From the second I sit all the way down to take Moonlight Peaks for a spin, I’m enchanted by its dedication to the supernatural. As a substitute of a boring outdated mattress, I rise out of a coffin late within the night – I’m a vampire, in any case. I’m instantly greeted by a three-eyed speaking cat. After I go away my residence, there’s a white-haired witch ready outdoors, ushering me forth right into a twilight-lit world.
It isn’t onerous to see why Moonlight Peaks attracts comparisons to the likes of Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. It takes the basic cozy administration sport and clothes it in a Halloween costume, throwing a few distinctive mechanics into the cauldron for good measure. In my 30-minute demo, I dived into the magic and customization options that hope to separate it from the acquainted farming fare.
The titular Moonlight Peaks is a city stuffed with supernatural creatures, together with witches, werewolves, and vampires. You, Dracula’s little one, have moved in to show to your father that the undead could be extra compassionate than he thinks. Whereas dwelling in Moonlight Peaks, you take part on the town actions, help your self with farming and crafts, and achieve new skills as you progress by the overarching story.
Fiona, a witch who features because the mayor in my demo, instructs me to test my mailbox for a quest. Very first thing on the checklist? Collect wooden, stone, and fiber. It’s acquainted, however one thing regular compared to the sport’s extra experimental options. The software wheel is simple to make use of and the quests are simple to view, so it’s not lengthy earlier than I’ve accrued the related assets to finish my first quest.
Whereas I hack away on the pure panorama, I’m additionally given a second to admire glowing inexperienced mushrooms, floating sprites that I promptly seize with my internet, and wandering animals like my feline companion and a one-eyed cow. I additionally discover small notes within the grass, which train me extra concerning the city’s historical past (based by three main households; the same old fantasy lore).
Farming works equally to Stardew Valley, the place you plant crops in tilled grime throughout particular seasons and watch them develop after a set period of time. Nonetheless, as a result of you’ve magic, you possibly can speed up their progress or improve them in varied methods – one thing you possibly can’t do in a extra reasonable setting.
The magic isn’t only a gimmick. Moonlight Peaks leans into its spooky id with distinctive mechanics like potion-making and vampiric skills. Turning right into a bat means that you can zoom previous obstacles as an alternative of slowly lumbering round, as an illustration, and you may brew potions with supplies you discover scattered round. As a substitute of simply ready for a timer to tick down, although, you possibly can furiously mash buttons as an alternative – a welcome, time-saving change.
However in fact, with any sport like Animal Crossing, customization is without doubt one of the greatest attracts. Terraforming, one thing you are able to do in Nintendo’s sport to shift land into ramps and different landforms, isn’t current in Moonlight Peaks, but there are nonetheless a whole lot of choices. Bushes, crops, arches, fences, lampposts, flowers, and extra stand out in my stock. You can too use premade templates to alter the surface look of your property, and vogue your individual catalogue of themed furnishings. Only a fast have a look at the Steam web page offers you an eyeful of the sport’s vibrant gardens and witchy decor.
Contemplating Moonlight Peaks remains to be early in growth, I didn’t have a whole lot of time to work together with the sport’s supporting forged. That mentioned, Moonlight Peaks clearly means to transcend the everyday villager relationship that you just expertise in Animal Crossing – sure, which means you possibly can date individuals. I didn’t get to expertise what that appears like, however including in-depth relationships on high of an already stable farming and customization system may very well be a game-changer for Moonlight Peaks (hopefully it’s extra in-depth than the surface-level dates we obtained in Fae Farm).
Moonlight Peaks is price enjoying for farming sport followers who need somewhat sugar, spice, and the whole lot good. It places a significant spin on the usual farming system and visual effort into worldbuilding, however I’m not absolutely offered till it exhibits me somewhat extra character growth. I believe we’ll see this one develop and enhance forward of its launch in 2026.