Moonlight Peaks

So this is my first time actually writing a game review, and my reason for doing so is for anyone, who like me, had been eagerly watching the development of this game but are yet to buy it as there are both pros and cons to this game, and unfortunately, in my opinion the cons really outweigh the pros. I would like to preface this by saying at present I only have around 30 hours in the game and so my opinion is based on that, however I do feel as though unless significant changes are made to the gameplay in the later game, it is unlikely my opinions will change. Positives: There are some wonderful QOL features, my favourite being the unlimited home storage, not requiring sheds full of storage chests or the materials to craft said chests is very nice and this storage is accessible from anywhere on your farm The art style and graphics are really nice and run really smoothly, you can tell a lot of time and effort was put into all of the world building and it has paid off There are two options of character portraits which can be toggled in the settings, this is a really interesting feature which I have never seen in any other game and it allows people to customise the game more to their liking There are fun, in-game mini games you can complete, including a card game named Nocturna, you can play this daily with some select characters and build up your own decks, it is possibly my favourite feature of the game (Getting all of the available cards does happen quite quickly however) The supernatural theme is done relatively well. they have nailed it with the theming of the world, each area has a different vibe, and the shops and npc homes all match the characters that work and live there - Additionally decorating your own house/farm is also very easy and you can use absolutely anything you acquire to do so (food, fish, bugs, etc.) As touched on above, there are multiple areas you can travel to which give you an opportunity to capture different bugs and collect different flora, the map is also pretty big but they've done a great job of ensuring it feels full and bustling The ranch animals are a fun take for the genre, they have great names and visuals and you're also able to talk to them when in a different form (unlockable through gameplay) yourself The magical crops are interesting to try out and it's also cool being able to use the different spells available to you and seeing how they work Negatives: I have played a multitude of other farming sims and I can say wholeheartedly that the characters in this game are surface level at best, speaking to them yields nothing other than a potential upgrade to your friendship level. Their dialogue is very generic and almost always feels like small talk, regardless of relationship level - The characters do show more personality in cutscenes but out of them it's like they're just walking husks There is just absolutely no lore, during a cutscene, one of the NPCs mentions that it's unusual for so many supernatural's to be living in one place together however it's never mentioned as to why they are all there or how they came to be all there. There is no background into any of the beings or their families, and so again, relating back to my previous point, there just seems to be no depth at all with any of the characters The passing of the story is so slow and there is no indication of when it will progress, I spent multiple in game days just wandering around and trying to talk to characters to see if it would trigger a progression but it never did. There were days where I would consider just returning to bed after watering my crops to see if it would trigger an update. I know that some people prefer for games to be more relaxed without constant story quests however I personally enjoy having something to work towards rather than spending days doing busy work only to then get a quest which requires 200 stone but I've been spending days clearing my farm instead... The request board is not refilled daily, this also doesn't help in relation to the above point as you aren't even able to work towards completing npc requests whilst waiting for a story quest to trigger There are creatures called Vampsters which you need to pick up and carry to one of the caves, this is a tedious task in itself as the walk speed is extremely slow but if you trigger a cutscene whilst carrying one of these, once the cutscene has ended all your progress will have reset and you will need to go retrieve the vampster from the starting location - This may be something the devs patch out but for now it's an annoying feature The farm isn't very big and certain animals don't want to share a barn so you will need to account for space and money for multiple barns The carpenter shop is only open for a short number of hours mon-fri, so there's two back to back days it's closed where you'll be unable to upgrade your tools / purchase barns etc for your farm (I have also noticed that it's been closed on a Monday occasionally too, unsure if this is a bug) The festivals are boring and seem genuinely pointless The main issues I have with the game and why I wouldn't recommend it: There is a very heavy theme of alcoholism in the game. I have looked through the steam page to see if there was any trigger warnings for anybody considering purchasing the game however I have come across non. Whilst it isn't uncommon for us to see real life troubles in games, specifically alcoholism, moonlight peaks has really taken it to the extreme. The character I am referring to is Orlock, he is a romanceable option and a father of two. There are multiple cut scenes (I have had at least 8), both story and character related which show Orlock obscenely drunk and causing arguments or upset. There are scenes of him being thrown out of the bar for being too drunk or him being the running joke of the town. You also have cut scenes with his children where they discuss how much their dad has neglected their relationship and honestly the whole situation around it is just sad. The game has pushed the narrative in a way that is supposed to be seemingly funny but it's really anything but, especially for anyone who may have lived through it in real life. The dialogue with both Orlock and his children is almost too realistic that it pulls the cosiness out of the game, especially for those who wish to escape from the struggles of real life by playing a game. Another of the male characters is written to be extremely flirty and sure of himself; which wouldn't be an issue in itself, however, for his one heart event you are forced into going on a date with him and given no option to decline. During this cutscene he holds onto your characters hands and is of course flirting as per usual but the whole situation is really weird and I have no idea what the devs were thinking. It's a terrible first heart event and I have seen multiple complaints from others regarding this too. - I'd also like to point out, the same character in another cutscene is repeatedly harassing a female npc at the bar... again devs, why? Yet another one of the male characters is the embodiment of weaponised incompetence. He is romanceable and it feels honestly weird to even consider going down that route considering the player character seems to almost have to parent him, e.g. bribing him with food to get out of bed or do the tasks he's been asked to by his also romanceable father. (Yes there are multiple single dads in this game where you can romance both them and their children which feels weird in itself) - Small spoiler for later in game, a new family is introduced into town and this character is asked to paint their house to help with the renovations of them moving in and the paint job is the most pathetic thing I have ever seen and I understand it's done with the intention of being funny but it makes the character seem so childlike, unbothered and unserious that I just have no intentions of interacting with them.

