Moonstone Island

Initially the sheer amount of stuff to do was overwhelming. Farming, crafting, monster collecting, deck building, world exploration, getting to know the villagers, most games would pick two or three of these and run with it. This is definitely not one of them and yet it manages to succeed for the most part.

The game starts out with a brief tutorial, then tosses you in the deep end. Early game consists of short trips off the island, looking for mines that hold resources to upgrade your tools, figuring out the battle system and raising villager affection. Slowly you'll make your way farther and farther from your home island, until you unlock the last form of transportation, this is where the bulk of the game opens up. It took a while for me to make the connection, but progression feels very much like Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker.

The randomly generated map is divided into a grid, and most squares on the map contain an island that has monsters and seasonally rotating plants to collect based on the island's biome. They can also have a dungeon or shrine that contains treasure and equipment that help you reach new areas or let you create your own shortcuts. There are dozens of islands and while not all of them have something exciting, there is still fun in wondering what the next island may have in store.

Story progression is fairly open ended, and the game doesn't do much handholding at all actually, which may turn some players off. The farming and crafting systems are very light, I didn't interact with them much at all. You get access to sprinklers early on and there are far better ways to earn money than growing crops. You can find many of the potions you can brew in chests, most of which become obsolete once you craft items to reduce elemental damage from harsh biomes. The dating sim aspects are totally serviceable, though the decision to bury lore about the world's history unless you date a specific character was kind of strange.

Honestly I could ramble on about more specific likes and dislikes, but overall the game's ambitious scope doesn't hold it back too much. No mechanic is truly useless or frustrating, visually it is vibrant and pleasant to look at (though some character customization would have been nice), and the music did not play very often during my game but I also have no complaints there. Again, this is primarily a deckbuilder with a focus on world exploration, if that unusual combo sounds even kind of interesting then I highly recommend you check this game out.

Don't expect another Stardew, there are some similarities in quaintness and pixel art style but the farming aspect seems to be mostly an afterthought, you can get by just fine without farming at all. Where this game shines is in the exploration. There's a big map and while there are really only a handful of different types of islands they all have their individual quirks to explore.

There are some slight balance issues IMO, relationships are slow to build but then suddenly move quickly and I was already married within the first year. Would be good to make it a little harder. Also marriage does not change the game that much other than that character hanging around in your house a bit. The other balance issues is that I find the card battles aren't THAT challenging, as long as your spirits are at a similar or higher level than your foe you will pretty much always win.

It's also a very warm-hearted game with a lot of really nice touches, very accessible and welcoming to all people. Cute graphics, cute spirits, funny parts and one of the islands looks like Australia.

Music is integral to the gaming experience, so it blows my mind that the game developers still haven’t done anything about the fact that the songs are (A) really short and (B) don’t loop?
What you get is a super short song that plays once, then you’re left with silence. It’s very off putting and makes the game feel half-baked. This needs to be prioritized.

I wasn't sure I was going to like this when I saw it has a card based battle system, as I am not a fan of card games despite the fact that if I focus enough, I can be decently good at them. BUT, as it turns out, the card system is simple enough for my lazy brain to focus on and crank out some pretty good strategies in battle.
I'm nowhere near completing the game yet; there are still a ton of "spirits" I haven't tamed yet, and several Temples that I haven't completed.
And there's an evolution update coming soon that I'm super stoked about, but I wanted to give my thoughts before that comes out, just to show that this game is pretty enjoyable even before that update.
One of the ONLY CONS I have with this game has to be that NPCs don't show up on the map, so I have to run around trying to find them. The town is small, so it's not a terribly big deal, but if I had to pick something to complain about, that's all I have.

Stardew Valley meets Pokemon meets Slay the Spire. Cozy deckbuilding, creature collecting life sim.
PROS:
- Pretty, meticulous visuals. Really pleasant, good quality pixel graphics. Better than one might be used to in indie games.
- It's fun to explore all the sky islands.
- Good mechanics and balance of the card battles, intersting take on deckbuilding.
- Many creatures (Spirits) to collect with varied cards depending on their nature (water/fire/poison/electric/ghost/dark).
- Befriending the townsfolk with interesting personalities, and a lot of small stories to discover while dating them.
- Cozy, laid back theme. You are not forced to do anything. There are no deadlines. There are (almost) no penalties for passing out during night or being defeated in battle.
- Decent crafting mechanics with slight balance issues.
MEH:
- The music isn't bad, but could use more songs, more variety. Especially combat songs get old quickly.
- One might complain about crafting balance. In most games farming sprinklers are somewhat advanced technology. Here sprinklers are available almost immediately, and the crafting recipe is easy.
- Slight balance issues in befriending townsfolk. Some people's favorite gifts are garbage items harvested all over the place, which makes leveling up the friendship very easy.
CONS:
- If you need a game with strong objective and targets, you might get somewhat bored.
GAMEPLAY 9/10
GRAPHICS 10/10
AUDIO 6/10
STORY 7/10

This is a very low stakes play-at-your-own-pace game mixing elements from farming sims, dating/social sims, pokemon-style "spirit" collecting/raising/battling, and tactical card games. That's not to say there are no objectives or anything to aim for, it's just that YOU will largely have to set that tone for yourself. This is pretty great if you are just looking for a relaxing experience and enjoy this cluster of genres.
You start on a floating island where the main Hub is (NPCs, shops, all that good stuff), and by the familiar loop of gathering materials, crafting, upgrading, battling and capturing stronger spirits, etc., you slowly work your way out to surrounding/distant islands where you'll find new materials, spirits to collect, and defeat various island Bosses to progress and increase certain stats and wash, rinse, repeat the cycle.
On the spirits: Each spirit can belong to one of eight elements, which all have various resistances and powers to the others. Each spirit will come to you with it's own "starter deck" of cards to play with. You can have up to three spirits with you (with additional in storage). When you battle, the "decks" from each of the three spirits with you combine to form one large deck that you draw from when you battle other spirits. As you progress, you will be able to modify these decks and also the cards and in this way you get some pretty interesting combinations, synergies, and set-ups that can be quite satisfying.
You have daily and seasonal cycles to contend with (affecting crops, and certain spirits), and penalties for things like missing your bedtime are very VERY minimal.
Does this game hugely break the mold in any way? No.
Is this challenging? I mean, "challenge" is very subjective but compared to other titles in any of the mashup genres, no, Moonstone very clearly just wants you to indulge in its offerings.
Both the art direction and OST/SFX are crisp, bright, and delightful. I have enjoyed most of the spirit models I've seen so far too. The NPCs feel like actual people, albeit just a little limited in how deep your dialogue and interaction can go. Personally, I can take-or-leave this aspect, but since it's there it's nice that it is competent.
UI is just fine, makes sense. I have played almost exclusively on Steam Deck and have had no issues EXCEPT for a strange chuggy lag that happens intermittently and inexplicably. I believe devs are aware and working on a fix.
Overall, I've had a lot of fun here: 7/10

Felt like an unfinished game that has been stretched out with a bottleneck on the moonstone recource to extend the gameplay of an unfinished game. Played ok, alrite if you dont mind grinding with little to show for it. Probably a bit more fun if you make it past needing soo much moonstone. Developes said on the fourm you get a device that gives you one moonstone a day after completing the main quest, but after a few hours searching i have one and need 9 to complete this part of the quest.
It seems this game is still being actively developed, and with the update today the playloop to getting a spirit barn has been signifigantly reduced, making my negative review obsolite. I have played a few more hours today and feel it is easy to achive what was before too much of a grind, i just need to go through a few more dungens. Sorry about the spelling, the review is underlying everything red but not giving me any pointers.