not, so we’re keeping our “official slate of releases” pretty much focused on the big books with the expectation that smaller projects will fill in from that Kickstarter.

Because we know that our Exalted community needs certain big books in order to play their ongoing games, we’re focusing on Lunars and then Exigents after DB. The old and then the new, as it were. We really think that will take us through the year, so even though we do have ideas for starting to work in some of the already-announced projects, and even some new ones, we want to get our Dev team entirely through The Realm and Dragon-Blooded and all that goes along with developing those books, before committing to anything further.

Too much, too fast has already slammed our Exalted developers going all the way back, and we’d like to avoid that with our new team.

So that’s pretty much what I said at Gen Con, and also:

Different Worlds, One Path!

      BLURBS!

ON SALE!

YOUR COVER IS BLOWN! The Demon: The Descent Bundle of Holding goes live tomorrow 10/3 and runs until the 23rd – unlocking new books as it runs! It will be here tomorrow: http://ift.tt/ZkIwwy

  We’ve been looking for something to do to help out the disaster in Puerto Rico, as have a bunch of other publishers and we’ve donated PDFs for this: http://ift.tt/2xNzEtY We contributed the Trinity Core Rulebook. Please consider picking up this bundle, with proceeds going to GlobalGiving’s Puerto Rico and Caribbean Hurricane Relief Fund.

    KICKSTARTER:

  The Cavaliers of Mars Kickstarter funded and is now past 600%, with Stretch Goals including an Exclusive T-Shirt, an increased art budget, Postcards from Mars, and we are closing in on the goal that completes an additional book: City of the Towered Tombs, describing the bustling canal city of Vance, from the brooding waters and desperate criminals of the Dredge to the beautiful environs and macabre spectacles of the Hangman’s Garden. Delve into the affairs of colorful nobles and the schemes of the desperate criminals in this look at Mars’ greatest remaining city! If all that sounds interesting to you, here is the link: http://ift.tt/2jF6HdQ

  ON AMAZON:

  We’re delighted to announce the opening of our ebook store on Amazon! You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle. Our initial selection includes these fiction anthologies: Vampire: the Masquerade‘s Endless Ages, Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition‘s Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage 2, Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition‘s Truth Beyond Paradox, Chronicles of Darkness‘ God Machine Chronicle, Mummy: The Curse‘s Curse of the Blue Nile, and Beast: The Primordial‘s The Primordial Feast!

And now you can get these books in the Barnes and Noble Nook store too!

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Endless Ages Anthology

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage II

Mage: The Ascension: Truth Beyond Paradox

Chronicles of Darkness: The God-Machine Chronicle Anthology

Mummy: The Curse: Curse of the Blue Nile

Beast: The Primordial: The Primordial Feast Anthology

  And here are six more fiction books:

Vampire: The Masquerade: Of Predators and Prey: The Hunters Hunted II Anthology

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: The Poison Tree

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Songs of the Sun and Moon: Tales of the Changing Breeds

Vampire: The Requiem: The Strix Chronicle Anthology

Werewolf: The Forsaken: The Idigam Chronicle Anthology

Mage: The Awakening: The Fallen World Chronicle Anthology

  Andand six more more:

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Beast Within Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: W20 Cookbook (Kindle, Nook)

Exalted: Tales from the Age of Sorrows (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: Tales of the Dark Eras (Kindle, Nook)

Promethean: The Created: The Firestorm Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Demon: The Descent: Demon: Interface (Kindle, Nook)

And even more books are going up on Amazon and the Nook store on Wednesday!:

Vampire: The Masquerade Dark Ages: The Cainite Conspiracies

World of Darkness: Strangeness in the Proportion

Vampire: The Requiem: Silent Knife

Mummy: The Curse: Dawn of Heresies

Scarred Lands: The Walled Warren

    We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the Screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there!

http://ift.tt/2w0aaEW

    Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: http://ift.tt/1ZlTT6z

You can now order wave 2 of our Deluxe and Prestige print overrun books, including Deluxe Mage 20th Anniversary, and Deluxe V20 Dark Ages! And Screens…so many Screens!

And you can now order Pugmire: the book, the screen, and the dice! http://ift.tt/1pOsnTb

    ON DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

From the massive Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras main book, we have pulled this single chapter, Dark Eras: God’s Own Country (Geist: The Sin-Eaters New Zealand 1950s). World War II is over and a new age of technology is coming, but a hidden storm threatens to overwhelm both the Maori and the European New Zealanders, flooding the world with the restless dead. The Bound are the last line of defense between a spirit-world gone mad and a sleepy island nation concerned with the advent of rock and roll and mourning their lost soldiers.

