On the Radar with Moonlighter 2 – delving beyond the early access launch of this roguelike RPG with exclusive developer access

Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault review: "Dungeon delving, balancing sacks of loot, then hawking your wares is still a compelling loop – but the exchange rate between those pillars is wobbly in early access": So far, the early access launch has been strong, but there's plenty of room to grow as more updates are added alongside community feedback.

After 2 roguelikes, an acclaimed strategy game, and a League of Legends spin-off all in just 7 years, the Moonlighter 2 devs explain how new ideas are key to their survival: It's been several years since the original Moonlighter, but Digital Sun has been busy on other projects in between. The developer tells us how working on other games has informed this sequel and made it better than ever.

"We know that the players are the ones actually enjoying the game": Moonlighter 2 owes its existence to its devs' astonishingly in-depth approach to player feedback: Digital Sun tells us how they're aiming to build this roguelike through community feedback. That includes discussing how a demo release earlier in the year has already informed the current release of the game.

After five hours, Moonlighter 2 already has me hooked thanks to these five features: This sequel carries forward a lot of what we loved about the original, but there's loads of changes we've been digging as well. From a fresh art style that looks gorgeous, to obsessing over how we manage our backpack, there's a lot to love already.

Moonlighter 2’s shop system solves the age-old RPG issue of your bag being filled with useless tat: We take a look at why managing shops in games can be so compelling. Beyond Moonlighter, we consider full-on management like Supermarket Simulator, to shops as backdrops to narrative hooks such as in Strange Antiquities.

I love a narrative reason for roguelike loops, and Moonlighter 2 making it your literal job is one of the best: Roguelikes are always about repetition, and some of our favorites bake that into their narrative justification for looping runs. By making it your actual job, Moonlighter 2 cracks one of the best excuses.

5 games like Moonlighter 2, from roguelike adventures to superb shopkeeping: Moonlighter 2 is part of a broader genre conversation, and there's plenty of contemporaries that can scratch a similar itch if you want to go beyond the current early access offering.