Netflix Moonlighter (by Digital Sun Games & 11 bit studios)

Just a real quick FYI:

I reached out to 11bit with two questions, one about Controller support and the other about the Between Dimensions DLC and received an answer: controller support is not on the agenda for them at the moment, as they are focused on the Android release now.

additionally, the Between Dimensions DLC is NOT included in this release, and they stated that they are not sure that it will be coming to iOS at this time. They are solely focused on the Android release of MOONLIGHTER and will re-evaluate after they have released the Android version. Fingers crossed

 

So I have been using my ds4 with this title, as there is rudimentary controller support. There is no controller map or anything, so I thought I’d provide one here:

MOONLIGHTER ds4 Controller map:
d-pad: movement
Left stick: movement
X: Attack/Interact
Square: shield/special attack
Circle: not used
Triangle: Inventory (DO NOT USE!!!!!)
R1/L1: switch weapons
R2: potion
L2: Dodge

Point of caution: pressing triangle brings up your inventory in a way that is bugged (no acces to any other menus) with the only way to close it being to restart the entire app. DO NOT PRESS TRIANGLE.

 

How do you bin stuff from your inventory ?

 

Tap the mirror thing in the bottom left and then tap the item. That gets rid of the whole pile so be aware of that: you earn some money from this FYI.
You can also drag and drop the item to the mirror. Short tap for single item, long tap for whole stack.

 

Thanks.

i think the devs should invert long and short tap.

you almost always want to move the whole stack ...

 

Finally got some time to try this one out.

-Unexpected: I was one of those who defends the virtual joystick brutally, yet I found myself playing it with tap-to-move. I think they've kinda nailed it, this is the first time I'm preferring tap-to-move over other control schemes.

-Mildly disturbed: The non-transparent "Home Indicator", pure white is so disturbing. Already shoot a mail to support and requested a fix which would make it transparent like many other games.

-Remembered: I'm enjoying watching my customers reactions on the shop, and it kinda reminded me Lemonade Tycoon! Damn I missed old EA releases on iOS, so many good ones before EA became the microtransaction-wh*re it is today.

 

I have the same problem. For me it seems to stem from the fact that after the forest dungeon boss, I ported back to town and didn't loot the boss/chest. When I came out of the shop after having unloaded my bag, the door to go back to the dungeon wasn't there.

Now, I can go back to the forest dungeon and fight through, but there isn't anything except the door back to town in the boss room.

I get the same old guy cinematic you mention, but if I dash or hit buttons, eventually it will let me out of it, but I still have the same problems as you mention (can't port, etc.) and my character is stuck pointing to the left.

I'm thrilled that you said they have a fix coming soon though. I was having a blast playing, but I don't feel like starting over.

 

I saw a few reviews and I'm quite intrigued by the concept of this game. But since the price is a bit steep, I'm still on the fence.

How's the performance on some older devices? Like the heating and battery drain, that sorta stuff. (I have an iPhone X) I apologize in advance if this has been discussed before in the thread and I missed it.

Other than that, are there any other glaring issues I should be aware of? (I think a saw a few controls-related issues being discussed)

 

Yep that sounds more or less like the bug I caught but a slight variation with the teleport door thing.

since my email to the devs where they said they’d have a fix in a few days (it’s been a week now), they put out two updates which addressed other issues but this. So I’m somewhat losing hope to be honest.

HOWEVER, since then, I’ve actually been able to come unstuck, with only a minor blemish (I’ll get to that).
I do not know how exactly I did it, but one major thing that I did is basically delete and reinstall the game. But you don’t want to lose your progress so before you do this, check in the load game section and make sure there’s a game save there. Also, make sure you’ve had Game Centre on as well as icloud. To be sure, go in tot he settings app, and then iCloud and check that Moonlighter is enabled and also that there’s data in the iCloud storage for Moonlighter. Mine shows 123kb.
I then deleted, reinstalled, and reloaded from that save game. I then did a run but I think it still did the same thing, except on the second run I tried, it then basically unlocked and I was free to move normally. Both runs I just went in to the dungeon and let Will die because any time of exiting the dungeon was my issue (death, winning, teleporting). I remember distinctly on the second run, upon death, I didn’t press any buttons on the screen at all, I just let it play out. I’m not sure if that made any difference whatsover but I do remember that also so...

So mine fixed up somehow. However, the super weird thing now is that whenever I leave the dungeon (death, winning or teleporting), it shows the same animation of me looking at the big door followed by now looking TOWARDS the old man but the old man now doesn’t start walking over leaving me in a locked animation. Rather I’m free to start moving around. So this is the strange part, no matter how I leave the dungeon (death or other), it shows that animation and not the original animations (death = will gets thrown out of the dungeon door, teleport = will comes out of a teleport door near his home....etc). It’s so weird that this has happened but at least my game has unlocked from the unplayable cycle.

hope it works out for you. I would suggest you email the devs as well with your experience so we can build a compelling case to get this fixed as it’s potentially totally game ending.
[email protected]

 

Interesting. I was able to get to a similar spot by offloading the app and reinstalling. Unfortunately, it’s still somewhat bugged. The end of the second dungeon for example still doesn’t have any enemies in it when I enter the room and I can’t loot any of the treasure chests there. And when I’m in a dungeon, if I try to create a door to port, I have to create the door, then leave the current room and come back before I can see/use the door. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s just enough to indicate that there is a larger problem and I don’t want to sink more time into a Save that may have issues down the road.