On sale in PDF and physical copy PoD versions on DTRPG this Wednesday!

      EX3 Music Suite #1: Fanfare for the Chosen sounds off long and proud on DTRPG! http://ift.tt/2fHws8A

Fanfare for the Chosen includes inspiring soundtrack themes for each of the ten types of Exalted (Solars, Lunars, Sidereals, Dragon Bloodeds, Abyssals, Exigents, Getiminans, Liminals, Infernals, Alchemicals), to set the tone as you encounter these Exalted in your games or are seeking inspiration for new stories.

    We’re also releasing the five EX3 Electronic Wallpapers only previously available to EX3 Kickstarter backers on DTRPG : http://ift.tt/2xNTzJb

      From out of the Dreaming, the C20 Jumpstart: Yours To Keep PDF and PoD are now live on DTRPG.com: http://ift.tt/2fmlF3s

There is magic hiding everywhere. You just need to know where to look.

You are a changeling, a faerie soul hiding in a mortal body, fighting the chill of Nightmares and the oppressive weight of Banality with the pure creative power of Glamour. You have lived many lives, but the story of this one? It outshines them all.

In this hidden world, knights in steel and leather clash sword to sword outside the homecoming dance, dragons fly between skyscrapers, and fantastic castles rise from suburban lawns. A world of magic, intrigue, and adventure, and now that your fae side has awakened, it’s your world too.

“Yours to Keep” includes a rules and setting overview, as well as pre-generated characters and a complete introductory scenario for Changeling: The Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition. It’s perfect for jumpstarting a new Changeling chronicle!

    The PDF and PoD versions of C20 are now on DriveThruRPG.com: http://ift.tt/2w4Eq2m

Twenty years ago, White Wolf published Changeling: the Dreaming, the fifth of their promised five game-lines that together comprised the World of Darkness. Seen by some as a lighter, more fantasy-based setting in the modern-day, and by others as the darkest game White Wolf had yet created, players had to face the question of what happens once creativity and magic fades from their world.

This 20th Anniversary Edition of Changeling: the Dreaming returns to that deceptively bright yet terrifying world and both compiles and completes the concepts of the previous two editions. Led by veteran White Wolf and Onyx Path developer “Blackhat” Matt McFarland, our writing team consists of longtime Changeling creators like Ian Lemke, Jackie Cassada, Nicky Rea, and Peter Woodworth, as well as familiar names such as John Snead, Maggie Carrol, Matthew Dawkins, and Krister Michl. One and all are dedicated to making Changeling: the Dreaming Twentieth Anniversary Edition the most playable edition yet – while not losing the wonder, awe, and majesty that Changeling is known for.

A revised and up to date look at the World of Darkness through the eyes of the Kithain – what has happened to the Dreaming in the last 20 years, and what is the state of Glamour and dreams?

Rules for all of the kiths including in 2nd ed, plus fan favorites from other books: selkies, piskies, clurichaun, and both Arcadian and Concordian sidhe.

Rules for the Gallain: The inanimae, the hsien, the Nunnehi, and others!

An overhauled and reimagined system for fae magic, including new Arts and the powerful but dangerous practice of Unleashing!

New full-color beautiful artwork as well as classic Changeling illustrations including remastered full page pieces of the kiths by Tony Diterlizzi.

      Now available, this all-new Trinity Continuum: Aeon poster, featuring the art we used for the cover of the StoryPath Booklet at this year’s GenCon! http://ift.tt/2y2MOkm

And this version for art lovers is without the logo: http://ift.tt/2xt4ngk

        Calling all Good Dogs! The Pugmire Core Rulebook PDF is now available on DTRPG.com!

http://ift.tt/2wAaAp3

And the actual physical book, screen, and dice, are available to order on the IPR and Studio2 websites!

Studio2: http://ift.tt/2w0aaEW

          Satyr Phil Brucato beckons you once more into the Annex of Mage: The Ascension with this 300 page follow-up to M20. The M20 Book of Secrets is NOW on sale in PDF and PoD versions at DTRPG.com! http://ift.tt/2tKyJtb

More Than Magick

For mages who think they have everything, this trove of treasures expands upon the wealth of material presented throughout Mage: The Ascension’s 20th Anniversary Edition. New Traits, new rules, essays, answers, information… the Secrets are revealed within.

