Most action-adventure games are just simple titles where you take control of a hero and battle against dangerous enemies while exploring beautiful but treacherous dungeons and lands. However, sometimes we just want more out of our typical action-adventure gameplay. That’s where developer Digital Sun’s latest game Moonlighter, comes into place. In Moonlighter, you’re still going to be that wannabe hero, but you’re also going to be a merchant who is trying to keep his shop going. Moonlighter aims to deliver more than your typical gameplay and it’s an experience that might be what you’ve always wanted.
Moonlighter is one-part action-adventure game and one-part merchant simulator. Players control a young store owner who must build up his store—called the Moonlighter—by selling items taken from within dangerous areas. Do battle against various beasts and earn cash to buy better equipment and become the hero you were destined to be. However, be careful young warrior. The Gates lead to constantly shifting landscapes and while the treasures within might lead to lucrative cash, they might also lead to a quick death…
Moonlighter tells the story of Will, a young merchant who lives in the town of Rynoka. Will runs the Moonlighter, a store that sells assorted items that he finds while exploring otherworldly dungeons via the ancient Gates near Rynoka. These strange places constantly shift and the dangers within are numerous, but Will knows that each risk can lead to better rewards and maybe make him go from common merchant to a hero he so desires to be. Will once more arms himself with his trusty broom and enters the Gates in hopes of finding treasures none have unearthed before. However, can Will survive the dangers of the so-called Golems that wander within the dangerous dungeons?
The Legend of Zelda has always been considered one of the best action/adventure games ever made because Link’s tales are always filled with wonder and amazement. Yet, that has never stopped other developers from trying to create games like The Legend of Zelda in some shape or form. From the very first few minutes—and an iconic quote Zelda fans would know all too well—Moonlighter seems different than most titles in the genre. What makes Moonlighter stand out and does it play well because of these differences? Let us discover the answers to those questions in our review of Moonlighter!
Moonlighter has players control Will. By definition, Will isn’t a hero or even a warrior; instead Will is a merchant with dreams of being a hero and being the first to conquer the Gates. This is where Moonlighter fuses multiple genres together in one $19.99 title. You’ll be fighting baddies swinging various weapons like swords, lances, fists and bows—get a bow seriously by the way—earning items to use for more equipment and upgrades. Equally, you’ll be obtaining items to sell in Moonlighter which is simple and fun. Though let’s not get ahead of ourselves and break apart each section of Moonlighter and why both parts are simply amazing.
Action/adventure wise, Moonlighter is about exploring a roguelike series of dungeons via portals called Gates. Each Gate leads to different dungeons that randomize each time you enter. The goal is simple; get to the depths of the dungeon and beat the boss to get further in Moonlighter. However, Moonlighter makes exploring a risk/reward theme where you could just fight your way through and make it to the end—hopefully—or you can keep beating enemies to fill your inventory and go back to the Moonlighter to sell what you have for gold that can be used to gain new weapons, upgrade the town and your own shop. You’ll need to be careful of your greed as dying leads you to lose all your inventory items—though not the ones equipped or in the main part of your inventory—and means you’ll lose possible gold and time. Sometimes you need to just run when you have a lot of items and fight the dungeon later.
Shop keeping is the second element of Moonlighter and while it might seem tough at first, trust us, it’s far from complicated. Initially, your shop can sell four items at a time and it’s up to you to delegate the prices. When you open shop, random NPCs will come in and buy the items or reject them because the prices are too high. You’ll learn from the simple smiling expressions when you’re selling an item at a good—and fair—price or when you’re asking for far too much. Moonlighter also keeps memory of the best prices so when you reinsert the same items into your shop, it will automatically set at the price it last sold at. You also have a compendium which shows what items are worth and when they sell the best. You’ll quickly become a strong shop owner and it will help make your dungeon adventures a bit easier as you can buy items to aid you in your heroic missions.
Finally, let’s talk about the graphic and sound of Moonlighter. In one word, Moonlighter is awesome. Visually, we loved the vibrant colors and lush designs that remind us of older games but in a more modern setting. We also love the soundtrack which makes dungeons and battles really feel like epic affairs. The monster designs are darn impressive too as they might look simple at times but sometimes can be scarier than they look. Moonlighter looks incredible and sounds it too. Seriously, we can’t believe this is an indie title that is how incredible it looks.
Moonlighter is what we call the perfect action/adventure game ladies and gentlemen. We have never had this much fun playing a game that beat us down with multiple deaths and equally made us realize the pains of trying to be a store owner. Moonlighter does everything from its action gameplay to its exploration elements and even the store management perfectly leaving us with just an urge to keep playing as we inch closer to becoming the heroes and store moguls we knew we could always be. There is no question here on whether to buy or to pass up on Moonlighter. If you love tough games with an emphasis on learning and becoming better as well as games that let you feel like a true adventurer one minute and a store owner the next, then you’re going to adore all that is Moonlighter. Go and buy Moonlighter this very second as this is 100% worth the $19.99 asking price.
