Moonlighter is a game about being a merchant who collects his own merchandise by killing monsters in the dungeon. The merchant is following the steps of his late father who fearlessly explored new dungeons despite the higher danger.

The game has 2 modes: battle and merchant. Battling at night in the dungeon would give better loots, whereas you can only be a merchant in the day. The battle mechanism itself is quite simple:

• You get to equip 2 weapons of choice (among sword-and-shields, big swords, spears, gloves and bows).
• Some weapon types can inflict status ailment to enemies.
• Weapons have 2 modes - normal attack and charged attack with the exception of sword-and-shield where you get to defend with the shield.
• You can do dodge roll which makes you invulnerable.
• Weapon upgrades are pretty straight forward and do not need you to grind as the items will naturally come as part of your loots.

As a merchant, for every item, you have to decide its selling price. Then, when a customer takes the item, he/she will show a reaction in which you can determine if your item is overpriced or underpriced or nicely priced. You can adjust your selling price at any time before the item is taken from the showcase by the customers. Items from a newer dungeon fetch a higher average price than those from previous dungeons. There are different kinds of customers in the shop who look for different items, and there are thiefs who will try to steal your wares. There is also a concept of popularity in which popular items can fetch higher price, and you can make items popular by selling them cheap. Unfortunately, I did not see the need to leverage popularity as items from newer dungeons can keep you filthy rich. As a merchant, you also might receive requests for particular items. You are given limited number of days to fulfill such requests. Usually they are easily attainable.

I like the game as it's an interesting concept of what if the merchant get his/her own wares instead of making market by buying cheap from adventurers and selling at higher prices to other folks. The need to decide price on your own with little price guidelines also make the merchant role more interesting.

I do feel that the game is a bit too simple, both battle wise and merchant wise. After the second dungeon or so, you will see that it's mostly rinse and repeat. It feels as if the game was designed for younger audiences given the simple balance of the mechanics to make it appeal to general mass. Some things that could have made the game more interesting, remembering that battle is not the main focus of the game and can be kept simple:

• The pricing system could have been more dynamic - popularity and accepted price can be made to fluctuate daily so you need to readjust your price everyday.
• A bargain/auction system for new items which price is still unknown. This can expose the idea of haggling and would be much more dynamic in determining a good selling price than selling the new item in smaller quantity at different prices throughout the shop to determine a good selling price. (You can put the same item on different displays at different prices and you can sell in bulk on one display)
• Daily news that affect which items customers are looking for (and hence are willing to pay more). For example, wedding season means more people are looking for diamonds, rings and silks whereas dry season means more people are looking for foods.