Enter the Annex

Building upon the M20 core rulebook, this Book of Secrets features updated rules and setting material, such as…

An M20 FAQ Genres & Resources

Matters of Focus Justice & Influence

New Abilities, Archetypes, Merits & Flaws

Expanded Rules for Combat, Resonance, Wonders, Computer Systems, and More

This Ascension Continues…

        What dark secrets do the eldest vampires hold? Find out in Thousand Years of Night for Vampire: The Requiem! Advance PDF version available now on DriveThruRPG.com. http://ift.tt/2sV8lZR

You may think that with a multitude of people coming, going, dying and running away, we’d be tired, done, or ready to give up. Instead, I find myself restless, looking for the next thing.  There’s always a next thing, and I for one am not yet ready to die.

– Elder Kincaid, Daeva Crone

This book includes:

• Detailed instructions on creating elder vampires, including how to base chronicles around them

• A look into the lives of elders, how they spend their nights, who they work with, and why including their roles in both their clans and covenants

• New Devotions, Merits, and Rituals for elder vampires

• The kinds of creatures that pose a threat to elder vampires, including Inamorata, Lamia, Sons of Phobos, a new elder conspiracy, and more!

          CONVENTIONS!

Fast Eddy Webb will be running Pugmire during the online convention Gauntlet Con: http://ift.tt/2sSctbs which runs from Oct. 20 – 22. Here is the sign-up link for the event which will be live-streamed. Currently three of six seats are still open: http://ift.tt/2xt3HaM

  In November, we’ll be at Game Hole Con in Madison, WI. November 2-5: http://ift.tt/2xsOnuzMonica Valentinelli (Hunter: the Vigil 2e, Dark Eras), Manda Collis (Exalted 3e), Scott Holden (Scarred Lands), Matt M McElroy (Operations Manager) and other folks from the OPP crew will be there!

  Also in November, the Onyx Path crew including Rich, Matt, Lisa, Neall, Dixie, and Meghan will be at the first ever PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, November 17-19. http://ift.tt/2kBzmfv

  Planning ahead for 2018, we’re heading back to Midwinter Game Convention in Milwaukee, January 11-14, where we’re going to be bringing a big crew of many of your favorite Onyx Path designers and we’ll be running demos and making some special announcements at the show!  http://midwintergamingconvention.com

  And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM ROLLICKING ROSE (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

RichT: To save time, I’ll tell you right now, no changes in the writing/dev/editing list this week. Lots of stuff is “on the cusp”, though.

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

C20 Novel (Jackie Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Monarchies of Mau (Monarchies of Mau)

Night Horrors: The Tormented (Promethean: The Created 2nd Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

They Came From Beneath the Sea! Rulebook (TCFBtS!)

  Redlines

Kithbook Boggans (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

  Second Draft

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)

  Development

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

SL Ring of Spiragos (Pathfinder – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Ring of Spiragos (5e – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Pugmire Pan’s Guide for New Pioneers (Pugmire)

Scion: Origin (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)

The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

  WW Manuscript Approval:

Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

  Editing:

Ex Novel 2 (Aaron Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

DtD Night Horrors: Enemy Action (Demon: the Descent)

  Post-Editing Development:

W20 Changing Ways (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

C20 Ready Made Characters (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

  Indexing:

    ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

W20 Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook – Art at WW approved.

Cavaliers of Mars

W20 Changing Ways

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Scion Origins

Ring of Spiragos

VtR Half Damned

Book of Freeholds

DtD Enemy Action

C20 RMCs – Finishes coming.

Changeling: the Lost 2 – ADing. Getting art in for KS a priority.

Trinity Continuum – Splats for core book with Mr Jones

  Marketing Stuff

  In Layout

Prince’s Gambit – Remaining art is arting.

Wraith 20

Beast PG

M20 Cookbook – Working on it after Beckett is done.

  Proofing

VDA Jumpstart

Ex 3 Arms of the Chosen 

Becket’s Jyhad Diary – Proofing back and forth with Dawkins.

  At Press

Beckett Screen – Shipped to shipper.

Scarred Land PGs & Wise and the Wicked PF & 5e – On a boat to the US. PoD proofs ordered.

Dark Eras: God’s Own Country – PDF and PoD versions on sale this week.

VTR: Thousand Years of Night – Errors discovered at GenCon, getting fixed.

Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition) – Deluxe Edition cover and Screen in the works.

CtL Huntsmen Chronicle Anthology PDF – getting PDF ready.

Art of Mage – Ordering PoD proofs.

