Moonlight Peaks

So I've rated this one down only because I'd like to see some improvements made. As a farming sim connoisseur, I think it has great potential and don't dislike playing it. A few areas I think can be improved on? - No mini map? I'm opening the map constantly to find where I am or where others are. - Teleporting me in cut scenes! I'm on my way to the job board, and enter the map. I trigger a cut scene in the bar, which teleports me all the way to the other side! Bruh, it'd be helpful if I wanted that, but painful when I'm not. I even got teleported into the top floor of the carpenters house, for a Ludo scene. I don't even like him. - When you do a job, it stays on the quest list, despite being completed. - Watercan, I feel like I'm wasting all the water with how it weirdly spreads. - Limited improvement on upgrading tools. I've upgraded mine twice, and can barely feel the difference of striking less times or yielding more. - Using tools takes a huge real chunk of stamina, especially the net. My stamina is gone from 4-5 trees on a twice upgraded axe? - Low stamina, short day issue. I've burnt through Spring, because I didn't have the stamina to continue. It feels like a big waste, the days are really short anyway. - Eating things for stamina. When you select the item in the bag, you leave the bag to consume it. So if I'm eating a stack of items for low energy, I'm there for ages. I've got 200 mushrooms, but I can't stand how long it takes to eat them and recover. I'd rather suffer/reset the day. - No skill levels? Everything seems based on your tool level, which means I'm about to hit a wall, as I've partially upgraded everything. - Lack of direction. There's no real main mission, so I'm kind of muddling around and trying to upgrade things on my land. But I don't know what I'm aiming for or the main goal of the game. Harvest Moon is reaching a monetary goal, Stardew is community centre, Rune Factory is your memory. Coral Island is environmental. Why am I here, and why does it matter? - Why am I building my cat a bed, when my house is too small to place it? - I'm playing on the Steam Deck, so this may be related to that, but load times between screens feels longer. - Too many cut scenes where the reading speed and text progression feels so slow, so the event feels longer. - Personal opinion: bachelor design models aren't as good as the female. Especially Ludo. Also they don't have as good personalities, and aside from Samael/Aras, are a bit unemployed feeling and rude. It's hard to find them appealing, whereas the women are all clever/witty entrepreneurs. I think as it's early development, improvements can be made. I'll adjust my review as and when that happens.

I honestly love this game and scrolling through the negative reviews I think maybe some people are missing the most efficient ways to play?? So here are some notes: •Yes, at first you don't get a lot of energy and the options for refilling your energy are limited. But literally you just need to farm? Grow tomatoes and onions, make the soup that take those, it fills around 60% of the base energy. •Yes, at first you don't get a lot of mana. So....Use the mana extractor! And you don't even have to strictly garden things for that, plenty of forage items can be used to create your mana refills. •Need money? Beehives and flowers. Seriously, it's that simple. Once you have your first axe upgrade you can get dark wood to turn into planks to craft beehives. I'd highly recommend saving as many flowers as you possibly can. When you place a beehive it will show you the area where flowers will count towards your honey. Fill that and you can even have the beehive areas overlap. I believe it's 16 honey per day for a beehive with enough flowers in range, 20 gold per honey. That's 320 gold per maxed beehive per day and all it really costs you is foragable items. I think I'm at the point of getting around 3k or more per day just for honey. I haven't made it to winter yet, so I don't know if that will wilt my flowers. But that's still a really good amount for completely passive income. •I don't want to spoil but you WILL be able to get an option to make your nights longer. The only real beef I have: •The lag in buildings the past couple of days has gotten WILD. I saw a patch just dropped so I really hope that fixed it. I was having to completely close and restart the game every in game day. •A fast travel option would be cool, if that isn't something I just haven't gotten unlocked yet. •It's kind of odd having a game like this with no character stats or anything. Like in Stardew you're leveling your mining and foraging and so on. You're picking if you want to be a rancher or a farmer. So far this hasn't come up in this game, so it would be cool to see something like that added in. •At the moment I'm feeling kind of stuck. I am at the point where I'm collecting stuff from all the families for the museum. Yay. But I don't even know if that's progressing the main story like I need. I haven't unlocked a new area in quite a while, I assume I need a bat form or something to get to the areas with gold. No idea how to unlock that. I don't really want to look up a game guide because I do enjoy exploring the game blind but at the same time I'm feeling a little too blind with no in game guidance lol •The lack of flowers in summer is PAINFUL. Could we please make sure there are at least some kind of flowers in all seasons? I seriously thought my game was glitched but posts on reddit claim this was intentional and it hurts my soul. •Being able to at least harvest flowers and mushrooms and such in hellkitten form would be amazing. All of that aside! I love the characters, even the characters I love to hate *cough*orlockbrookludo*cough*, I love the representation with the nonbinary characters, it seeming like there's no gender lock on romancing and even a precious NPC with vitiligo. The music is so cozy. HOW DID I NOT KNOW THERE ARE TWO PORTRAIT STYLES I CAN CHOOSE BETWEEN UNTIL 20 HOURS IN??? THAT'S SO COOL. I genuinely hope this game keeps getting added on to, because I'm addicted.

