Momodora: Review of Moonlit Farewell

Going out on a high note, or at least with a powerful maple-leaf combination.

Momodora: Moonlit Farewell 
Platform: PC
Developer: Bombservice
Publisher: PLAYISM
Release date: January 11th, 2024
Price: $16.99 via digital download, $15.29 launch price through January 18th
Availability: Steam

Guilherme Melo Martins, also known as “rdein,” is a Brazilian game developer who has dedicatedly created notable metroidvania titles over the previous fourteen years. Naturally, the developer’s Momodora series has progressed, with each new game building on the achievements of the last while alternating between linear and more independent exploration.

Momodora: Moonlit Farewell, the recently released fifth installment, takes the franchise in a number of new directions. The way the game handles difficulty is the most obvious. Farewell expands beyond the Light and Normal challenge settings before launching a new game, with the former providing an adjustable option. That’s a pretty welcome addition, considering that some of the most difficult boss fights in the series bordered on frustrating. Expect a drop in the frequency of unsuccessful showdowns against these superiors when adaptive difficulty is enabled, which will shorten the roughly twelve-hour playtime of Farewell.

Sigil Woman

The Sigil system in the game offers much more versatility. Following the metroidvania formula, Moonlit Farewell gates off sections until you have the necessary tool. As is to be expected, you will need to improve your weapon before you can cut through red barricades or acquire the capacity to sprint before you can overcome powerful airstreams.

But you can access optional but useful powers by finding or commissioning Sigil cards. Indeed, the majority of them are conditional stat increases that increase your damage output at the pinnacle of your stamina. However, having complete control over each benefit allows for a variety of play styles. Similarly, you can choose from a variety of familiars that accompany the main character Momo on her travels. These little allies are adorable, but they don’t really help much. However, their assistance may not be necessary considering that the game automatically identifies concealed objects and that you can heal yourself whenever you have magic points.

Not Much Progress for the Priestess

Returning to the game’s preset features, the protagonist of the game unfortunately doesn’t feel like they are making much progress. Momo begins with the ability to shoot arrows and her handy, combo-dispensing maple leaf. Although your ability to explore more zones is increased by your gained skills, Momo doesn’t feel like she’s getting stronger because of this. The bright side is that Moonlit Farewell avoids the stat inflation common to its counterparts, which is the process of your offensive power being matched by increasingly formidable opponents. Having saying that, dying in boss battles is more common than dying while trying to find the next save location.

The sense of size in the Momodora series is something I’ve always found appealing. Even though Momo is a small sprite, she packs cuteness into her animations, as seen in her daring arrow launch, agile dodgerolls, and energetic wall scamper. She benefits from being little in two ways. It first gives her a good perspective of her surroundings. However, it also permits bosses to loom over Koho village’s little High Priestess.

Delightfully Reduced

Farewell’s presentation is pleasing and executed with equal skill as its visuals. Naturally, it can be difficult to create a fifth installment that will satisfy both new and long-time fans of the brand, but the game makes a commendable effort. The idea behind this is that a group of demons are threatening the holy Lun Trees in the charming town of Koho by rising from the dungeons underneath it. The tale deftly brings some of the loose narrative threads of earlier installments together and appears to bring the series to a close. However, Moonlit Farewell can also stand alone as a solo narrative, with the option to expand on in-game explanation if you’re curious.

The pleasing post-game stuff in Momodora is just as delightful as the captivating graphics and catchy soundtrack of the game. Players can anticipate a boss rush, a redesigned new game+ mode, and a permadeath option after finishing the game. Masochists can also try to pull off a perfect run by activating the single-hit sigil. However, I believe that Moonlit Farewell’s preset challenges—which encourage you to find every stat-augmenting berry—might appeal to a wider audience.

Momodora: Using a review code that the publisher sent, I played Moonlit Farewell on a PC.

Review Overview

Gameplay – 80%

Controls – 75%

Aesthetics – 80%

Content – 85%

Accessibility – 85%

Value – 80%

81%

GOOD!

Summary : Moonlit Farewell lives true to its name, providing an engrossing finale to the independent series. This competent coda builds on the strengths of the first four episodes and offers difficulty options to suit nearly every ability level of player.