Here at Honey’s Anime, we love adventure games with action themes and enjoy sometimes just trying to become in-game store owners trying to nickel and dime our patrons for the most gold we can get from our items. Moonlighter allows us to fulfill both of these roles in a game that we can’t honestly see ourselves putting down anytime soon. You need to play Moonlighter as it’s easily one of the better indie developed games we’ve played in 2018. Are you now thinking of buying Moonlighter and giving it a try for yourself? If you are and or if you have, let us know in the comments below as we always love engaging with our readers. Remember to also stick around as we continue to review more games and anime here at Honey’s Anime!
Author: Aaron
Hey everyone I’m Aaron Curbelo or Blade as I’m called by my YouTube Subscribers. I’ve been an anime/manga fan since I was a young kid. In terms of anime I have watched nearly a thousand shows and have read hundreds of manga series. I love writing and honestly was so happy to join Honey’s Anime to get a shot to write articles for such a wonderful site. I’m a firm believer in respect in the anime community being the most important embodiment we should all have. We all love anime and we have varying opinions of series but we should respect one another for those differences! Life is too precious to spend it making needless arguments in a community that should be the shining example of loving an amazing medium. I hope as a writer for Honey’s Anime I can bring you folks some amazing articles to read and enjoy!
Filed under First Impressions, High School DxD by Stilts | 9 Comments
「学園祭の準備です！」 (Gakuen-sai no Junbi desu!) “We are Preparing for the School Festival!”
I ended up watching this episode in two different sittings, which made for an odd experience. The first half was hilarious, all silly hero show and harem hijinks, which is the stuff that we’re mostly here to see. The hero show was especially good for how outrageous it was, such as when Issei’s hero show character powers up in the same way he really does it—oppai! Life is as strange as fiction, at least in this fiction.
Then came the second half, which, after a quick dip into some Ravel action—and Rias definitely knows what’s up with her, she has no doubt that Ravel is already all but in the harem—we dovetailed into a story of familial drama and parental woe in Sairaorg’s backstory and present. Which is the part of High School DxD that actually makes it worth watching, because without the serious stuff, it would just be comedy and oppai all the time. Which sounds great, yes! But too much candy will make you sick to the stomach. The serious stuff is the dramatic meat on the bones, even if this time it dipped heavily into melodrama. I like me some melodrama, but mother in a coma is a bit much for me.
The standouts of the episode: Ddraig’s broken pride, vulnerable Ravel, and Rias’ mom going hard on Issei. Someone’s gotta smack some sense into that boy, and Rias isn’t doing it, so it might as well be the mother-in-law! Also, it’s no surprise that Hellcat-chan has her own fanbase, but calm down, pervs. It’s a kid’s hero show. Maybe don’t perv out quite so blatantly. Not when there’s so many others to get all googly eyed about as well. Huzzah!
Random thoughts:
A small sampling of lines this episode that are totally, absolutely wrong: “Boys shouldn’t cry. They have to be strong enough to protect the girls.” False. “You will definitely win as long as you don’t give up.” Nope. “If I lose even once, I will lose everything I’ve gained up until now.” Negative on that one, ghost rider. I love this show, but sometimes the dialogue makes my eyes roll. The last one hints at some interesting dynamics within Sairaorg, though. I look forward to seeing how that turns out.
My SECOND novel, Freelance Heroics, is available now! (Now in print!) (Also available: Firesign #1 Wage Slave Rebellion.) Sign up for my email list for updates. At stephenwgee.com, the latest post: Risk Tolerance in the Creative Life.
Full-length images: 13.
End Card
Yesterday at 12:45 am
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Filed under Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Hen, First Impressions by Takaii | 7 Comments
「さくらと虹とおじいさん」 (Sakura to Niji to Ojiisan) “Sakura, Rainbows, and Grandpa”
With the end drawing closer, this week’s episode gave us the tiniest taste of whatever’s about to come.
General Impressions
Boy, was this episode full of twists or what? What started out as a possible date between Syaoran and Sakura quickly turned into something completely different — and I loved it! That said, let’s dive into the lighter side of things first.
So, am I the only one who was a little curious about what Sakura’s Great Grandfather wanted to give her? Seeing how he decided to show up at the most inopportune time, one would assume he had something rather important to give and/or tell to Sakura. Unfortunately it looks like we’ll have to wait until next time to know what the original plan was due to Sakura knocking out while exploring her mom’s old room. However the whole first half wasn’t for naught since we did get to see Sakura’s Great Grandfather acknowledge that Syaoran is a good kid who he wouldn’t mind “taking” Sakura from his family.
Now, to address this week’s huge reveal — holy cow the amount of people involved in what’s going on is insane. In all there’s like seven people who are all independently moving around and it’s kind of crazy to thing that they’ve all managed to keep this a secret from Sakura. If my math is right, there’s currently 3 people who seem to harbor some kind of ill intent toward Sakura (Kaito, Momo, and the Masked Akiho), 3 who are trying to protect Sakura (Kero, Syaoran, and Yue), and last but not least we have Eriol who is always doing insane things that can fall on either side of the line.