As a Haitian black woman, this game makes me feel so seen !!! Now gameplay is absolutely immaculate, from the time fluctuation in settings (so cutely gifted by Death), to the use of storage being farm wide (love not having to make extra storage necessity rather than scratching my organization itch), its storyline & characters so human (lol) so sweet with the redemptions and ahhh the mini games, the nocturna card game art is stunning. Im super excited to see how far this all goes

If you loved stardew valley, you'll love this one. An extra plus for representing the more gothic and witchy people, as well as non-binary folk.

酔っ払いキャラがうざい、というレビューを見てからプレイしたので酔っ払いが出てきた瞬間爆笑してしまいました。たしかにめちゃくちゃうざい。 さておき、以下によかった点と気に食わない点を記載します。 【良かった点】 ・世界観 ・変身機能、魔法機能 ・公式のアプデが早い ・マップ広さが丁度いい ・農場ゲームとしては比較的遊びやすい ・農場とか家カスタマイズが楽しい ・釣りが簡単 ・死神かわいい 【気に食わない点】 ・日本語版キャラ口調（ノエルは完全にオカマさんと思ってますがそうなんですかね？） ・作物に水やりするときちゃんと水やれてるか分かりづらい ・ヴァンプスター収集（運搬するのがほんとうに面倒くさい　見つけても無視しがち） ・虫取りで体力持っていかれすぎ ・メインストーリー進むのがめちゃくちゃ遅い ・ジェダ？ジャダ？とかいう博物館の眼鏡女（嫌い過ぎて見かけても素通りしてる）

キャラクターのセリフがちゃんとしていないのが許せない方はおすすめしません。 日本語訳が雑魚すぎて男キャラがオカマになってます。

In it's current state the game is virtually unplayable for longer periods of time. I'm having frequent issues with framerate and stuttering despite having a decent PC. The stutter can be improved by restarting the game or capping your framerate. But this is not a long term solution and, honestly, I don't want to have to restart Steam every other in-game day - I don't have to do that sort of workaround for other games with much higher requirements. This is not an issue unique to me, the Discord and Reddit have multiple posts experiencing similar issues. It's a real pity because I do actually enjoy the general gameplay and this would be a more positive review if not for this glaring issue (bar gripes I have about the weaker social aspect and some very odd writing choices for the bachelors when compared to the bachelorettes *cough* Ridge and Orlock *cough*). Once the framerate issues are fixed, I'd be happy to switch this to a more positive review (with caveats).

