Author: Darlinganddeath
Date: 05-02-2023
You might have seen our episode of Top 3 Upcoming Island games a few weeks ago, and if you did, you'll probably remember the title we featured, Moonstone Island. Well, they decided to re-release their game demo for a week and you bet your tails that the moment we saw the tweet, we were on it like bees to honey. I had been particularly interested in this game because anything that combines a farming simulator with creature collector (especially in the Pokemon style), is something I'm pretty much bound to enjoy. After playing the demo, which allows you to experience 8 in-game days, my hunch about how much I'd enjoy it turned out to be 1000% correct... so we're going to break down exactly what we loved about this game!
It's worth noting that there are obviously aspects of the game we have yet to experience as this was only 8 days of game time, but nonetheless, we can review what we did experience.
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Creature-Collecting:
What I would consider the most significant aspect of Moonstone Island is the Creature-Collecting. This isn't your typical Stardew Valley, farming simulator game where you go buy a cow from your local animal lover, no, this game quite literally has Pokemon aspects baked into it and it's the most glorious experience. From the spiral cutscene when a battle starts, to the way you get to pick your "starter" creature, it just gives you such nostalgia it was impossible not to love it.
Just like in Pokemon, each little creature has elemental types and weaknesses and comes complete with its own unique cards and deck. The decks do seem to be elemental based as I was running two water creatures and they had close to the same cards. There were some differences though so I appreciate that even though a few may share, there does seem to be enough variation to make seeking out specific creatures for your ideal group seem worth it.
From what we could tell in the Demo, there was a total of 40 unique creatures in the game and if you want to collect them all, you're going to need a barn. Gone are the days you have a seemingly endless amount of Pokeballs in your backpack to catch every Pokemon you come across, and in are the days where if you want to have more than just the 3 creatures on your active team, you'll need a barn for them to sleep comfy-cozy at night. We, unfortunately, had not advanced far enough in the Demo to experience having a barn, but I'm excited for the feature nonetheless.
As far as where you can find these adorable little creatures, some will be wandering around the islands and happy to chase you down the moment you walk near them, while others are hiding in the mines and dungeons around the islands. One thing I want to highlight in this game is that even if you don't tame a creature and opt into defeating it, it has a chance to drop an egg that will allow you to hatch that creature at a later point back at your home. This is brilliant because if you don't have room for the said little creature (like when you don't have the barn), you'll still have the ability to raise that creature at a later point when and if you want to.
Card Battle System:
Despite sharing similar creature-collecting aspects, this game shines with diversity in the deck-building and card battle system. Each creature has certain cards in its base deck and others can be added by leveling up your creature through battles or finding talismans.
The talismans are probably one of my favorite aspects of the game because they really make you put thought into your team and current decks. When you find a talisman arch (that's what I'm calling them for now) you can choose to remove a card from your deck, upgrade one, or add one. I ended up doing nothing but upgrading as I felt that was going to be the most beneficial for me starting out, but I'm positive that later on, removing cards will probably be the way to go as well. These talisman arches can be found in random spots across the islands, and I even found a wandering trader who sold me one, so while I feel like they're common, they're also extremely limited so be careful what you choose.
The reason I say removing cards may be necessary is due to the fact that every time your creature levels up, you can choose to add a card. Now, you can just skip it and not add a card upon level up, and I can definitely see myself doing that once the creatures get to higher levels and the decks are just too built out to bother adding some of the simpler cards, but I did end up always selecting a new card whenever my critters grew stronger and I definitely felt the battles grow easier with more cards in my deck. I will warn against taking too many shield-breaking cards as towards the end of the Demo I found myself with a hand full of them and unable to attack... however ... I'd also begun to add things to my deck such as hand re-rolls that were free of cost to use that nearly always kept me from having to skip a turn due to a bad draw.
I need to compliment them on the card system as just like any deck-building game, you always need to make the right choices when picking, upgrading, or removing cards in your deck to ensure success in the battles, but the pure variety of cards in the game made my deck feel unique and... fun! I took the dino starting creature and he was a rock type that specialized in tearing through the defenses of our opponents while my water types focused on dealing critical damage and ensuring my deck didn't get full of block cards with their no-cost re-roll cards. I'm honestly not into the deck-building genre and I was curious if and how much I would enjoy this one, but it was so enjoyable I truly can't complain one bit. In fact, it has me thinking that I need to expand my horizons in this genre and keep an open mind.
