Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault Review - Capitalism With a Sword

There are games I respect and games that steal my evenings. Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault, which hit its full 1.0 release on September 2 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2 after a stint in early access, is firmly the second kind. I told myself one more run at midnight three nights in a row. That's the review, really, but let me earn my word count.

What it is

Will the shopkeeper is back, banished with his fellow villagers to the strange town of Tresna after tangling with an interdimensional nasty called Moloch. The loop is the same beautiful hypocrisy as before: by night you dive into dungeons and rip relics out of the walls, by day you sell those relics to customers at prices you invent on the spot. Digital Sun - the studio behind The Mageseeker - calls it a shopkeeping roguelike, and the Hades inspiration is obvious in the best way.

What's new

The jump from the original's 2D pixel art to full 3D isometric looks lovely in motion, but the real upgrade is the backpack. Inventory management is now an actual puzzle: relics synergize with their neighbors, triggering bonus effects, so packing your bag mid-dungeon becomes this greedy little minigame of Tetris-meets-stock-portfolio. It's the smartest idea in the game. Combat is snappier and more deliberate than the first Moonlighter's floaty swings, and runs are structured properly as a roguelike now, with choices that matter between rooms.

Where it wobbles

My problem is that the shop half never quite matches the dungeon half. Pricing goods and reading customer reactions was charming for the first few hours, then settled into routine - I wanted more chaos, more haggling, more ways for the economy to surprise me. Biomes also repeat their tricks a bit too soon if you binge it like I did, and a few difficulty spikes feel tuned for early access veterans rather than newcomers. None of this breaks the game; all of it keeps an 8 from being a 9.

Who it's for

Anyone who liked Hades but wished the reward for a good run was opening a shop and ripping off a customer who clearly doesn't know what a cursed amulet is worth. At around 30 euros - and it's on Game Pass too, which locally makes it basically a free trial for many of you - it's an easy recommendation. A physical edition follows on November 13 if you collect boxes.

Verdict

Moonlighter 2 takes a great gimmick and builds a proper game around it. The merchant fantasy could go deeper, but the loop is pure velcro. Digital Sun made greed feel wholesome, and I respect that enormously.

Score: 8/10

Image: Crisco 1492 / CC BY-SA 4.0, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nintendo_Switch_2_in_Docking_Console.jpg