Game: Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer/ Publisher: Bombservice/ DANGEN Entertainment
Price: £12.59|$14.99 |€ 13,99
Rating: EU 12+|America T
Release Date: January 10, 2019
Also available on: Xbox, PS4, and Steam
Hello all! I had an absolute blast reviewing this game. Special thanks to DANGEN Entertainment for the review code.
Meet Kaho, The Priestess
Momodora: Revierie Under the Moonlight is a single-player platformer full of beautifully animated characters and levels. The story starts with the female protagonist, Kaho, arriving at the Sacred Grove. Her small village has been cursed and overrun by monsters. She is traveling to Karst City to speak to the Queen for help. Once she arrives, however, she soon sees that the city and castle have been cursed as well. Even the Queen has turned evil. It’s up to Kaho to search the land for crest fragments. Once combined, they will grant her access to Karst Castle. Once there, she will have to defeat the Queen to rid the land of the evil that has enveloped it.
First Impressions
Being new to the Momodora series, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The few screenshots I had seen made the game look dark and simple, but that was not the case at all! My first glimpse of the game had me hooked.
I started off in the beautiful Sacred Grove, full of rich colors and fabulous details. The first few areas give you a quick tutorial of the controls, but the controls are simple and intuitive so you’re quickly on your way to explore as you please. There is a somewhat linear path you can take, but I soon discovered that there are many secrets hidden throughout the game. You run into several areas that much be revisited later once you have a few upgrades or special abilities, which kept me interested and wanting to keep on going.
Gameplay
As mentioned above, the controls are simple and make sense. There are also 2 different control layout types, depending on your gaming preferences. Kaho is equipped with her special maple leaf weapon, which is used for melee attacks. She also has a bow and infinite arrows for ranged attacks.
As you progress, these weapons can be upgraded, making quick work of anyone standing between you and your quest to save the kingdom. Upgrades happen automatically as you progress, or you can use the in-game currency of “munny” to add active and passive effects. Munny is acquired from defeating enemies and opening the many chests littered throughout the map.
The map is also extremely useful in your exploration. It will show you where you’ve been and where there are areas that still need to be explored. I completed the main story-line of the game and was excited to see that I could continue my adventure with all of my upgrades and munny. I then went on to finish the game with 100% completion. In all, I completed the full game in about 8 hours.
Boss Fights: Learn the Patterns
A tip I found very useful ( and will save you some headaches) is to learn the pattern of the boss attacks. I died several times early on before I figured out that the bosses stuck to specific attack patterns. I was then able to duck and weave to avoid major damage. If you do happen to die though, don’t worry. You will start off at your last checkpoint, which usually isn’t far from the boss area.
Worth the Money?
In a nutshell, absolutely yes. This game kept me hooked from the start. There is enough exposition to keep you engrossed in the story, without it being overwhelming. There maybe could have even been more time spent on story to really get you rooting for Kaho and her cause.
I really wouldn’t change much about the game at all. My biggest suggestion, since the map is so important and such a useful tool in this game, is that it would have been nice to have a quick button for the map itself. Currently, you have to open the menu and scroll to the map to open it. A quick punch of a button would have been great, but still, not a deal breaker. I highly recommend this game and am happy to give it a big thumbs up!
Final verdict:
