Moonlight Peaks Review

With huge thanks to the folks at Little Chicken and XSEED Games I’ve been delving into their supernatural life sim Moonlight Peaks. We’ve been taking a close look at this one on Nintendo Switch 2, but you can give Moonlight Peaks a go yourself with their free demo on Steam if you’re on the fence.

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The Basics – What is Moonlight Peaks About?

In Moonlight Peaks you’ll find a whole town packed with magic, werewolves, witches and cosy supernatural oddities. Customise your own vampire and build a cosy, gothic homestead to discover and nurture enchanted crops and raise magical farm animals (and, of course, sell all the produce you can).

As well as building relationships (and love interests) from the people of the town, you’ll find a lot of magic to help you on your way. Shapeshifting and spell craft will both help you to explore, gather resources and tend to your farm, as well. Navigate relationships with 24 romanceable characters and discover your own tomb love – and uncover the secrets of the seven families residing in Moonlight Peaks.

Outside the farm you can find the usual life-sim elements you may be expecting – with fishing and foraging, alongside some you might not like potion-crafting, embroidery, flower arranging and other cosy activities to keep you busy.

Is Moonlight Peaks Safe for Kids?

Rating: Mild Issues.

Moonlight Peaks is rated by PEGI at 12 and above and by the ESRB at T for Teen. These ratings are mostly based on mildly-suggestive romantic language, and use of alcohol. While it’s a cute and cosy game, it’s one which we’ve been happy to play in front of our Micro-Bandits, and while the innuendo is likely to go over their head, it’s something to consider if you’re looking at the game specifically for little ones.

The Run Down

Our Five-Point Quality Check for Moonlight Peaks

Gameplay – 7/10: While it doesn’t break any new boundaries, Moonlight Peaks has a solid build and it just works well. It does well to scratch that itch for a cosy farming sim. I’ve really enjoyed the lack of combat, which lets exploration feel fun without getting bogged down with fighting.
Visuals – 8/10: This one really leans into those chibi vibes in general gameplay, and I’ve found myself longing for more of the art style on the conversation slides – but overall it does do what is sets out to. There’s some good spoopy representation here, and a great colour palette for those that like gothic, autumnal vibes.
Audio – 7/10: There’s some decent basic audio in here, and it manages to create background music which doesn’t get overly repetitive. I’d have liked to have the audio lean a bit more into the spooky vibes but it achieves what it sets out to do without setting the world on fire.
Narrative – 7/10: We’re not finding anything which is particularly ground-breaking with the story here, though there are some sensitively handled themes of abandonment and alcoholism. There’s enough story to keep you wanting a little more, but it’s certainly leaning more towards letting players concentrate on spooky farming.
Replay – 4/10: While there are a good number of plants and animals to collect and keep you going, there’s not a huge amount of replay value here. There is certainly a wide dating pool which is great for this genre – but with the date being the same every time, and being able to date any character and get divorced without consequence, players can crack through it pretty quickly.

The Verdict

Is Moonlight Peaks Worth Grabbing?

Overall, our Pixel Bandits’ Does It Suck (your blood!) score for Moonlight Peaks is a 07/10. This does what it sets out to do pretty well, but with a lack of ground-breaking mechanics or story it doesn’t bring much new content to the party.

The spooky edge to a solid cosy farming and life sim will definitely appeal to those who love a gothic vibe to their games, and if you are just looking for more of the genre then there’s definitely enough to keep you going here.

It’s one which definitely comes out on the good side of average. While there’s nothing revolutionary, that has likely also helped the team to ensure the foundations of Moonlight Peaks are solid. It’s been a smooth and overall an enjoyable ride for us here, and a solid build on the portable Switch 2.

As ever, to provide our Pixel Bandits review and common-sense parent’s guide for Moonlight Peaks we received a game code or codes from the folks at XSEED Games