After a seven-year wait, the long-anticipated follow-up to a cult indie favorite has arrived — Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault.
While it may not have commanded the same fevered chatter as titles like Hollow Knight: Silksong, the original 2018 Moonlighter earned a devoted audience with its novel blend of roguelite dungeoneering and shopkeeping. Its hybrid design remained relatively unique over the years, and the sequel — now available in early access — refines that core loop while still feeling like a work in progress.
Image: Digital Sun/11 bit studios
To recap the ending of the first game: the dungeons around Rynoka turned out to be portals to other dimensions, exploited by a band of spacefaring looters. Will — who unknowingly became an interdimensional thief — defeated the pirate leader, brokered a trade agreement with foreign powers, and walked away without facing the harsher penalties one might expect.
In Moonlighter 2, that fragile peace is shattered. An enigmatic collector named Moloch displaces Will and the other Rynokans, seizing control of the portals. The cast is stranded in a new settlement called Tresna, where Will — inexplicably broke — must reopen his shop and resume treasure hunting to survive.
Image: Digital Sun/11 bit studios via Polygon
Central to the new story is the mysterious cubic artifact known as the Endless Vault: it falls into the town square and promises to grant Will’s deepest wish if he completes its gauntlets and amasses sufficient gold. Many narrative threads remain intentionally vague in early access — which keeps the tale strange and playful, much like the original.
The sequel preserves the signature day-night rhythm. Nights are for venturing into bizarre realms, looting curios, and escaping with your haul — either by activating an extraction pendant or by defeating a world’s boss. Days return you to the shopfront, where selling, upgrading, and decorating are integral to progression: weapons and armor can be enhanced, potions improved, and the storefront tailored to attract customers and increase profits.
Where Moonlighter 2 diverges most is its shift from 2D pixel art to a 3D isometric presentation. Some of the original’s quaint charm is traded for depth and scale: you’ll sneak through curated museums watched by guards and drones, traverse stormy floating isles teeming with witches, and explore a lively Tresna full of familiar faces — and unfamiliar aliens.
Image: Digital Sun/11 bit studios
Combat demands more planning: you can fire a gun to unmoor airborne foes and use your backpack to eject staggered enemies off the map. Runs feel fresher thanks to branching dungeon routes reminiscent of Slay the Spire, a wide array of perks that alter your approach, and a growing roster of relics and curses that turn inventory management into a satisfying puzzle. Likewise, shopkeeping has evolved — clever layouts and customer-pleasing perks meaningfully boost income.
Not every change lands perfectly. There are more relics and trinkets, yet storage feels tighter; bosses tend to repeat a three-phase pattern where shields force repeated backpack attacks, which can elongate fights unnecessarily.
Still, Moonlighter 2 appears to be heading in the right direction. In early access it has ample room to expand and polish: I reached the current endpoint in roughly 10 hours while unlocking only about a quarter of the game’s completion counter. Developer Digital Sun has been responsive to player feedback, issuing swift fixes — in one instance resolving a stuttering issue within days of launch. In its present form, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault isn’t a flawless dungeon-to-shop simulator, but with attentive development it has strong potential.
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is available on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. This review was conducted on Windows PC using a prerelease download code provided by Digital Sun and 11 bit studios. For more information on Polygon’s editorial guidelines, see Polygon’s ethics policy.
Source: Polygon