Pugmire Trick, Condition, and Initiative Cards – PoD proofs ordered.

  TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: We did not celebrate the coming of Autumn yet, but it happened. The Fall. My favorite time of the year, and it’s not for all the pumpkin spice crap. Here in the NE USA, we have the leaves changing to reds, golds, oranges, yellows, and darkness comes earlier. The air gets crisper and cooler, less humid. We can wear layers and jackets! And Winter is coming, but it ain’t here yet, so let’s have some fun!

[questlogpodcast]

Moonlighter

What is it?

What if Link’s sacred quest was to own and operate a successful business in Kakariko Village instead of chasing princess Zelda through the dungeons of Hyrule? That’s Moonlighter. You play as Will, a young man who is taking over the family store. Your shelves will be stocked with goodies you pilfer from the dungeons, and you can invest your profits in new gear, upgrades for your shop, and attracting new businesses into the town itself.

Did you play Recettear? No. Okay, nevermind. I’ll just stick to the Legend of Zelda comparison then.

Look

Hey everyone, Moonlighter has a retro pixel art style tha-hey where are you going? Come back!

Okay. Moonlighter’s doing the hi-bit visual style that has been in vogue for a few years now. The first visual comparisons that come to mind are Owlboy and Hyper Light Drifter. Are you sick of it yet? I’m not, actually. I love that visual style, and it is firing on all cylinders here. 

The game exudes charm, and the game’s visual style is a big part of that. The vibrant colors almost leap off the screen, particularly in town. Smoke rises from the furnace in your room, the shop’s banner gently flaps in the breeze, and all you see is the top of Will’s head when he runs through tall grass. These little touches like the tinkle of the bell when a customer enters the shop breathe life into the world.

Sound

This is where the game really surprised me. I’ll admit I was pretty excited for Moonlighter to come out. The visual charm of the game piqued my interest the moment I saw it. Recetear was a hidden gem, and I’ve been wondering when another dungeon crawling shop keeping game would come along.

I hadn’t really given the soundtrack a second thought, but the first time I got to walk around the town at night I was hooked. Ryoka at night is such a peaceful experience, I want to just drink it all in. The streetlamps standing out in the darkness, the fireflies...the night feels safe in a way that reminded me of being out in my small town as a child.* The music moves from playful to adventurous to contemplative as the setting demands it. The best soundtracks feel are an integral part of their game worlds, and Moonlighter’s score is no exception.

Feel

Moonlighter has a distinct gameplay loop of “go to the dungeon - sell your loot in the store - buy some upgrades - rinse and repeat.” This treadmill has been satisfying in a “I really need to go to bed but JUST ONE MORE RUN” way. The game has 5 different procedurally generated dungeons to progress through, with each having its own big baddie on the bottom floor. 

The combat feels tight and snappy. This was my biggest concern heading into the game, and I’m pleased to report that it feels spot-on. I haven’t encountered anything that feels overwhelming yet, but everything is challenging enough that I get punished if I (invariably) get sloppy and lose focus. The game gives you a pendant that lets you teleport out of the dungeon pretty much anytime (for a gold cost). Knowing when to leave is important, and the temptation to stay just a little longer is ever-present. Before writing this, I defeated the guardian of the desert shrine where I spent the last 25% of the battle one hit away from death. I should have left, but I stayed for reasons I can’t explain. Usually that siren’s call leads me into the rocks, but this time I was successful. And that is an incredible feeling.

Moonlighter gives you 5 different weapon types to choose from - sword & shield, 2-handed sword, spear, bow & arrow, and....gloves? Fists. Each one feels distinct and gives the combat a welcome bit of customization. Their reach and ranges are different, and each one has a special attack associated with it; the two-handed sword grants a spin attack (oh hi Link), the glove grants a quick dash attack, and so on.

The shopkeeper bits are a little simpler than I expected: you price each thing for the first time based on a whim. Customers will either be super excited for the price (you’re selling too cheap) turn their nose up (too expensive) or be satisfied (the item’s “base price”). There’s a 4th response where the customer will pay a bit above the base price, but be a little pissy about it.** The game told me that if I don’t mix up my offerings somewhat, the market will be flooded and drive prices down.

