Rating
Moonscars
Push the limits of your combat skills, and master new abilities to progress through an unforgiving nonlinear 2D world. Face off against the relentless darkness that seeks to destroy you. In Moonscars, every death is a lesson learnt—and as you overcome each challenge, new truths will be revealed.
Details
- Released
- September 27, 2022
- Developer
- Black Mermaid
- Genres
- Action · Platform · Hack and slash/Beat 'em up · Adventure · Indie
- Publisher
- Humble Games
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Moonscars Reviews
Professional reviews from gaming critics
The developers of Moonscars have taken the old Metroidvania techniques and Souls-like game mechanics and managed to mix them in a unique way, creating a wild fusion of visual style, emotional storytelling and gameplay.
Moonscars is a great soulslike for those willing to deal with the steep difficulty spike of the last two levels, but it will undoubtedly fall very short for those that don't already like the genre.
Tough as nails and unforgiving, but with an incredibly fun & engaging gameplay loop that always dares you to try "just one more time".
Moonscars is a visually striking 2D action game drawing inspiration from other high-difficulty, narratively minimalist games such as Dark Souls and Hollow Knight. Its painterly art style and brutal difficulty will be draws for fans of the Soulslike genre, even if its storytelling often falls on the side of confusingly obtuse.
Moonscars brings a deeply satisfying core combat loop and exciting art direction to the Soulslike genre, even if it has some teething issues with its overlapping systems and narrative.
Moonscars is the debut game of Black Mermaid studio that tells the story of a knight named Grey Irma that wakens in the middle of a battlefield but doesn’t
Moonscars is a dark and punchy 2D action adventure that tweaks the Soulslike formula just enough to make it worth jumping into yet another entry in this most overstuffed of genres. The combat here is super slick stuff that's meticulously animated through the game's exquisite pixel art style, there are a ton of cool skills and weapons to get your hands on, and the world and its enemies are thoroughly well-designed. It's a shame, then, that this Switch port currently suffers from fairly consistent frame rate issues, because beyond a few difficulty issues here and there, it's pretty hard to find ...
Whether you’re into challenging Soulslikes or sprawling Metroidvanias, there’s a lot to like about Moonscars. Its atmosphere is thick thanks to its moody visuals and soundtrack, while its moment-to-moment gameplay is utterly engrossing once it has its hooks in you. If you’re up to the task and can accept that the experience won’t always feel fair, this is a game well worth sinking some time into.
If you've played any other Metroidvania game, you can easily pass this one up. It means well, and Grey Irma is a beast, but with a convoluted story and characters you will never care about, dying over and over is probably the best part of the game. Beautiful game. Questionable story. "Every death makes you stronger." goes the tagline. I question where the strength actually goes. Slash, slash, dodge.
Is anything more exciting than the promise of a new Metroidvania? Well, here's Moonscars and you may want to curb your enthusiasm.
I said that Moonscars is a game of inches and I mean it—you’ll fight for every inch of progress. Personally, the game presented too many challenges for my enjoyment. If the difficulty didn’t go up every time I died or I could activate checkpoints without having to fight a clone afterwards, it might be a different story, but I don’t appreciate being punished for doing inevitable things (dying, saving). Did you find Hollow Knight and Blasphemous too easy? If so, Moonscars may give you the challenge you crave. For the rest of us? It has limited utility.
