After over a month of completely abandoning this blog again, I have finally returned to do what I do best, write reviews on small Indie games for an audience of about zero people. We got another treasure from itch.io, this time being from the front page I believe. This game is called Moonleap and is made by a user who goes by the name of guselect. This game was only published about a month ago, which makes it surprisingly recent for this blog. With this game being on the front page, it should be very good, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I will like it.
Moonleap is a puzzle platformer in which you play as a character who is apparently the son of the moon. Your goal is to collect all the stars in a level in order to progress to the next one. The main puzzling gimmick is focused on jumping. When you start a level, you start as a bright, yellow moon, but when you jump, you turn into a dark, gray moon. Changing your color affects the level environment. This environmental effect mainly deals with two platform colors. For the early levels, green platforms are safe when you are yellow, but deadly when you are gray. Purple platforms are vice versa, dangerous when yellow, and safe when gray. There are also factors like enemy snails that move when platforms are safe but stay in space when platforms are dangerous, allowing you to use the snail as a platform. To put it simply, you must use this gimmick to collect every star without dying.
What do I think of the gameplay of Moonleap? Well, I can definitely say I enjoyed it. The game is a lot of fun but is quite challenging at some points. I can recall playing level 5, and being absolutely confused about what to do for a little bit. I kept experimenting with routes to see how I can possibly collect all 3 stars without dying. There was about 10 minutes worth of experimenting before I figured out how to beat the level, and when I did, I felt proud. That’s something all level-based puzzle games should strive to accomplish, It’s an amazing feeling to have when you accomplish a brain puzzle and finally figure it out, and Moonleap certainly gives that feeling to the player.
There was one moment very early on that confused me. In level three, there are three golden stars to collect. Now I’m focusing on figuring out a solution to this puzzle, and I was taking any possibility into account. Eventually, I noticed that there was a hole on the left side of the screen, behind one of the stars. I decided to go over there and see what would happen if I fell in the hole. I fell down the hole and was now on top of the screen. I moved left and suddenly was brought to a new area. There are two notable things about this new area. It was very similar to the previous area but was made slightly easier, and the golden stars were replaced with silver stars. Collecting all three of these silver stars doesn’t seem to do anything. It doesn’t count as beating the level, however, it did unlock the next level. My overall question is this. Why make this secret if it doesn't do, or mean anything? With this being the only level I know they appear in, it makes me question the idea here. Was level 3 too hard? Did guselect make these silver stars as a way to make progression easier? If not, what on earth do they do, because it’s not clear at all. This is just a confusing part of the game to me, but it barely did anything to affect my overall opinion.
The art style is amazing. The main character is very flat in color, but that’s fine. His eyes are pretty big, and overall, he’s just a very adorable main character, so that gets a thumbs up from me. The environment is also amazing. I like how the foreground really pops out, making the overall gimmick of this game very noticeable, something important for a gimmick that is based around the environment. The background is also a beautiful night sky with bright shining stars in it, and it even changes based on what color your character is. It looks remarkably good and overall, this game looks amazing. The music is fine, but sadly, there is only one track. That one track though is really calming and fits perfectly with the overall mood of the game. I wouldn’t listen to it outside of the game though, but that’s fine.
Moonleap is a fun, short game. I really enjoy puzzle-based platformers when they are done right, and this game does it well. I hope you will check out Moonleap if you haven’t done so already. The creator, guselect has also made a few other games that have caught my eye, so I might play them in the future. Moonleap is a great game that I can see any platforming and puzzle game fan enjoying.
LINK TO GAME: https://guselect.itch.io/moonleap
WATCH SOME GAMEPLAY HERE: https://youtu.be/v7Y-FqBOl2I
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