Moonlighter’s Between Dimensions DLC brings a new endgame to the dungeon crawling, shop keeping indie RPG.
I’m a big fan of Moonlighter. You look after your shop during the day, trying to set the right prices and build up your business, and by night you hunt for stock in various dangerous dungeons. Every monster you smack can drop interesting bits and pieces for you to sell. It’s a sweet little gameplay loop that brings together my love of dungeon crawling with my love of weird shop simulators.
More than anything, I love the combat. It is easy for games like this to focus on speed above all else, but Moonlighter takes a more considered approach to the idea of monster whacking. It flows along at just quick enough pace to feel dynamic, while also requiring you to be very certain about what you want to do. Sure, as you delve deeper into dungeons it can get hectic, but it is never a cheap form of pressure, there is always a way to navigate and survive a room full of baddies.
The new DLC, Between Dimensions, picks up where the main game ends. A new dungeon has been opened due to the appearance of a strange green portal, and it is up to you to venture inside and explore the perilous new area. This dungeon is deep, with many levels, and it can be a bit intimidating at first. Thankfully, you can discover a strange creature on some floors that will allow you to return to town, then come back to that same level again. I like this mechanic, as it encourages you to be a little braver, and venture deeper that you normally would into the dungeon.
I should mention here that the DLC also expands the rest of the game’s content by introducing a new “dungeon within a dungeon” mechanic. You can find portals to mini-dungeons as you replay old dungeons you have already cleared. They are worth farming as you can find plenty of loot in them, and bosses that will drop new weapons that you can use in the new main dungeon.
Trading is also introduced. A new merchant will appear in town looking to trade items with you, and even customers can offer things in a trade from their own explorations and discoveries. This is an excellent mechanic, as it adds a reasonably passive way to get some of the things you need but just haven’t been lucky enough to find. You can haggle about prices, but the trades will always be of a specific item, for a particular item. It’s an excellent new system and brings something new to the shop aspect of the game for people who have already played the game.
Enemies are a mix of old and new, and it’s a lot of fun to have to learn new attack patterns and fit them into your understanding of the mini puzzles that each room represent. They will drop a mixture of items that you are already used to, and new items specific to the new enemies you encounter. There will also be new weapons and armor available, and these can be upgraded using the items you find in the dungeons.
This possibly says more about me as a person than it does about the game, but I love upgrade chains for items. I’m the kind of person who falls in love with how a mechanic feels, so I am happy to grind things over and over again. As such, chasing all those parts for weapon upgrades just felt like heaven to me, although I am sure it will not be to everyone’s tastes. The new DLC gives me every reason in the world to hop back into Moonlighter and continue to play, which is the best thing you can get from a DLC.
Between Dimensions is a worthy addition to an already excellent game. There is nothing here that fans of Moonlighter won’t enjoy, and there are plenty of reasons to jump into the game if you still haven’t played it.
Moonlighter and Between Dimensions are available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, macOS, and Linux.
This feature was written with a code provided by Evolve PR.
