A while back I played an earlier game in the Momodora series and liked it enough to stick this, the (at time of typing) latest game, on my wishlist. I do like a good Metroidvania and, as it turns out, Moonlit Farewell is a good Metroidvania.

It is, of course, more of the same, but much more polished and impressive with some huge bosses and great animation. If Reverie Under the Moonlight was Super Metroid, this is Symphony of the Night.

The basic plot is to find out who rung a bell which has unleashed demons, but along the way other forces get involved and there are gods and monsters and characters from previous games who make an appearance. As a Metroidvania, it mostly plays out in the standard explore-til-you-can’t-explore-no-more way, getting new abilities (most of which are pretty standard for the genre, like a wall jump and “don’t die in heat item” and “break through specific walls” type powers) to open up other areas. You also have a number of “slots” with which to add buffs, like being able to heal quicker or hit a bit harder or use less magic, but I didn’t see a need for most of those I unlocked.

I found it really easy for some reason. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, but literally only two bosses gave me any trouble and that was only because I hadn’t figured out either their “tell” or their weak point. All the exploring and incidental fighting was pretty simple but still fun. I was starting to get a bit annoyed with the amount of back-tracking but thankfully fast travel points are introduced eventually.

Moonlit Farewell doesn’t do any particularly special with the formula, nor does any feature stand out, but that doesn’t mean I don’t recommend it – it’s a perfectly solid, well made game. It just isn’t all that different to others of this type.