One of those games where MID option is needed.

The idea is amazing but it can only carry the game so far. Dungeon crawling for loot to sell and upgrade your own shop etc is a great pitch but the execution is not there. Combat is uninteresting at best, the shop management is shallow and annoying because of the pricing system and just lots of micromanagement and the items themselves don't do anything other than have a price. If one of these things were good it would save the game but it just falls short.

I finished the story but it took me 5+ years and several restarted saves cause I forgot where I was and what I was doing again and again. It's just too mid.

This is more or less a neutral review, but the downsides of this game are much bigger than the upsides.

To put it shortly, every aspect of this game Recettear does better (except for the dungeons which some people dislike, but I personally had a lot of fun in). And it was released in 2007, for Christ's sake.
In Moonlighter there are no characters. All of them are placeholders. The only one having a bit of personality is the old dude (Zenon) who is also a plot device/exposition dump. At one point he hinted at some kind of a romantic subplot with a person I haven't met or noticed in the entire game.
The crafting is utterly inrewarding for you can't sell the crafted items for a higher price. Well, you can, but the difference is so small you won't bother. Better off selling the materials.
The trading is not very interesting too. The market reacts only if you sell the items for a higher price, to which the demand lowers. That doesn't make any sense. But you can sell dozens and dozens of the same items, and demand stays the same (contrary to what the old man says in the tutorial). Also there's no haggling.
And most importantly: the game completely lacks conflict. You can do absolutely nothing and nothing will happen.
If you tech the shop fully for the tips the customers leave you, you can effectively sell the items for double the price, quickly gaining almost infinite money. The slow start only makes the system feel more broken in comparison. And why would you want to have other upgrades then? They are useless anyway: most of them are for expanding the day, having the thieves stay away and such. But you can easilly sell all of your loot in one day even without the upgrades and the thieves are not very threatening. That is, untill you decide to let your "helper" catch one of those (he probably won't succeed).

The combat and dungeons are alright. Well, the winning strat for me was not getting good but buffing the hell out of my weapon to deal the most damage while the bosses wait for the battle screen to go away.
The pet system is nice. Well, the first dungeon's slime which gives you a chance to stun enemies is easilly the best. But I use others just out of boredom.
There's no EXP bar whatsoever so the progress you make is solely in gear and upgrades.

The pixel-art is very nice and pretty. I like the interaction when you sit by the fire with the old guy and the protagonist takes off his heavy backpack. The armor on him mysteriously disappears, but it's fine. The different music when operating different town screens is a very nice and clever touch. The enemies look good and have smooth animations.

To sum it up, this game could be really great and a lot of fun, but something went wrong in the narration department. With a solid plot and memorable characters Moonlighter would be a banger. But now it's just a worse Recettear.

pog