What would you get if you happen to put Studio Ghibli, Pokemon, and Stardew Valley in a blender? In all probability one thing like Moonstone Island, the latest providing from builders Studio Supersoft and writer Uncooked Fury. Now, whereas that each one appears like an important mixture, let’s proceed with our Moonstone Island overview to see if it really works as nicely in observe as in principle.
The plot setup for Moonstone Island could be very a lot a cross between Kiki’s Supply Service and Citadel within the Sky. You come of age and set out out of your guardian’s home to dwell as an alchemist by yourself for a 12 months, crashlanding on the titular Moonstone Island. And, like the opposite islands on this planet, Moonstone Island floats within the sky. So, y’know, don’t fall.
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After you crash, you meet the native innkeeper and bartender, Ossono, and after a fast introduction, you’re given the run of Moonstone Island to resolve the place to arrange your base camp and what you want to do from there. Whereas there are quests and some over-arching narratives which can be launched, the sport is just not significantly story-heavy, and your actual limiters for what you wish to do subsequent are the energy of your Spirits and the facility of your tools.
Moonstone Island Evaluate: Put together For (Card) Battle
Spirits are the pure animals that dwell on this planet of Moonstone Island. Very like Pokemon, they’re discovered within the wild and may be vanquished or tamed, and also you carry three of them with you always. Do I really like having a tiny dinosaur following me round in every single place? Sure, I do, very a lot. You battle with all three of your Spirits without delay and may be preventing as much as three wild Spirits at a time in a card-based system that depends closely on the weather concerned.
Every Spirit features one extra card when it ranges up, and the pool of your at present outfitted spirits’ playing cards out of your deck, with new playing cards being chosen every flip. The system is simpler than it sounds, and there are many alternatives within the sport so that you can improve playing cards and add new ones to your deck, or erase unhealthy playing cards if you happen to select.
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Sadly, the fundamental battle system is the place the sport journeys up. Every Spirit has a kind it’s related to and two sorts that it’s weak to, info which may be simply discovered by checking in your Spirit within the medallion. Nonetheless, since all three Spirits are at all times in battle, elemental weaknesses can’t be prevented. My water-based Sandcrashle went down like a sack of potatoes the minute I bought right into a battle on a lightning island, and there was nothing I might do to cease it.
Since this implies there actually isn’t any worth in having a balanced set of Spirits in your medallion, you have to a balanced crew of Spirits in your barn that you could select from. It does make it a little bit of a chore, having to maintain about 12 to fifteen Spirits all on the identical ranges at any level, and if you happen to unintentionally find yourself on an island that you simply’re weak to, you could be ambushed in battle earlier than you’ve gotten an opportunity to take off once more.
The cardboard-battling system with Spirits is nice, and it’s one factor that positively units it aside from many different monster-battling video games. Nonetheless, the three-on-three battles and heavy elemental weaknesses do make it a chore to ascend to the upper ranges in any type of swift method.
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However Wait, There’s Extra
Past battling, you’ve gotten the choice to farm assets, make mates with or romance the native inhabitants, discover dungeons, and make concoctions and charms to promote or that can assist you in your quests. With over 100 islands to discover, you’re a bit bottlenecked at the beginning of the sport once you’re solely reliant on a balloon to get from place to position, however as soon as you’ll be able to craft a brand new broom, or higher but a glider, you’re in enterprise.
Each the social and useful resource methods within the sport are pretty easy to cope with. You possibly can chat, inform a joke, flirt with folks, or give them presents every day, and finally, you’ll be able to try and ask them out if you happen to’d like. Assets include staple items like stone and wooden, and the one metals that you simply use are Copper, Iron, and Moonstone.
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The problem of acquiring Moonstone can get very irritating, at the same time as you get additional into the sport. Moonstone can solely be seen at evening when it provides off a faint glow, until you resolve you wish to do the equal of carpet-bombing a panorama along with your scythe and axe. Even then, just one Moonstone spawns per island per day, and but I’ve gone days with out Moonstones spawning on the titular island, so it appears to be an higher restrict somewhat than a tough and quick rule.
For all that I’ve complained in regards to the frustrations of the sport, I’ve had a good time taking part in it. The Spirits are all cute with creative designs (albeit typically bizarre ones) and a sport the place your goal is to discover as a lot as attainable is totally up my alley. Aside from the sexy blacksmith, all of the characters are charming and enjoyable to speak to, although they don’t have an enormous quantity of depth.
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Moonstone Island’s pixel artwork fashion can also be cute and kooky, which works significantly nicely for the Spirits but in addition for the final setting. There are bizarre crops like Stunflowers, rainbow-colored psychic storms, your individual candy little avatar, and a wide range of island biomes to discover. The colourful and shiny pixel artwork works nicely in conveying that this can be a (principally) protected, enjoyable world, the place you’re free to discover with out the standard horrific penalties.
General, Moonstone Island was a pleasing shock, as I don’t normally get pleasure from many town-centric video games. The Spirits are enjoyable to seek out, though the battling system may be irritating, however the plethora of islands to discover and the sort villagers greater than make-up for it. It does take some time for the sport to essentially get going, however as soon as it does, you’ll be able to glide proper by means of.
Moonstone Island was reviewed on PC with a replica offered by the Developer over the course of 16 hours of gameplay – all screenshots have been taken in the course of the strategy of overview.