Moonlighter and Enter the Gungeon - Comparison Review - Epic Games Store

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There are a lot of great indie titles out there, and many of which you can get for free. The Epic Games Store has been offering free games each week, so and as long as you sign in and purchase them during the free period you can download and play them anytime you want even after the free period for that game ends.

For this video, I wanted to do a double feature review looking at two indie titles, both in the same style of top-down dungeon crawling, with procedurally-generated levels, falling into the broad category of roguelike games. If you’ve played or seen gameplay of The Binding of Isaac, then you would know what to expect from the two titles I will be reviewing today, which are Moonlighter and Enter the Gungeon.

I’ll start with moonlighter, then review Enter the Gungeon, with a short comparison afterward.

Moonlighter

Moonlighter is about a young merchant who runs a shop in town during the day and moonlights as a dungeon crawler scavenging for tradable goods at night. The unique aspect of this game is that you will spend days directly selling your loot gained from exploring dungeons. You’ll spend about half your time setting prices to get the most out of your loot, upgrading your shop, and brewing potions in the goal of progressing to the more difficult dungeons. There are a total of 4 dungeons with progressively stronger enemies, each containing two mini-bosses and one larger boss. A final dungeon unlocks when all previous dungeon’s bosses have been defeated, shedding light on the mystery of the story and these dungeons.

Other than crafting potions, the blacksmith in town will craft weapons and armor in exchange for the required gold and materials. The RPG elements are a highlight of this game, as I looked forward to upgrading my equipment and seeing the difference in dungeons, in turn reaping better rewards. While death will result in losing most of your items, equipped armor/weapons and the top row of your bag will remain, making this game easier to jump into compared to other rogue-like games that feel like your starting from zero each time.

Enter the Gungeon

Now moving to the next game, Enter the Gungeon is more fast-paced, and action-focused compared to Moonlighter, where the focus is on the guns. After 79 runs, I still haven’t used or unlocked the many of the wildly unique guns that can be encounter in a run. Dodging bullets and learning patterns for boss battles made this game addicting, and has extremely high replayability. This is a game for those who like a challenge, and expect to have your patience tested.

You progress down the gungeon each floor has progressively tougher enemies. The game rewards skill, as you can make your way through harder levels with your starting weapon, mastering the dodge or use cover to defeat your enemies. Defeating enemies sometimes drops currency that can be used to purchase items from the merchant on each floor. Bosses drop another form of currency that is saved after death, to purchase and unlock new items to appear in future runs.

With 4 playable characters, who start with different weapons and passive abilities, most of your success or failure will largely be based on RNG and the kinds of weapons and passive abilities you obtain on your run. Unlocking a chest can give you extra life capacity, a gun, active/passive abilities, or be a disguised monster that attacks you when you try to open it. You can also play the game in co-op mode if you have a friend. One person using the mouse and keyboard, and the other using a gamepad. And even if one of you dies, the other can continue to play with the support of the dead player who comes back as a ghost.

Comparison

So if you need to choose one, which one do I recommend? For casual players who prefer RPG elements, and a sense of progression, I would pick up Moonlighter. The art style is simple yet detailed to the point where you can see a man stroking his mustache. The music is relaxing, and the gameplay is more of a traditional dungeon crawler with typical weapons, like swords, shields, bows. You can customize stats like health, damage, speed, defense, and upgrades give you a sense of progression as you replay the same areas.

For those that want a challenge, and a game that has higher replayability I would recommend Enter the Gungeon. I have yet to unlock all items or even have a successful run, even after spending 30-40 hours on the game. It's addicting but heavily influenced by RNG. You’ll never have a run where you get the same combination of items with so many available. It can be unforgiving but forces you to learn patterns and get better at the game. Whereas in moonlighter, once you upgrade your equipment and potions you can easily take out bosses. Bosses in Enter the Gungeon is always a challenge, as you have to utilize the guns or abilities at your disposal.

I hope you guys like this double feature review. Let me know if there is a rogue-like dungeon crawler game that is your favorite. I know it has been a while since my last post, but I’ve been busy and haven’t been able to play many games in the last couple of months. But I’ll keep making posts/videos as I still have games I'm eager to play through, even more now with my growing Free Epic Game store games. Thanks for reading, watching or visiting my site.