Source: Nintendoeverything.com
Created by Raw Fury – the indie creator behind gems like Kingdom: Two Crowns and Cassette Beasts – Moonstone Island skillfully intertwines elements of farming, exploring, and a bit of creature combat (Not unlike Pokemon). Although not without its hitches, this game signifies a noteworthy leap in revolutionizing how we experience farming simulators and is one of my most anticipated games of the year.
The Story
“Alchemists love what grows. That applies not only to crops, but also to the people around you.”
The tutorial starts at your family’s homestead, where your dad teaches you how to farm and take care of your spirits. Your folks remark on your transition into adulthood and the preparations you’ve made to become an alchemist. This day marks the beginning of an adventure as you embark on a journey to a floating isle – one among many, where you will independently explore the world of alchemy. This year-long expedition is obligatory for all budding alchemists, and your character has been looking forward to it for a long time.
After an emotional goodbye, you take off on a flying broom but soon run into a storm. The storm destroys your broom and you crash-land on one of the many floating islands. Luckily, a friendly citizen of the nearby village rescues you after you blacked out. This new home of yours is a randomly generated island, meaning you will never have the same-looking play-through.
Unlike most farming sims, it does not give you a plot of land instead, you can claim any land you find that isn’t directly in the town. After the first day of finding a place to set up camp and meet the locals, it’s time to start work as an alchemist.
Spirits in Moonstone Island
Moonstone Island starts you with three options for battle creatures, or spirits: Sheemp a fire type that looks like a punk rock sheep, Ankylo an earth type that is basically a small dinosaur, and the electric Capacibee on which my notes are “Evil bee lookin thing”. You keep your spirits in a medallion that your family gives you with limited available slots.
Unlike Pokemon, Moonstone Island relies on a card-based battle system with each spirit getting cards that correspond with their element type. The game limits you to 3 energies per turn. The easiest way to defeat a spirit is to get its armor score depleted, which will dizzy the spirit and open it to attack.
I appreciated the departure from the traditional card-based combat. My expectation is that they’ll introduce more intriguing cards as the game moves forward, although there’s no certainty to it. But as things stand now, I believe some additional complexities could enhance the battles as my spirits progress and grow stronger.
Farming
I am afraid many people that enjoy the farming aspect of these games may be disappointed. The farming is based around the plants you need for taming spirits, taking care of them, or battling with them. An example is growing Applums and using them to heal an injured spirit. For me, this was a great way to make farming feel more useful and fulfilling than just earning an income or using them as ingredients. But I suspect there are many in this genre that will want more from a farming simulator. You can find more things to plant on different islands that you explore and can build your farm in any way you see fit. There are no set areas for where crops can grow and you can terraform a fair amount which will be fun for those that want to customize their islands.
Exploring Islands
The exploration of this Moonstone Island is top-notch. There are hundreds of computer-generated islands to explore that are always different from your last playthrough. What caught my eye was how the island’s theme. Some were fire islands with lava coursing through them and fire spirits chasing you. Or electric islands that have the corresponding spirits and trees with tips that look like lightning. You can fly to these islands and collect new foods and seeds, mine rocks, collect wood, or fight and catch spirits. It’s a refreshing change from the typical scenario where you frequent the same spot near your settlement time and again to acquire what you need. This injects an unprecedented sense of discovery into the world in a manner I’ve yet to experience.
The Locals on Moonstone Island
I loved the art style of the characters and the way they broke your expectations. There was an adorable agriculturist with a badass flower tattoo sleeve that I fell in love with. Or there was a very flirty woman with pink hair who enjoyed employment as the local blacksmith. Many of the characters even had their own heritage, saying certain things in Spanish or other languages. Indeed, after being confined in gaming universes often populated by very few races, this was a refreshing change of pace.
When talking to characters, your options are to talk, joke, and flirt. Each has a percentage chance to go well with the character, with talking being the starting highest and flirting being the lowest. It’s important to note that you will not actually see the conversation, only the result. This can make the conversation feel a bit more stale but I personally enjoyed it more than reading the same conversation repeatedly like you usually get in these types of games.
You can actually raise your speech, joking, or flirting skills in a skill tree just like you can for farming and spirits. These will bring your percentage up so that you are more likely to win over the characters. I immediately put my points into flirting to ask people on dates quicker.
Speaking of dates, you can have them pretty quickly if you’re lucky. You do not need to reach a certain friendship level to ask, but the percentage chance that they will say yes raises if you do. The dates themselves are fun little meetups. I asked the flirty blacksmith out and on our date, we had a conversation and she called me weird. For some reason, my character thought that was a good thing but to each their own. I really enjoyed it. It is not as depth oriented as the others and this way you can date multiple people before getting into a more serious relationship later on.
Music and Sound Design
The music was fine, I did not notice it but neither did I get annoyed by it which is honestly the true test of a good gaming soundtrack. The sound design was really nice. I borderline wish it was ASMR because the sound the watering can made when I watered something was delightful.
How It Ran
Please remember this is an unfinished product and I am only playing the Demo. On that note, I Played on MacBook Air M1 Ventura 13.0 with very few issues. The controls were a little frustrating and there was a part of the map that would not reveal itself.
If I were to suggest a platform to play it on, I would say the Switch as it does not have a high graphics need and it’s the kind of cozy game I want to snuggle in bed with.
Note: The developer acknowledges that it does not run on the Steam Deck but would like to make it compatible before launch.
Ok, but should I buy it?
Absolutly. This is the one game I played during Steam’s Next Fest that I am aching to continue. I will be eagerly waiting for its release as long as it stays at a reasonable price around $30-$35 . I am incredibly excited to enter back into this world and spend my time fighting spirits and wooing townspeople.
This has an expected release in quarter 3 (July, August, or September) of this year. Please wishlist it on Steam to support the developers.
If you enjoyed this article, please read my other work such as my review for the new Stray Gods.
Questions & Answers
Q: Can you play as a female?
A: Your character is a self-insert and looks fairly unisex so you can interpret their gender however you please.
Q: LGBTQ+ friendly?
A: Everyone seems to date anyone regardless of gender so I definitely think its LGBTQ+ friendly
Q: Is there Romance?
A: As stated above, there is a ton of dating and romance in this game.
Q: Varied races in main characters?
A: The townspeople are varied in many races, so yes. But I should also note that I don’t think you can change the race of your own character.