I’ve noticed that many of the negative reviews seem to come from people who either (a) don't have much experience with cozy life sims or (b) are criticizing issues that are either intentional design choices or have simple solutions. If you're a fan of cozy games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Harvest Moon (or Story of Seasons), Palia, Stardew Valley, Hello Kitty Island Adventure, and similar titles, I'd encourage you to take many of the negative reviews with a grain of salt. A large number seem to come from players whose primary gaming experience revolves around viral idle games, sports titles, or PvP extraction games. This game simply isn't that and not for those type of gamers. If cozy life sims are your thing, there's a good chance this game will be too. If you loved the story beats and romance in Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, or Palia, this game delivers. It offers a compelling overarching narrative that gives you a deeper understanding of the world and your place in it, while also weaving in smaller, character-focused storylines. There is a large cast of NPCs with distinct personalities, many of whom can be romanced and eventually married. The individual stories are lighthearted, but together they create a charming and engaging town. If decorating, collecting, and cooking were your favorite parts of Palia or Animal Crossing, you're in for a treat. The spooky aesthetic gives everything a unique charm while still scratching that cozy collection itch. Cooking is straightforward, much like ACNH, but it has a bit more synergy with resource gathering and recipes similar to Palia. That said, decorating isn't quite as extensive as Animal Crossing, Hello Kitty Island Adventure, or Disney Dreamlight Valley. You won't be decorating entire islands or recruiting villagers to customize their homes. Your creativity is mostly focused on your own plot. While that may feel limiting to some, I found it more than satisfying, and the supernatural theme gives it a strong identity but it definitely offers endless variety. If farming and collecting are what you're after, you'll likely enjoy the gameplay. Fishing exists but isn't nearly as demanding as it is in many other games, which I personally appreciate. Critter collecting is included, but there is no hunting, giving the game a more vegetarian (or perhaps pescatarian) feel overall. You do get a barn with the option to house animals that also play into the cooking aspect or job requests from town. Several complaints I've seen in reviews are honestly pretty easy to address. The lack of a mini-map is probably the biggest exception. It would certainly be a nice addition, but the world itself is fairly compact, so I rarely found myself needing one. Villager locations and shop hours are easy to check from the main map, even though NPCs wander throughout the day. If you dislike how quickly time passes, that's also adjustable. You can lengthen the window in settings and there are potions that help in certain situations. Completing some collection milestones also rewards you with additional time. It's also worth mentioning that unlocking new forms (three so far) improves movement speed and terrain traversal, making exploration feel much smoother. This probably shouldn't need saying, but if you've never played a farming or cozy life sim before(let alone any of the games I mentioned) there will be a learning curve. The game doesn't hold your hand, and the first in-game week functions as a gradual tutorial. It's intentionally slow, giving players time to learn each mechanic without overwhelming them. If you're completely new to the genre, expect to take your time. If you're already familiar with cozy games, most systems feel intuitive. You likely will not feel too worn down by the initial in-game month of build up. That said, its an indie and I think its fair to assume majority here have significant experience with games like this. The loading screen has also received a fair amount of criticism, and while I understand the complaint, I survived the original Sims loading screens. In comparison, this feels pretty minor considering the amount of content packed into the game. For the price, I think the value is excellent. The world feels thoughtfully crafted, the NPCs have distinct personalities and designs, and character customization continues to expand beyond the initial creator as you progress. I'd certainly welcome more clothing options, but what's already here is solid. NPC gift preferences are conveniently tracked in your journal, making relationships easy to manage without feeling overly simplified. The gifts are highlighted (as some may have missed) but they are not pinned anywhere as preferences once found similar to Palia or HKIA. It seems unnecessary with this game. Likewise, I don't think the UI needs a massive collector tracker, your inventory already serves that purpose well unless you're speedrunning or chasing every achievement. Overall, as someone who has played countless cozy games over the years, grew up on Harvest Moon, and absolutely loves spooky aesthetics, I think this game is fantastic. I'm writing this after giving the developers time to release their first round of patches instead of judging it solely on launch day. This may very well be negligible later, but so far its a great release. If Beacon Pines, Harvest Moon, and Cozy Grove had a baby, this would be it. 10/10. I'm having an absolute blast, especially as someone who values story-driven, cozy experiences. Oh! --🖤 console or PC complaints - my ROG Ally handles this easily as does my PCs (4070ti/3090)

Honestly kind of disappointed. This feels like an early access game and definitely not a full release. There's nothing to do? No level up system, drawn out controls with lots of clicks and no energy or way or refilling it. There's only ONE food item that gives you about 40 energy which doesn't even fill you up halfway so you're out of energy at the very start of the day with no way to replenish it. Using tools costs way too much energy, even when you miss a swing it takes away energy. And then around town all you can do with no energy is find the vampsters which is a SLOGGGG why do I have to carry ONE single vampster at a time allllll the way back down to the beach and repeat?? I find myself watering my crops, digging a few holes and then for the rest of the day just looking around for the vampsters. No real dialogue or character interactions, everything is very expensive for the money you make and the calendar doesn't tell you anything. Why did an event/festival pop up TWO DAYS BEFORE and tell me that I have to bring a cooked item out of the blue. That gave me no time to prepare ON TOP OF THAT, there's no recipes I can even cook this early in the game? Guess I'll just have to bring a fried egg? It just feels like a very very empty game. I was super excited for this game but I guess I'll stop playing and go back to Fields of Mistria. Maybe hope for a content update because I spent THIRTY DOLLARS on this. Save your money for now or wait for a sale.

Love this, Everything about it is so cute, Hope we get more character customizations and clothing options added in the future.