You can expand your store space and add decorations that allow you to have more customers at a time, or make them tip a little more with a purchase. The retail portion of the game is a nice way to break up the dungeon crawling, and it lends a sense of purpose to the dungeon delves. Your inventory space is quite limited, and most every run will see you deciding which items to keep for the shop, which items to keep for crafting, and which ones to quick-sell for a little cash.*

This brings us to what is the game’s weakest element: inventory management. You have a limited amount of space in your backpack. Most items can stack, but you will find items with “enchantments” that restrict where in your backpack they can be stored, or send another backpack item home, or copy an item, and so on. It can quickly turn into a sprawling mess of carefully organized chaos. I’m kinda okay with this. I like trying to wring every last drop of efficiency out of a system. 

The problem is how clunky and unfriendly the UI is. I found that I often couldn’t simply press a button to pick up an item and press it again to put it down. Pressing and holding the button, moving it where I wanted to place it, letting up on the button and then pressing it again (sort of like drag and drop with a mouse) seems to work. Constantly rearranging items with an analog stick quickly becomes tiring and acts as a deterrent to engaging with that whole system. 

And the game gives you a magic mirror or whatever so you can sell unwanted items while in the dungeon (for far less than market value of course). That’s a really nice touch and it helps reduce the analysis paralysis. Just leaving stuff on the ground feels bad. But that’s what I end up doing because the need to constantly shuffle items around to make room to pick up the thing I want to sell really sucks the fun and momentum out of the experience. It feels like a tax imposed on the experience. “If you want to get the most gold out of this run, you’ll spend half of your time moving stuff around your bag.” Adding a button combination to automatically sell stuff lying on the ground would be a godsend here.

The UI issues go a bit beyond the inventory management too. When you’re browsing the blacksmith’s shop, there’s no way to see what you’re already using. A button press to compare gear would keep me from having to back out of the shop and look at my inventory 6 times whenever I go shopping. Also it’s much cheaper to craft potions than to buy them, but there’s no way to buy more than 1 at a time. I’d rather buy 10 potions once than 1 potion 10 times.

Give this game a try if

- Isometric dungeon crawlers are your jam. - Dredging up a bunch of shit from a dungeon, selling it in your own store, then adding more display cases and flowers and banners to your shop and maybe buying a bigger bed sounds awesome to you.

Avoid this game if

- The idea of managing and selling inventory is a turn-off for you. It feels like maybe a third of the game. It’s pretty basic, but it’s a significant portion of the experience. - You want a deep and engaging story. For all the game’s charm, the story in Moonlighter is barely there. It tends to explain away the randomness of the dungeons with “I dunno, probably magic?” I think the game is probably better for it, but this might disappoint some folks. - You have little tolerance for clunky inventory management.

tl;dr

I’ve put about 10 hours into Moonlighter and it feels like I’m maybe halfway through the content. Some part of my brain keeps analyzing the game and saying “It’s just a loop of getting gear in the dungeon and selling it to get stronger gear so you can repeat the loop in slightly more difficult areas; when are you going to get bored with this?” The answer seems to be “Not anytime soon.” 

The dungeons walk the knife’s edge of offering a satisfying challenge without being frustrating. Every journey down offers a push-your-luck experience where I sometimes convince myself that, even though I am low on health and out of potions, whatever is in the next room will be worth that risk and will not kill me. Sometimes I’m even right!

The town is quaint and charming, and being in the game just feels good. The town of Rynoka feels like home - particularly at night. And the game is not without its faults. The inventory system feels like the band-aid in the burrito here. It’s not nearly enough to make me put the game down, but I could understand it being a major issue for some. The game also does the “You’ve been on this floor for too long, here’s a big invincible monster to chase you now” thing. I don’t understand that decision. Your limited backpack space is a limiting factor enough, I don’t feel the need to try to milk every part of every floor. Every time the green blobby dude came after me, it was because I simply hadn’t found the stairs to the next floor yet.

I’m in love with Moonlighter. It feels like I’ll get about 20 hours out of it, and right now that’s my biggest concern - I can see the end on the horizon. It’s like seeing a storm coming and hoping it misses you. It’s not perfect, but the good bits are enough to make the shortcoming palatable. Hopefully the game’s UI issues can be addressed. If that happens, I feel like I can recommend this game with no caveats. 

Even as it stands now, Moonlighter is one of my favorite games of 2018. If it ends in a dozen hours and ends up as solid 20 hour game, I’ll still be very happy with it.

Release date: May 29, 2018 Developer: Digital Sun Platform: PC, PS4, Xbox One 

*I’m overselling it here. Every once in awhile something out of blue stirs some long dormant memory for me. **Like buying a $10 burger. I’ll do it since I’m already here, but it’d better be good.