Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is an action roguelite/shop simulation game and the direct sequel to Moonlighter. Read our review of its early-access build to see what it did well, what it didn’t, and whether it’s worth trying.
Overview
What is Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault?
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is an action-roguelite/shop simulation game by Digital Sun, and the direct sequel to 2018’s critically-acclaimed title of the same name. Set after the events of the first game and in the whole new village of Tresna, Moonlighter 2 takes players to a whole new dimension with 3D graphics, an expanded shop system, and the challenges of the titular Endless Vault.
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault features:
⚫︎ 3D graphics with isometric POV
⚫︎ Roguelite dungeon runs with expanded equipment choices
⚫︎ New characters, events, and storyline across new territory
⚫︎ 7 Endless Vault challenges, with additional post-game challenges
| Digital Storefronts | |||
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 Switch 2 |
| $29.99 | |||
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault Review: Paid for Near-Perfection with Its Ending
The Moonlighter’s Grand Re-opening
The idea of an RPG shopkeep just going into the dungeons themselves and reselling what loot they find is by no means a unique one. I mean, if the adventurers fall, the merch has to come from somewhere, right? Many a Manhwa has tried to tell that exact story, but for the gaming sphere, that title goes to Will of Rynoka and his quaint little store, the Moonlighter (some entries of the Atelier series notwithstanding).
I bring this up because Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is finally out for its 1.0 release, and, having been fortunate enough to follow its development from demo, early access, and finally, release, it has been quite the adventure, and the whole "selling your own loot" thing still hasn’t lost its novelty.
Though not conceptually unique at a base level, how Digital Sun managed Moonlighter’s shop and dungeon systems had always been a curious balance, even from the first game. Now that the second game is showing promise, as well as quite the overhaul across all of its facets, it’s a brand-new curiosity stocking the shelves that I must simply try out.
Farewell Rynoka; Hello Tresna!
We’ll begin with a change of scenery. Whereas the first Moonlighter took place in the Village of Rynoka, known for its dungeons, Moonlighter 2 takes place in a completely new locale: Tresna. Secluded somewhere in the middle of a slimy sea, this nexus of interdimensional travel is where Will and the rest of Rynoka’s residents were forced to flee after Rynoka was taken after Moloch took over the town.
With a new shop and his arsenal at the ready, Will will have to restock his shelves the only way he knows how: heading out and killing monsters for their loot across the many dimensions that intersect with Tresna.
Off the bat, this was a bold move among many for Digital Sun. The biggest thing about Moonlighter and its themes was the community that surrounded and encouraged Will as he explored the extra-dimensional gates Rynoka was built around. Through his efforts, the city wasn’t just revived; it thrived into the future and gave Will the certainty of his identity as a Rynokan.
This is the setting equivalent of killing a major character within the first five minutes of the sequel, Infinity War-style. Like I said, bold move. Did it pay off? Well, it should’ve, but it didn’t, and we’ll get to that later. For now, let’s discuss Tresna as it serves the rest of the game.
I’m a fan of this change for many reasons. Firstly, Rynoka was done. All the portals were cleared by the end of the story, and Will’s adventure had come to a natural end as well. Without extant circumstances, changing the setting was the only way we could’ve gotten a proper Moonlighter 2, and it being a dimensional nexus is the second reason I like it so much.
This setting lends itself so naturally to more diversity across the game’s characters, at least from a design standpoint. The first game had plenty of diversity between its character silhouettes between the Rynokans and the monsters, but more interesting, non-enemy characters will always be a plus for me. Also, dimensional travel replaces (and possibly answers) the portal problem, allowing this game as much diome variety as the first without having to recycle anything.
It’s an outstanding choice when you really think about it. It’s quite possibly the only way forward for a sequel that made sense, so I’m glad the devs chose to go with it.
I did say one bold move among many earlier, so with the setting analyzed, let’s talk about another.
It’s A Proper Roguelite Now; Shop and All!
Moonlighter, the original one, was arguably NOT a roguelite. It was more a dungeon crawler with roguelite elements and its own shopkeeping mechanics than anything else. Moonlighter 2, on the other hand, decidedly IS a roguelite, because the gameplay overhaul turned both the shopkeeping and combat phases into roguelite runs of their own.
For the uninitiated, Moonlighter 1 and 2’s whole schtick is that players go into dungeons to fight monsters, and then bring their loot home as stock for their store to sell the day after. Combat in the first game was a Zelda-style, room-by-room dungeon crawl with directional attacks. In the sequel, however, this has been expanded to something more akin to traditional roguelites.