Island-Hopping & Flight:
The amount of times I'm going to say "It's just so fun" in this article makes my inner literacy nerdy-ness cringe, but the Island-Hopping & Flight aspects of this game are so creative and enjoyable that it kills me. Right as you're leaving home your parents give you a broom to go explore all the other floating islands and you immediately crash land it and it breaks to bits, so the first few days are spent finding resources to re-build it. You get a balloon to start and I admittedly did not get my broom rebuilt (but I had the workstation that would allow for it on Day 8) but I did take my little red balloon and flew to 2 of the neighboring islands and my gosh it's brilliant. A fair warning... flying does take stamina so if you're low on it, we don't suggest flying.
I absolutely need this game to fully release as I feel like as soon as we're able to have a broom again, island exploration is going to be such an experience to enjoy and a lot quicker than our little red balloon. They do boast that there are over 100 islands and honestly, my mind can't fathom that but I can hardly wait!
NPCS:
Any game that forces me to talk to every. single. one. of my neighbors gives me social anxiety, but... thankfully there were only 10 in this game so that relieved a little bit of it. Just as some games do, we got a little quest that instructed us to go say hi to everyone and I appreciate that this game opted in for less as less is truly more. Each NPC had a purpose, worked in a shop, or offered a service, and it felt consistent with the fact that these floating islands are small, and shoving a ton of people onto 1 island would not make sense. I'm almost positive there are probably other NPCS and maybe towns on other islands (maybe not) but I'm glad that the starting one had a reasonable amount.
The second thing I enjoyed about the NPCs is that a few of them gave us quests right off the bat. The blacksmith asked us to go mine some ore for her, the local innkeeper needed some stones to repair her basement, despite her not telling us why (seems sus), and the local herbologist told us to collect different seeds from the other islands and bring them to her. This honestly made me feel such a sense of purpose towards the NPCs that I don't feel in other games. It's one thing just meeting everyone, it's another to implement quests for each of them right off the bat and give you a to-do list right from the start. There was not a single moment of "what should I be doing?" at any point in this game and that's a great feeling as I get bored so easily.
Oh, and the chat feature is hilarious to me. Your neighbor in this game may not like what you have to say, or your bad dad jokes. Nope, now there is only a random chance that they will. What do I mean? Well, you can grow your relationships with your neighbors and the largest way to do that is by using the daily chat interactions, which you can do 3 interactions with each NPC, every day. However... there is only a 70% chance they'll like what you have to say, a 50% chance they'll like the epic dad joke that Ducky told them, and a 10% chance they'll be okay with you putting the moves on them. Sometimes you'll get lucky and all 3 interactions will succeed, other times they'll be walking away from you whispering to everyone in the inn to stay away from you. There are some talents (we're getting to that) that make your chances of success during interactions higher, so that's good, but those are at least what they start at. I also assume as your relationship grows with each of them that the chances might naturally get higher for things like flirting, but maybe not?
Farming & Seed Collecting:
While I definitely feel like farming is not the main point of this game, it is very much something you'll want to do. Different plants have different benefits, such as lilypads healing your critters, certain flowers making them more tameable, etc. So make sure you're digging up the dirt and getting your hands dirty because the plants are worth it. I assume they're also used in alchemy but as this isn't an aspect I got to fully experience, I can't pretend to have any knowledge of it.
One thing I particularly enjoy about the farming in this game is that to get the seeds for certain plants, you'll need to find them in the wild and cut them down with your scythe to gather their seeds, rather than just picking them up. You then take those back to your town and you can give them to the local herbologist to make those seeds available for purchase in the store, as well as the ability to plant them on your own farm and grow them at home.
Fishing:
Now, games aside, I adore fishing in real life so if a game lacks the ability to fish, I almost feel as though a piece of me is missing. You truly have no excuse to even exclude it from a farming simulator as it just goes hand in hand, but this game isn't what I'd consider a "farming sim", so they could have left it out and the game would probably still be so incredibly enjoyable I wouldn't have even noticed it was gone. That being said, fishing in this game is just a smart thing to do as the amount of stamina fish give back when you consume them is crazy. They also sell for a decent bit and I'm the type of person to spend 2 days fishing in a game to get Insta-rich, so I'm glad that it was included.
I will say that the fishing mini-game was only a smidgen challenging with the arrow keys. I would love to see it have the ability to just hover over and follow the fish with your mouse, which could already be implemented, but since the game Demo was uploaded in the browser, I'm assuming that the mouse-over function might not be working. I will defend it though and say I can see why it's been developed this way because if you're using a controller or you're on the Switch, a joystick would be ideal for this mini-game
Potions & Alchemy:
I knew going into this game that Alchemy was a thing because one of my favorite posts from the game's Twitter page is the one showing off their Alchemy station.