Its decent, not very good not very bad i give it a 6/10 , stardew valley or some others are incomparable to this , alot of missing qol

This game is all flash/shine and no actual substance. I've played a lot of farming sims - A LOT, and this is one of the few that I regret buying. They clearly spent the bulk of the (very long) time developing this on making it multi-platform rather than polishing it and making it something worth playing for longer than 20 hours. Like it's fun, I guess, but it's not $35 fun and certainly nowhere near the genre greats like Stardew, SoS, and Mistria. The premise is so good but between the lack of depth to the game, horrible QOL (Either no or horrible tooltips in the year of our lord 2026?) and the abysmal male character designs - it's like they had the basketball inside the hoop and then reached back in and pulled it right back out instead of letting it swoosh. Buy it on sale, I guess, if you're interested.

I really wanted to love Moonlight Peaks. The atmosphere is fantastic, the supernatural cast is visually interesting, and the game has a lot of charm. But after reaching Winter, I found myself more frustrated than excited to keep playing. My biggest issue is how much of the game is locked behind story progression. I don't mind earning unlocks by completing objectives or meeting certain requirements, but in Moonlight Peaks you're often just... waiting. Even by Winter of Year 1 I still hadn't unlocked gold ore because it depends on progressing the story and unlocking additional forms. The museum doesn't open until Autumn, which meant I never felt much reason to fish or catch bugs for most of the game. The farming itself also feels underdeveloped. Most crops don't sell for enough to be worth growing, so the best way to make money is by focusing on wheat and grapes for beer and wine. Cooking could have been a good alternative, except there's no option to batch cook. Instead, you're expected to play the same cooking minigame every single time you make one dish. The farm space is also surprisingly small compared to games like Stardew Valley, Fields of Mistria, or Coral Island. On top of that, barns can't be upgraded, there's no coop option, and each barn only holds four animals. If you want a larger collection, you have to cover your already limited farm with multiple barns. Buying animals is also more frustrating than it needs to be. When you visit Luna's farm, she only has up to three animals available for purchase at a time, and the selection changes every day. If you're looking for a specific animal, you're left waiting for it to randomly appear instead of simply being able to buy what you want. Bug catching was another disappointment. There's no bug net upgrade, the bug variety is fairly limited, and many of the butterflies are just recolors of the same model. Catching bugs also isn't very engaging because there's no sneaking mechanic. You just sprint after them, and some are so fast that it feels more frustrating than fun. There are also smaller design choices that kept adding up. You unlock the jam maker after you've already had access to kegs for a while, and by that point I genuinely couldn't find a reason to use it. Apparently jam produces quicker but kegs are simply more profitable, so the jam maker ended up feeling redundant. As for the characters, I actually liked them at first. Their supernatural designs are great and they all have memorable personalities. However, the more I got to know them, the more one thing stood out to me. Most of the male romance options are defined by major flaws or baggage. One struggles with alcoholism, one's an imbecile, another is openly rude, and two of the more interesting options are already emotionally tied to someone else through an existing romance. Meanwhile, the female characters generally come across as capable, kind, intelligent, and emotionally available. The imbalance became hard to ignore. That said, I don't really play farming sims primarily for the romance, so this wasn't a dealbreaker for me. It was just something I noticed as I spent more time with the cast. I've also seen a lot of responses saying it's unfair to compare Moonlight Peaks to games like Stardew Valley because that game has had ten years of updates. I don't think that's a convincing argument. I played Coral Island and Fields of Mistria during Early Access, and both felt more complete and engaging from a gameplay perspective than Moonlight Peaks does now, while also being less expensive. Moonlight Peaks has a beautiful atmosphere, a unique supernatural setting, and a strong artistic identity. But for me, the constant story gating, underwhelming progression systems, and lack of depth in several core mechanics made it lose momentum long before the end of my first year.

Not as fun as I hoped it would be. Pretty repetitious in the beginning. I have played 2.5 hours and the energy just goes away too fast to be fun. I feel like I am constantly rushing to do things. I was hoping this would be a cozy game, but this just makes me feel stressed. This would have been a pass for me had I known I was going to feel like this. I had this on my wish list for maybe 3 years, played all the demos and they were fun. Buyer beware.

Nice little chill game, similar to others in the Life Sim/Farming genre. YES IT IS WOKE, AND I HOPE THAT EITHER MAKES YOU LOVE IT, OR MAKES YOU UNREASONABLY ANGRY! :) Cute art style, the maps are very "modern comic book" style, with a decently good character customization system at the start, and more outfits and stuff you can buy with in-game money as you go along. The stories are much deeper, with more unexpected twists and turns as you progress- just when you think one story is wrapped up- NOPE. It isn't. A mix of happy, sad, hopeful, annoying (looking at you Orlock...), endearing, and a little confusing at times. Progression is slowish- typical for these types of games- expect to grind. Thankfully, there is a lot to do to help make the grind enjoyable. Some of the unlocks (like the clocks that let you make the night length shorter or longer) are oddly timed. Some feel like they should be unlocked much sooner in the game. But I can live with it. YMMV. Romance progression is slowish too- but I am dating 4 NPCs right now (so far...). There are some guides here in Steam if you feel the need to try to speed things up, but you will have to do internet searches for a number of things if you don't want to just explore and find them out for yourself. LOVE cringy Dad/Mom jokes? I hope so- there's a ton of them, with winks and nods at pop culture and possibly other games. Try the Demo- and understand that it takes place further into the game (things are unlocked that you will not have unlocked right away in the full game). The music is soothing, sometimes very happy, sometimes a bit more somber. ***ACCESSIBILTY*** Some forms pf color-blindness are not going to do well with the color palettes used in the game. You may need to set a color-blindness corrector in your computer's settings. There are weather effects that cause flashing and bright lights (lightning) that may not be great for folks with photo-sensitive neurological conditions. The text is well contrasted from the background it is on, though it is smallish. The wording is simple enough for the screen-reader I tested it with- except it had fits with some of the names of fish and a few other items in the game. There is no voice acting, so all dialogue s delivered with text. There are a number of settings to help, but you may need to try the Demo to see if it works for you or not- it is not set up for full accessibility customization. All that said- it's fun, a bit addictive, similar to other games in the genre, but with its own unique personality to set it apart. If you have played Wylde Flowers, the art style and some of the mechanics are similar, but the stories are a bit deeper and more drawn out. Lots more intertwining stuff than WF had. You will not get fast/easy achievements here- you will grind for many of them. And if you tend to judge "how long to beat" based on playtime in reviews- don't look at mine. There is no way to save partway through a day (night), so you have to finish the full day (night) to get to your save point. Life is busy, and the game sits paused a good bit while I deal with work, family, my 2 dogs, and the cats and kittens that we foster. I'd say probably about 10-15 hours of AFK time for me at the time of this review. But you can do just one day (night) per session, and they don't take long, so there's that. Yes, I recommend the game, if you are into this type of game and are looking for something pretty, don't mind a few silly things (like farm animals floating in the air from time to time), and want something spooky-cute.

I absolutely ADORE the slow pace of this game, where I'm not overwhelmed with quests and characters that need something from me. Moonlight Peaks, for me, has perfect pacing and introduces new features and abilities at a steady and reliable pace so I'm actually learning the mechanics instead of rushing through them and then forgetting all about it later. I've experienced a handful of visual bugs, but nothing that broke the game or interaction so it was just a little quirk to me personally. The characters so far have all been quite distinct and are pleasant enough to interact with. The character art, while beautiful, did put me off a bit at first with their fully rendered chibi baby faces, but you quickly get used to it. Will update my review in case something late-game is absolutely horrid, but so far I'm enjoying my time at Moonlight Peaks.

- insane gatekeeping starts around summer, meaning u might find urself with nothing to do often. the game forces you to take things "slow" and doesn't reward you for it. - npcs have no depth, dialogue is mostly shallow. - almost 20 hrs in and i barely made any progress in the mines.