A mid-run Perk System has been added on top of the standard weapon upgrades (including variant rarities), and dungeons are no longer mapped orthogonally, presented as branching linear paths with different rewards upon clearing.
Even the admittedly barebones damage typing system from the first game has evolved into the different status effects the game has, which include, but are not limited to, Poison, Burn, Wound, Hex, Volatile, and Thunder.
This overhaul was another bold move and home run for Digital Sun for many reasons. First off, though it would’ve been acceptable to continue the Zelda-style dungeons, the new setting opened up design space for something far more mobile and dynamic, and the devs would’ve been remiss to ignore the opportunity to try something new.
Secondly, with the Perk System and branching paths in place, Moonlighter 2 has much more player agency than the first game, which pretty much just let players finish each dungeon with the same equipment they started it with. With the Perk System, players never end a run as strong as they started; only ever stronger. With branching paths, no two runs are ever the same. The varied perk rarities just added even more variance to this, making it possible to go absolutely nova before the first boss fight.
Lastly, the distinction between normal attacks, specials, and combo finishers gives even the most basic part of combat a tad more complexity and design space to balance around. Since perks and weapon properties trigger off of these distinctions between attack types, the game ended up with many more ways to synergize and build than it otherwise would’ve, adding to its value and overall ability to encourage fun.
The best part about all this is that the Perk System also affects how players can run their stores. No longer limited to just shuffling merchandise around to suit specific customer tastes, market prices, and sales, players now also gain perks that raise their sale prices when meeting certain criteria. These aren’t small potatoes perks either, as having a full suite of them can turn a 5-dollar trinket into a multi-hundred-thousand-dollar artifact that will finance their next shop upgrade.
This was what the game needed. For all of Moonlighter 1’s charm, it needed more complexity to truly pop. It needed to give players more ways to tailor their runs and not be completely at the mercy of dungeon generation. It needed to let players feel like the shop was just as important as the dungeon, if not more. It needed a lot of things, and this sequel was exactly what the doctor ordered.
A Whole New Dimension (or Three) to Explore
Bold move number three appropriately takes Moonlighter to the third dimension. This is the single-most design-defining move Digital Sun made for Moonlighter 2, and it’s no contest. The combat and shop overhauls, the new ways dungeons work, the visual design and identity of Tresna; all of these could not have been possible if the game wasn’t made in 3D.
Don’t get me wrong, Moonlighter 1 was an absolutely eye-catching piece of pixel art, but it was also limited. A whole new dimension expectedly adds more depth to a game in more ways than one, allowing it to spread new ideas across a previously inaccessible axis. From top-down dungeon crawling to 3D action-roguelite, the change is absolutely metamorphic, and Moonlighter 2 is looking like the prettiest butterfly right now.
And no part of the game’s visual identity showcases the versatility of 3D better than its new dimensions. No, not the third dimension, the biomes players can start their runs in, of which there are three, with two sub-dungeons each. There’s Kalina, The Gallery, and Aeolia, each boasting its own unique mechanics to interact with.
Each biome looks appropriately unique, even among its sub-dungeons, and the fact that the game is in 3D now means each one gets to fully utilize the 3D space. Flying enemies now exist and must be shot down with the new Sidearm weapons; stages with varying levels of elevation are also commonplace, allowing enemies to shoot from uncanny angles; and most spectacularly, the boss fights, which are now much more complex and dependent on the new Ejection mechanic.
Everything, and I do mean everything, pivots off of this paradigm shift, and I’m glad that Digital Sun chose to be daring with it. Ask Wizard of Legend 2 and Hyperlight Breaker; it isn’t easy to make it work in 3D the same way it did in 2D, but Moonlighter 2 is cruising on in just fine.
Paid the Price of Greatness with Its Story’s Ending
Unfortunately, not everything can benefit from the sequel treatment and all its fancy attachments. Some things, in fact, got worse the second time around. It’s time we discussed what I alluded to at the start: how the game’s narrative fizzled and sputtered out by the end despite how well Tresna lent itself to a continuation of Will’s journey.
I’ll keep it brief to avoid spoilers, but Moonlighter 2’s ending is, in a word, disappointing. That’s not for lack of trying, though. The game has a perfect setting, compelling motivations, memorable characters woven into the gameplay loop, and surprisingly deep themes of found family, diaspora, cultural identity, and belonging.