Now, if you know me in real life (I understand that you don't but bear with me) you know that anything herbalism or alchemy related is a topic I deeply enjoy. So, when games implement them as aspects of their games, I get a little over-hyped. In some games, they feel like a sorry afterthought. Something you can do as a means to make money and nothing more, which, if I want to make money I'll usually just go fish as it tends to pay more and take less time or resources, but Moonstone Island gave me a reason to do Alchemy as they put thought and effects behind their potions.
These effects aren't just simple "gain a few extra coins for stuff" potions either. In fact, my favorite potion I found from a chest was the one that slowed the day down by 50%. Yes, your time moves 50% slower and this my friends, is fantastic. This means that you don't have to stress about taking too long in a dungeon, or the mines, and it means you can catch 50% more fish in a day. Pure perfection.
One of the other potions I ended up finding in chests (as I mentioned, I wasn't able to craft the Alchemy station in my game as while I'd finally learned the recipe on the last day, it was of course the last day so I wasn't able to craft or use it) were concoctions, which gave your creatures some flat stat boosts. These are incredibly helpful for boss fights as bosses have a significant amount of health and armor and loading your team up with some extra power prior to them isn't a bad idea.
Dungeons:
Okay, so this feature is probably the best one. There are apparently 10 dungeons in the game (though I'm unsure if that was just in the Demo or in the entire game) and I got through 2 in my playthrough of the Demo. In each one, I found 2 chests and fought a final boss in order to get an epic 3rd chest that dropped some extra spicy loot. The first final boss I fought was definitely a challenge. I scraped by with 2 of my teammates having low health and one sadly needing to go visit a poke-center... wait. The second dungeon was far easier but that's because my mini-rex buddy had been buffed out with upgraded damaging attacks that also tore through armor so the boss didn't know what hit him when in 1 hand of cards his armor was gone. Mix that with my water creatures that were strong against his type and fitted out for high damaging abilities... the poor guy didn't stand a chance.
There are also some mini-puzzles in the dungeons. One, in particular, had me chopping down the grass to see which order I needed to stand on the little stone triggers, and another had me flying my little red balloon to certain platforms in order to break into a chest of goodies. They also have creatures running around in them that are ready to attack you, so make sure you bring some healing lilypads as your team will probably need to heal up before the final boss.
The bonus of completing these dungeons, aside from the epic loot, is that there's a tree at the end of them that permanently boosts your stamina by 10. I don't need to explain why stacking some extra stamina, in a game that uses stamina to travel between islands, is a good thing. I will say though that it makes pursuing the dungeons more worth it. I love chasing down loot but loot is temporary, stamina is forever.
Mines:
Aside from the Dungeons, you have random mines as well. I was lucky enough to be hammering into a rock only to have a hole appear in the ground. I was incredibly confused at first but was excited to climb down the rickety ladder and find a bunch of ore nodes. If you explore further into the mines you'll find a few creatures angry that you let the light in (much like me on a sleep-deprived morning) and a couple of loot chests that make the journey worth it.
Although I stumbled upon the mine by complete luck, I did find a ton of little treasure maps all over the islands. They came complete with the "x marks the spot" on them and I'm going to assume these maps are your shortcut to the mines on each island. They will each take up an inventory slot, so bear that in mind if you're going on a long expedition and want to save space, but if you're traveling with the intent of finding the mines, they'll definitely save you some time in your search.
Inventory:
Since I mentioned inventory, let's throw a tiny section in about it. The moment I entered the game I was greeted by my game parents and they were loading me up with tools, seeds, and other helpful items. My first thought was "Ah great, I'm not going to have room for anything else". I have one thing to say about myself. I'm a loot goblin. I'll find every piece of loot and hoard it to sell later and when I can't, it just mentally frustrates me. So when I hit "I" and saw the... not 1... but 4 rows of inventory space? Oh boy, you bet I looked at Ducky and ranted with glee. I don't care if it's unrealistic that I can carry 1000 stones, 200 wood, a dozen potions, and 23 pounds of fish, I'm going to do it.