It’s too bad because I was having a lot of fun with it. Even if they are able to fix it (I’m somewhat skeptical) I’m not sure if I’ll even bother with it anymore. The first two dungeons were fun though!

 

Well, it's probably just me but I kinda started to get boring after clearing the first dungeon. The game became a chore to me, just repetitive stuff with no excitement. Go clear dungeons, sell items, craft better weapons yada yada. Idk, maybe I'm missing a bit adrenaline to keep me going further, for example I'm not really curious about the further dungeons since the combat feels a bit.. chilled.

 

Are you playing with tap to move or the virtual controls?
I find at least the combat is more interesting with the virtual controls.
Can’t help with the generate gameplay loop though, that is what it is.

 

@Talbs I started with the virtual controls, then switched to the default scheme since it felt a bit more convenient (which is a first in my personal gaming history) and the UI for the virtual controls looks a bit disturbing to my taste. Also still, I think the overall feeling is a bit slow, I know it's apples and oranges but I'm more of a Dead Cells guy in terms of combat, if you know what I mean. This feels like a slow-mo Isaac to me.

I don't wanna effect anyone negative tho. It's a beautiful game, great sound and visuals, definitely got the soul. Yet you know, if you look at something for a while, you kinda become blind to it. I guess that's what happened to me after a couple of hours.

 

i was one hit from beating the first dungeon the boss killed me so i quickly swiped up and cleared app before it could auto save and now when i press continue or load file it says in this screen forever any advice?

 

I don’t know how people are feeling about tap-to-move, but I personally sometimes prefer it, like in Stardew Valley or Don’t Starve (and therefore Crashlands, as they are very similar), so I’m not too worried about this game, when I get it at sometime this week

 

But otherwise, played once on a switch at a friends house last year, and having been looking to get back to it, and saw that it was coming to mobile, and it look perfect here, so excited to finally play it. Does anybody have any opinions? P.S About mid-game

 

This version of Moonlighter is quite good. It seems like basically the same game just reformatted for mobile. There are actually two control options, one being the original tap to move and the second now being the virtual controls.
The tap to move is ok, and very good for early game. It’s very easy to use so long as you don’t mind moving your hands all the way across the screen. I can’t see this being desirable for an iPad but good for small phones.
That said, I couldn’t get into the tap to move, and I really can’t see how it can be viable for late game when movement becomes frantic in order to avoid boss attacks (projectiles, fast moving and multiple parts). I just don’t see tap to move working out well for that.

Also, it’s my opinion that even if tap to move works, it takes away some of that strategic play when using virtual controls. The virtual controls function similar to that of the switch. You can therefore use them as you would on the switch so much easier. Hide behind objects to avoid attacks, move side to side around objects to get attacks in, move back and forward to place attacks and then avoid enemy attacks, etc etc. this is all done way easier with virtual controls. Tap to move is one thing for Stardew Valley when watering some plants, but it’s another thing for dodging, avoiding attacks, moving around objects, and timing your strokes before immediately rolling away. Tap to move to do all of that? No thanks. And it only gets more frantic late game.
The virtual controls are very serviceable but can’t be adjusted. I do sometimes still hit the wrong button (change weapon) because it’s right next to the special attack button.

Otherwise, as said, this is the same experience as on the switch, however the devs did comment that they did tweak the gameplay for mobile. Personally (because I have the switch version as well), I think they made it just a touch easier in the dungeons. There seems to be slightly less enemies or mix of enemies in any one room. But that may just be me, but in owning and playing the game on both platforms that’s my thoughts. Still I enjoy mobile.

As you know, the gameplay loop of this game of dungeon delving and then selling equipment is really enjoyable (if you’re in to that). This makes it a pretty good game to pick up and play a round on mobile.
Note you can’t manually save but can trigger the save basically anytime you do one of: Enter a dungeon, clear a room of a dungeon, leave a dungeon, finishing the day of your shop, or sleep in your bed. So there’s lots plenty of automatic save points in any case.

However, that all said, note as above in this thread, a few of us have had sudden issues, some of which were game stopping. I’ve since overcome mine probably by fluke but others have reported basically corruption of a save game. (See Hambo12 comment just above yours as the latest). Some people seem to be getting on fine, while a few have had significant sudden issues.

 

Anyone having the stuttering after the winter hits the town?

 

Yep. I mean not AFTER, but DURING winter, to be clear. Stuttering in the town and a little while in the shop/home. Dungeons are fine.

Edit: once the winter period ended (a few in game days), the stuttering went away.