Moonlight Peaks Review – Spooky, Cozy, Toxic Delight

Moonlight Peaks Review

Moonlight Peaks is a cozy farming sim with the aesthetic of Halloween and the character dynamics of a sitcom. In our preview of the game, I commented that it looked like a fun and classic farming sim. Its full release mostly lives up to that promise.

You take on the role of a vampire who flees their family’s stately castle to escape the most terrifying thing of all: family drama. In Moonlight Peaks, you settle down to rebuild a dilapidated farm and start over.

Then you find the village drunk, Orlock, passed out on your lawn. One thing’s for sure: with all the big personalities in town, you won’t have time to worry about your family issues.

Delightfully Toxic Neighborhood

Moonlight Peaks has a very familiar set-up. If you’ve played Stardew Valley or Harvest Moon, you know the basics.

It’s a farming sim set in a small community. Players grow crops, raise animals, and make money. The twist: Moonlight Peak is a spooky town full of adorable vampires, werewolves, witches, and seers. The crops and animals are both a little eerie as a result.

Players acquire spells, new forms, and activate magic circles to make managing the farm a little easier. Use your limited time to juggle relationships, care for the farm, and wander all over a colorful gothic countryside.

There are plenty of caves, but no combat. The only monsters are either romanceable or collectible.

The crafting system is surprisingly intricate. Upgrading the farm means creating different types of tools and supplies. And there’s a lot to choose from and very limited hours in the night.

Moonlight Peaks is a Classic Farming Sim

Moonlight Peaks is a game that’s full of personality. And the same goes for the titular town. There are always some shenanigans going down in the village.

That said, this game involves a lot of time management. You must find the most efficient paths to travel around. Talking to everyone means tracking their habits and finding their favorite hang-outs. And trial and error gift-giving means you can set yourself back on a relationship easily.

Fortunately, the characters are so fun it’s worth the struggle. Everyone in Moonlight Peaks has a very strong personality. Putting more than two of them in a room inevitably leads to fur flying. If you like that sort of toxic small town atmosphere, it’s delightful to watch.

The romanceable characters all have something interesting to make them appealing. My personal favorite was Luna, the down to earth farmer witch. The perky vampire shopkeep Mina, reclusive vampire barkeep Samael, and goth witch Sabrina were also adorable.

Also, the character animations definitely draw inspiration from Animal Crossing. Particularly the little dance when you find a blueprint. I’m not complaining, but it is noticeable.

Where’s Your Beauty?

Moonlight Peaks has some upsides and downsides. The overall visual design is gorgeous and the 3D graphics are adorable, but I still dislike the character portraits. I genuinely think the game would have been better with just the 3D models.

The option to speed up and slow down the speed of time is very useful. And it has one of the most fun fishing minigames I’ve encountered. However, the farm is incredibly cluttered with massive logs, rocks, and weeds. It took me 20 days and an upgraded toolset to clear space for a barn.

Vampsters are so cute it should be illegal. But walking them all down to their cave, hoping not to trigger a cutscene and auto-drop the critters, is so frustrating. And while all the models are nice, they occasionally clip into each other during animations.

Sometimes giving a character a gift doesn’t seem to register. That’s a big problem in a game that features gift-giving as such a key mechanic.

All in all, Moonlight Peaks is a great outing for fans of farming sims. The cast is colorful and the themes of struggling families kept my interest. But if you aren’t already a fan of the genre, it likely won’t change your mind. And it’s not cheap, so keep the price in mind, too.

***Steam code provided by the publisher***