Skill Trees:
Yes, we get skill trees! There are trees for Spirits, Combat, Archaeology, Agriculture, Foraging & Social and each tree has 2 different paths that you can go down that award different buffs and boosts. These include the ability to catch higher-level creatures, buffs that make boss encounters easier from the start of the fight, things that increase the chance of finding treasure chests or better fish while fishing, and even ones that make it easier to make friends. The thing I appreciate about the skill trees in Moonstone Island is that they feel relevant and honestly all of them seem like a necessity for making the game a bit easier. I assume that you can acquire every talent in each tree as well once you hit a high enough level in each respective tree. I'm a big fan of this. I'd rather have every talent be accessible but gated behind an ever-increasing XP requirement than be told I can pick 1 and only 1. I suck at being decisive so I can rest easy knowing even if I picked a not-so-good choice at first, I'll get to the better ones later.
Spirit Skill Tree:
Foraging Skill Tree:
Hot Springs:
We all know how frustrating it can be when your stamina runs out during the game day and you're left wandering around picking up what you can find before grumpily returning to your house and ending the day early in order to sleep. Of course, you can eat fish or cook food, or the random plants that you've found during your travels that are probably poisonous but we're not going to bother looking it up, though those things all take energy and or resources in exchange for the stamina you need. However... the idea of free stamina is one that not many games give out in large amounts, Moonstone Island though, puts a relaxing hot spring on your home island that you can chillax in to recharge your energy. Sure, it requires a bit of time out of your day, but it's fantastic for when you didn't pay attention to your energy level while beating down trees and no longer have the energy to fish something up to eat.
Honestly, it isn't even the main island's hot spring that excites me, it's the mini ones that charge your energy insanely fast. These can be found on other islands you travel to and inside of dungeons. These do have a limited amount of energy they give but as I said, it's near-instant energy that will allow you to float home after a dungeon wore you and your critters down, or you flew a bit too far from home and didn't bring any food. Yes, instead of passing out and hoping someone finds your unconscious body, you'll be able to proudly fly back to town without the shame of the mustache the innkeeper drew on your face while you slept.
Pause Your Game:
I know what you're thinking, "you made an entire section about pausing the game?" yes. Yes, I did. Why? I'm a mother of 3 and even in the middle of the night, I'm always on call for bad dreams and baby Jhin deciding he doesn't want to go back to sleep without mom cuddles. So... any game that allows me to pause my game in the middle of the day and not lose the remainder of that day, is a good one. You'd be shocked at the number of games that only allow a true "pause" when the day ends and you're going through the recap... so when I opened up the journal and the game time paused, I felt a jolt of glee knowing this is a game I might be able to sneak some time in with during the days while the kids are awake instead of only at night when the chances of hearing "mom I'm hungry" are below 1%. If any game devs are reading, this is a desperate plea for you to please put in a pause feature. I totally understand the game only saving at the end of the day, that's fine. I can let my computer idle for an hour or two and come back later to finish my day, but if people can't pause at all? It's just not fair. Think about all the kids that play too... how many moms tell them dinner time is right now and that she'll ground them if they don't come at that very moment... don't do it for me... do it for the kids!
Bugs:
There was only 1 bug I really experienced (if you can even truly call it that) and it was entirely my fault. I walked to the top part of the Island wondering if I could somehow fly up to the cliff above me with my little balloon. I walked to the edge of the island like it told me and hopped on, happily floating up closer to the cliff edge and excited that I was taking the shortcut up there. However... that changed quickly when I parked myself on a tiny island in the middle of the river and had no way to get back to either side. I also realized that I couldn't activate my balloon off the cliff because it was the middle of the island technically, not the edge, and you can only activate your balloon or broom around the rim of the island.
So what was I to do? Well thankfully there was a river so I fished until 2:00 am and then passed out. The local innkeeper drew a mustache on my face that night.
UPDATE (5-3-23): We were informed by Cami on Twitter that you can simply craft bridges and get back across the river... maybe we should change the article to 14 reasons to love Moonstone Island
Conclusion:
At this point, I've talked so much about Moonstone Island that you've probably already left but if you've made it this far just know that this game is set to be a great one. It takes inspiration from some of our deeply beloved games and combines them in unique and enjoyable ways. This is one I'll be counting down the days till release for and you can expect us to be streaming it for a few hours the day of (go follow our YouTube if you're interested in that).
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Disclaimer:
Please note that we have not been paid or promoted for this review and are not affiliated with Moonstone Island or its developers officially in any way. All thoughts are based on our own genuine experience of the game Demo. All footage is based on the Game in its current state as of 05/02/2023 and is subject to change upon release or future patches at the developers discretion.
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