Momodora: Moonlit Farewell begins in a serene village. In that village, a bunch of cats need petting; deep below is a giant snake that needs killing. Demons are all about, but they are (for the most part) somewhat adorable pests, less dangerous than persistent. You know you’ve reached a good place when you meet the large, lackadaisical cat man who opens up your ability to fast travel.
The world of Moonlit Farewell relies more heavily on its dreamy, almost cozy aesthetic than it does on its major game systems. Even when swiping at giant lizard-men baddies, you’re doing so not with an enchanted blade but with a giant, mystical leaf. Things are serious, but they are also adorable — cat people, tiny bouncing goblins, even a giant spider that’s more cute than horrific.
None of this will be surprising to fans of the series, which began with Momodora 1 in 2010. The series seems to have always relied a bit more on charm than gameplay, owing to the small nature of its construction. Originally developed by a lone developer, Guilherme “rdein” Martins, the series reflected one creator’s passion rather than a studio’s drive to perfection.
The series stepped past certain limitations with 2016’s Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight, a game more pointedly striving for a broader audience of action platformer fans. It’s in Moonlit Farewell that the hardcore Metroidvania fans might best take interest; with its sprawling map, power-ups, and massive boss baddies, Moonlit Farewell changes its scope.
It does so literally: the camera’s focus in Reverie Under the Moonlight is tight on the protagonist, putting the player as near the action as possible, while Moonlit Farewell zooms well out, putting the player at enough distance to appreciate the game’s size. The previous game flaunted its beautiful sprite animation characters; this one flaunts atmospheric spaces. It wants the player to feel the breadth of its world first, its characters second.
Momodora doesn’t reinvent any of the genre wheels, but I don’t suspect that it set out to. It’s enough to have expanded that space, built that world, and applied the hallmarks of the metroidvania genre effectively. In reality, Moonlit Farewell might be of a genre we could call “metroidvania lite”: all the mechanics and charms of a classic metroidvania but without half the hassle. It looks to engage the player’s love for the genre, but not press them to the limits of their skills.
In comparison to the genre’s modern highlights – Hollow Knight and Metroid: Dread – Moonlit Farewell isn’t seeking to be hard-as-nails. At its hardest difficulty, even the most passable metroidvania fan won’t find themselves pulling their hair out. Instead, Moonlit Farewell is more interested in paying homage to the greats than competing directly with them.
This larger lack of innovation and challenge only occasionally feels grating – the giant snake mentioned above, for example, is a boss battle that requires pattern-repeating patience – but that’s a fatigue just as apparent in the backtracking tedium of even the best metroidvanias. The tedium might feel more pronounced here when the aesthetic pleasantries fail to offset it.
This means that the Momodora games might suffer unjust scrutiny from a famously hardcore fan base; there are more than a handful of biting dismissals for the series on r/Metroidvania. That’s a bit of a misunderstanding of what’s on offer, however, rather than a critique that should inform a player’s decision to dive into the game. With its pleasant atmosphere, stunning pixel art, and just-present-enough narrative, Momodora: Moonlit Farewell is a game meant to be taken as a treat rather than a challenge; a celebration of the form rather than a prime example. It exists to be played, not to be overcome.
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