It had all the makings of a perfect run, but the ending squanders much of it. After everything the game builds toward, its conclusion feels less like an ending and more like just another day at the shop, because it literally is.
I could scarcely believe it. Dimension-hopping, realm-taking megalomaniacs aplenty, and the final hurdle to this grand adventure is another shift at the 7-Eleven, and when it’s done, you win. Roll credits. It’s like if Tolkien ended The Lord of the Rings by having Frodo and Sam unceremoniously walk into Mordor and toss the Ring in with no issues. Yeah, they’ve been doing it this entire time, and this was the goal, but the drama and emotion just dropped off a sheer cliff, and all that momentum went nowhere.
I can at least enjoy the game’s story until just before that point. Using the Endless Vault’s challenges as both gameplay and narrative milestones is a genius move on the devs’ part. It kept the game’s momentum on a steady rise as more of the world opens with every cleared challenge, and you get new toys to play with every time.
Now, I get it. The game is equal parts a shop sim and action roguelite. It has to end one way or the other, or maybe even both. I just can’t help but think we chose the worst possible one out of the three. A big, gaudy boss fight isn’t the deftest approach, but it’s reliable. A bit of both would take some finesse, but it’d be preferred. In my heart of hearts, I don’t understand how an ending so contrived can be so boring.
They say ending a story is never easy. This is all the proof I need.
Easier to Play, Easier to Break
Another thing I’d note about Moonlighter 2 is that it’s notably easier than the first game. Now, this is both an improvement and a detriment. For one thing, the game being easier makes it much more accessible, and overall a lot more fun for the average player. The Perk System is mostly to blame for this, because the frequency and power level of the perks players can get can get really disgusting really quickly. Part of the fun is seeing how gross you can make your build, but this does make most encounters a breeze.
For another, though, this poses a problem to higher levels of play, or at least players who’d prefer that. The first Moonlighter was a massive skill check from start to finish, and runs ending with players losing all their loot are a more common occurrence than them escaping safely. Rarer still are full dungeon clears. In the sequel, it’s pretty much guaranteed you finish a dungeon unless you were actively trying to farm loot over getting perks. Mind you, I say all this in the context of the game’s hardest difficulty setting.
It’s a minor blemish compared to the game’s botched ending, but an all-encompassing one. The post-game at least offers challenge runs for players who want to just cut loose and beat some bosses to pulp. What I think would make things more interesting, though, are run modifiers, and I don’t mean the randomized ones the post-game gives you. Something like Hades 2’s Pact of the Unseen, where players can opt into some run-changing modifiers in exchange for some bonuses.
New and Mostly Improved!
And so, we reach the end of another chapter in Will’s adventure across the many dimensions of the Moonlighter universe. It has been mostly a pleasure, and the new bells and whistles attached to Moonlighter 2 have been a delight to experience. Moonlighter 2 is an overall improvement—dare I even say, an evolution—of what the first game was.
It’s certainly better in most respects, thanks to the daring migration from 2D to 3D that often ends poorly for beloved indie pixel art titles. It’s a whole lot of fresh ideas that went incredibly well for the game, and would’ve seen it to its perfection if not for the one bargain-bin item in the room: the game’s story.
Maybe it was a cop-out, maybe I’m just not seeing the vision; either way, this was not how I’d imagine this adventure would end. But hey, all things come at a price. If something had to give for the rest of the game to be this good, I’m fine with the cost.
Is Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault Worth It in 2026?
Yes– It’s A Great Deal for Any Roguelite Fan
Coming in at $29.99, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault won’t cost you your own vault of treasures to pay, and it’ll come out just as valuable. It’s a roguelite, for starters, so there’s a lot of replayability to be had as it is. It’s also a shop sim, so you can count on each session lasting more than a couple of hours every time.
There are also six entire realms to explore, nearly a hundred unique items, and a story spanning ten plus hours of content. It’s quite the load for a mere 30 bucks, so if you’re a returning customer of Will’s, or just an enjoyer of the genre, this game is bound to get you your money’s worth.
FAQ
What Weapons are Available in Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault?
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault includes 4 unique weapon types: Short Swords, Large Swords, Spears, and Gauntlets.
What Do the Endless Vault Challenges Unlock in Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault?
The Endless Vault Challenges unlock specific story and gameplay progression options for the player whenever they’re accomplished. These include major shop and progression upgrades, new game modes, new weapons and gear, and even new dungeon areas.
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