Now with all the Players finally revealed and ready to act, all that remains is whether or not Sakura and friends will be able to stop Kaito from completing whatever he’s trying to do with Akiho and that book of hers. Something that I wish the show would stop teasing us with since we’re so close to things coming to a close. With the way things are proceeding though, we’ll probably have our answer sooner rather than later.
Overall, not too bad of a setup to kick off a (hopefully) big payoff for all the waiting we’ve done. Luckily next week’s episode title leads me to believe that we’re going to have some real interesting things thrown at us and I can’t wait to learn just what the heck is actually going on. See you guys then!
Preview
May 29, 2018 at 10:21 pm
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Viz publishes manga about 2 elite students who want the other to confess their love first
Shueisha announced on Friday that it has green-lit a television anime adaptation of Aka Akasaka"s Kaguya-sama: Love is War (Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai - Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunōsen) manga. It opened an official website and Twitter account for the anime, and also revealed a visual (seen below).
Akasaka also drew an illustration to commemorate the announcement.
Viz Media is publishing the manga in English, and it describes the story:
All"s fair when love is war!
Two geniuses. Two brains. Two hearts. One battle. Who will confess their love first…?!
Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane are two geniuses who stand atop their prestigious academy"s student council, making them the elite among elite. But it"s lonely at the top and each has fallen for the other. There"s just one huge problem standing in the way of lovey-dovey bliss—they"re both too prideful to be the first to confess their romantic feelings and thus become the “loser” in the competition of love! And so begins their daily schemes to force the other to confess first!
Akasaka began the series in Shueisha"s Miracle Jump magazine in May 2015 but it moved to Young Jump in March 2016. The ninth compiled volume shipped on April 19, and this year"s 27th issue of Young Jump will publish the manga"s 100th chapter on June 7. (The same issue will have the manga on the cover, and it will print a color opening page for the chapter as well as a message from Akasaka about the anime.) A special side story ran in the debut issue of Young Jump Gold in May 2017. When the 10th volume debuts on June 19, the series will have more than 2.4 million copies, including the digital version of the manga. Viz Media published the second volume on May 1.
Source: Kaguya-sama: Love is War anime"s official website, Kaguya-sama: Love is War anime"s official Twitter account, Comic Natalie
As a special treat for ANN readers, HIDIVE is giving away a Fire TV plus other prizes to our lucky winners!― From your phone to your big screen: HIDIVE delivers the content you want, when and where you want it! As a special treat for ANN readers, we are giving away these awesome prizes to our lucky winners: GRAND PRIZE A new Fire TV, 1 year of HIDIVE and a signed poster of DEVILS" LINE by the Engli...
Any fan of Studio Ghibli will not want to miss out on this opportunity to grab some advanced tickets to the official screening of Award-nominated director Isao Takahata"s classic, Pom Poko. From the legendary Studio Ghibli, creators of Spirited Away, and Academy comes an action-packed ecological fable about the clash between nature and human civilization.
The tanuki (raccoon dogs) of Tama Hills find their fun-loving community under attack when their quiet woodlands are threatened by encroaching developers looking to create still more houses and shopping malls. Desperate to survive, the tanuki band together and learn the ancient art of transformation, shape-shifting into a comical variety of humans and spirits as they undertake a last-ditch plan to scare away the humans and save their home, in this deeply-affecting, funny and heartfelt look at what it means to live in the modern world.
Those looking to take part in the giveaway should click on the link below! The Giveaway runs from 12:00AM 31st May 2018 — 11:59PM 13th June 2018 (Eastern Time) so be sure to enter now and increase your chances of winning!
Source: Official Press Release
Pom Poko Giveaway - Honey"s Anime
Another timeless classic! Can"t wait to see it in theaters!
Oddly enough, this is one of the Ghibli films that I haven"t watched yet! So I"m hitting that giveaway button asap!
Lezhin Entertainment is bringing famed author, Koogi back by popular demand for a shocking Season 3 of "Killing Stalking." Exclusively on the Lezhin platform, the timeliness of the release gives loyal and new fans both a chance to easily explore and get caught up on this Lezhin exclusive Korean comic, since the title release will coincide with the comic"s largest discount to date spanning May 28 - June 3.
Readers can purchase the first two seasons for upwards of 50% off of the price, see what all of the hype is about for themselves, and jump right into Season 3!
The new season focuses on the intimate relationship shared between Yoon Bum and Sangwoo and further explores their mysteriously lustful bond. In addition to the usual steamy, heart-pounding scenes, readers can expect a lot of emotion expressed through both the art and content. Koogi gives the readers a chance to connect with the characters in a deep and more meaningful way. If you"d like to dive in and start reading, then be sure to check out the official page on the Lezhin website!
Viz Media is publishing the manga in English, and it describes the story:
