Moonstone Island

I wasn't sure I was going to like this when I saw it has a card based battle system, as I am not a fan of card games despite the fact that if I focus enough, I can be decently good at them. BUT, as it turns out, the card system is simple enough for my lazy brain to focus on and crank out some pretty good strategies in battle. I'm nowhere near completing the game yet; there are still a ton of "spirits" I haven't tamed yet, and several Temples that I haven't completed. And there's an evolution update coming soon that I'm super stoked about, but I wanted to give my thoughts before that comes out, just to show that this game is pretty enjoyable even before that update. One of the ONLY CONS I have with this game has to be that NPCs don't show up on the map, so I have to run around trying to find them. The town is small, so it's not a terribly big deal, but if I had to pick something to complain about, that's all I have.

I was super excited to play this game, but instantly realised that the UI and text are incredibly small. From an accessibility point of view, this game is unplayable for anyone who is visually impaired like myself. The Devs are aware of this issue and hope to be more accessible with future games apparently, but are unwilling to work on this game. It's quite disappointing to see such a cute game not take these types of things into consideration.

Stardew Valley x Pokemon with a an alchemy twist. First session I played for 7 hours straight, and am really enjoying the game so far. Being able to adjust the spirit spawn rate during game play, and other QoL features make it far too easy to just keep playing. It's as chilll as you want it to be.

I'm not a fan of the Stardew Valley genre but I got hooked to this game! It's a mix of Slay the Spire, Zelda, Pokemon and Stardew Valley. Devs care for their game and it shows. Great game!

A decent card battler / creature collector with a vestigial limb flopping uselessly around. The farming and town stuff is completely unrefined. I was initially charmed by the idea of growing healing items and temporary buffs via a stardew valley-like farm plot, but none of it ends up mattering. The characters and town are to be ignored. There is no good way to tell which level creatures are on a given island, so have fun trying to train a new addition to your party! The map especially feels like a last minute addition. Buggy, hard to use, not enough information for the player to even bother opening it. I played enough to fight the first tree boss, and it was quite the slog. It summons smaller trees you have to kill first, then it is vulnerable for one turn. If you get unlucky, you don't draw any attacks on the turn it is vulnerable. Then it's back to uselessly slaying it's summons for another chance to actually deal damage. Horribly designed.

I love playing this while im listening to lectures and idly studying. Its super cozy and i love it for that. I do wish leveling up monsters was eaiser though, the time I sink into them vs the reward is frusturating. I still cant fight monsters in the mid/outer rings and ive sunk around 130 hours into one playthrough. Maybe im doing it wrong idk *sobs*

The card battles are dynamic, and I like that I can largely forego the farm-simming honestly.

I have seen so many people say this, I really wish there was a "meh" rating, or "it's ok" not just GOOD or BAD. Because this game is alright. I wouldn't just say "YES BUY IT NOW!" The way I would with other games similar to this. A lot of people seem to LOVE it, but it is "meh" to me. It is so repetitive. The "friendship" system is BAD, imo. It is % chance based. You get 3 chances per day to talk to a person in the town, and if you fail, you lose friendship points. WHAT? And you don't even actually "talk" to the people. It just shows you a menu with 3 options, each listing their % chance to succeed. "Talk - 50%. Joke - 30%. Flirt - 10%." I am not even going to bother with it anymore. The monster battles are card battles, but they are so boring. And your mons get such a small amount of xp for every battle. It feels like you're not progressing sometimes. And the cards you get are not always good. You can choose a power up to remove a card or upgrade a card, but these "power ups" are scarce. I like the other things about the game - exploration, decorating and items, the art, the music. However, with the crafting system, the most valuable item is moonstone. This item is SO RARE. I don't expect it to be plentiful, because there are some end game things that we shouldn't have until end game. But then why require early game items and mid game items to have MULTIPLE moonstone bars?? A moonstone bar needs 3 moonstones. Which, again, are very rare. So, I do LIKE this game. But i have these issues with it. To be honest, I am not sure how much longer I can play because of how boring and repetitive the battles are. It's killing me. (My play tame says over 60 hours, but I have accidentally fallen asleep at night while the game was running multiple times, and also paused the game to walk away and do things, forgetting i have the game open. So my actual in game time is probably about 15 hours. So I have yet to experience late game, but idk if I can hang on that long.) Bottom line, it's "ok" but kind of a slog in the battle-mon system.

Fun enough but a little basic and shallow. The evolution system is a nice addition however its an insane grind. Catching everything and levelling to 32 is work. Farming 30 evolution stones took a lot of time and effort. I wish it stopped there but requiring me to then fill an evolution bar to 1000 by using them in battle is extremely unfun and has tainted the game for me. Farming the stones and evolving 11/30 so far has added 20 HOURS TO MY PLAYTIME. Regret buying at this point. Edit: Added 35 hours total, I now have the quest completed for taming every spirit and the steam achievement isn't recognising it. Fix your shit. I take back anything i said about this game being fun at this point, you doubled my playtime with one achievement and i still need to fish 1000 times...

I've played through this game about two times so far, and I honestly can NOT recommend it to people as it is NOT a finished game. I love playing a game multiple times and doing different kinds of runs but I absolutely do not like playing games that just clearly aren't finished. I recently finished my second play through since they added events, and part way through there's a new update with evolution! I'd say wait another year then maybe try playing the game but for now I wouldn't bother unless you want to get frustrated (not to mention if you love getting achievements you almost always have to do them twice since they don't trigger a lot of the times, and there's no way to tell if your anywhere close to getting the 1000 fishing or cooking one since there is not native counter and modding is an actual nightmare ). That being said it is an incredibly charming game, that has some good bones but I would have never bought this game if I knew it was still basically playing a pre alpha. If I see an update and the game feels finished I'll update this comment. Although for now I'd leave this one on the wish list.

Only a few hours in, but I feel like I can see what this game is going to be, I like it. Much like Stardew Valley the game is giving you the freedom to play how you want, do you want to focus on farming, do that, do you want to focus on friendship, do that. All the mechanics seem to be well thought out if not particularly unique or innovative. But the game is stil alot of fun, but single biggest complaint is the lack of character creator, I was given a character that I have no particular attachment to because I made no decisions about that character.

Deckbuilding, farming sims, and Pokemon. All things I love - surely, combining all three into one game would be the perfect recipe for me, right? Unfortunately, I still feel like there's something missing, some sort of "secret sauce" that would keep me coming back to this game. As it is right now, it feels oddly bland. The deckbuilding aspect is probably the most clunky part of the game. Each Spirit has their own deck that gets more cards as they level up. You can carry up to three Spirits and use them all in battle at the same time, combining their decks together into one. Sounds interesting, right? You could have one spirit focused on card drawing, one focused on offense, etc. But in practice, it rapidly falls apart in battle because you just have too many dead cards. I tend to draw all my armor-breaking cards when I don't need them, the extra card draws cost valuable energy that I ALSO need to use items, and because attack cards are specific to their Spirit and use their modifiers, I can never seem to draw my main attacker's attack cards when his Rage is triggered for extra damage. Plus, AI aggro seems very, VERY broken in this game - enemies are targeting my main attacker roughly 90% of the time, and with no defensive cards, I'm forced to expend more valuable energy and items just trying to keep him alive.

This game has an identity crisis. First off, art style and creature designs are good.. and that's the only good thing about it. Everything else is shallow and I did not feel any "hook" to keep me playing. The creature collector and battling has a little backbone i'll give them that.. but, status like poison is too powerful. Exploration sucks because it's limited by a lot of factors like player stamina, broom stamina, needing to craft/place bridges etc. Farming, shallow.. you can ignore farming and it's impact is minimal. Fishing, shallow(heh).. the minigame is unique though. Crafting is as basic as it can be. Life sim/village life, shallow.. NPCs/villagers are bland, everyone is of the same age bracket. Dungeons, shallow.. puzzles are basic and they are one and done (at least the early ones?).

(30 hours in) Love the Art, Love the Gameplay, Love the combination of mechanics in the game. Nothing feels too grindy and has options for a bunch of different playstyles. I'm still what seems pretty early on in the game but have enjoyed my time so far and look forward to playing more.

i reallly want to enjoy this game. everything was fine in the tutorial area. as soon as i crash landed in the main area the game constanttly stutters and freezes when im running around. ill revisit it once its hopefully fixed. im playing on steamdeck.

I am really liking this game. It has a little bit of a Studio Ghibli vibe to it. If you like Stardew then you should like this as well. This is like a SDV-lite with a splash of deck-building. Once you make an infinite deck with cards like Momentum and energy gain then the combat is pretty trivial though. Wish there was more of an end-game challenge. The infinite dungeon doesn't really do much for me. Still a solid rec though.

This game is SO FUN! It's basically a combination of Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, and Stardew Valley, so if you like all of those, I completely reccomend it!

Really loved the game, can't wait to get back into it again with the new update <33

Played it nonstop since I got it. The characters are simple like the rest of the genre but I like the ones here a lot and all of their arts are really cute. The decks, spirits and farming are all simpler than games specializied in only one of each but deep enough to have a lot of fun.

Alright, 20 hours in at the moment. Given the reviews are "mixed," I wanted to see what the issue was for people before coming down one way or another. But to give you my overall opinion right at the top: the line between "simple" and "tight" can be thin, and Moonstone walks it--but I think it comes down comfortably on the "tight" side with good design and appropriate depth. But more in detail, going top to bottom: The very good: the aesthetic. Very cute, very wholesome, great character and creature design. The world in general feels unique, with islands you traverse on a balloon, broom, or glider. Crops and plants are unique per biome, and the seasons progress in the standard 3 weeks, with plants and crops completely cycling. The seasons are generally very important because it's also the reset point for in-game resources. Moonstones respawn every season. Shrines reset. But you're not beholden to the season for crops: a greenhouse allows you to grow out of season, and [spoiler] the Alchemist staff allows you to mature crops using stamina instead of waiting after you get it in the first temple. [/spoiler] No more end of season time crunch. The Good. The relationship system. The townfolk, a bunch of non-binary hotties, have the standard heart meters that are filled by talking, gifting, and dating. Initially I thought it was a little shallow, since they don't offer much info in standard chats, but after dating (not necessarily romantic, probably should just be called "hang out"), they open up and you get some good character development, both as individuals and in how they feel about the weird quiet Alchemist kid who fell onto their island. Combat. Card-based, meaning some RNG, but well balanced. There's plenty of ways to refine your deck, as there are little shrines on most islands that let you upgrade, remove, or pull a new card. This shrines also reset at the end of every season, so you can make big changes to your spirit's deck regularly if you wish. Creatures have armor and health that can be attacked separately with different effect. Importantly, crops (and potions made from crops), can actually be really important modulators for RNG that can heavily sway the outcomes of battle. Example, there's a leaf that removes 2 armor, the same as one of the basic cards for armor attack, but does not rely on a draw. It's balanced by not being able to remove the last piece of armor and send them into the "dizzy" state, but can still shift battle safely into your favor. I'm seeing some people gripe about boss battles being difficult--this is unfair. I got stomped the first main boss (the tree one), but swapped out my monsters for new friends and when I went back, and absolutely dominated. The levels of the new monsters were lower than the first group, and I used a few of the shrine cards to refine their decks, but otherwise, just changing strategy was enough to flip the tables. Save before you fight and you've mitigated all the negatives of losing. The So-so. Crafting. Crafting in game is... limited. There's 3 tiers of ore/weapon: copper, iron, moonstone. Copper and iron are fairly abundant in mines, moonstone is harder to find. Iron and copper are both of only middling utility, as top tier items all use moonstone, which can be made into ingots at 3:1 ratio, and because there's only three tiers you quickly find yourself pressed into the moonstone bottleneck. Moreover, there's plenty of items that use both moonstones and moonstone ingots, so making the choice between refining for a higher item vs. using the moonstone for more basic QoL improvements, like more moongrass (self-refilling) troughs, can be tiresome. Getting moonstones themselves is the only thing that has felt like a bit of a grind. Mining. Mines are NOT like Stardew Valley. There isn't a biome down there, nor is there much in the way of secrets. Pretty much, find a few chests (it tells you how many there are, and they aren't hidden), mine out all the ore, fight 2-3 spirits if you feel like it, and close it up, never to open that particular mine again. Perfectly reasonable, but limited. The medallion. I want to like the medallion. It's a cool idea, instead of a monster-management menu you just hop inside your little necklace and can interact with your lil guys. However--the medallion is an item, not a menu, so you need to switch to it on the tool menu to use it, which makes interacting with your little monsters kind of a hassle. Especially if you want to feed/heal them. In fact... The Poor. Feeding your monsters. It has to be done through dialogue options. Which is annoying both in the Spirit Barn and in the Medallion. It's also how you heal them outside of combat, so you're doing it a lot. The takeaway: Honestly, it's a good game. It is ambitious--almost overly so--but DOES do its individual components justice, IMO. There's a dozen different ways to spend your time, and reason to do so. So far, unlike Stardew or Sunhaven, there's no thriving Wiki community to make things easier and give you all the answers, yet. So there's some trial and error as you learn the game, and secrets are yours--only yours--to discover. [spoiler] I have a fishbo with a totally different sprite marked with a "*" and I have no idea why [/spoiler]. If it looks good to you, buy it. Especially on sale. The bad reviews are uncharitable, with most issues being actively addressed with a little more playtime.

The idea is good, but it become much tedious and grindy to complete. This happen when they try to do so much things at once makes the game becoming shallow, hopefully the developer can keep adding content (not more things but more make it more deeps/meaningful). I can't recommend this game at this state (may change latter)

I thoroughly enjoyed this game. It was similar to many other cosy games, but I found the mechanics easy to pick up without feeling like I was completely starting from scratch. I personally find 'actual combat' too stressful in games, so I loved the more controlled and strategic pacing of the deck building style. NPCs' identities and stories provide representation for a range of gender identities & sexual orientations. The dating mechanic was different enough from other games I've played to be interesting, and without overshadowing the rest of the game. The progression was easy to follow, but presented enough of a challenge that I was engrossed for hours!

this game was much better than i thought it would be. i especially like the fishing mechanic. i struggled with acquiring moonstones at first, but that was just because i didn't realize how they were obtained! XD - married rowan! :)

Moonstone Island offers a charming mix of creature collection, farming, and life simulation set against the backdrop of a beautifully crafted world made up of floating islands. The game invites players to explore over a hundred unique islands, each filled with diverse environments, resources, and secrets waiting to be discovered. At its core, Moonstone Island encourages a laid-back approach to exploration, allowing players to craft their own adventure at their own pace while engaging with a variety of gameplay systems that intertwine seamlessly. One of the game’s most compelling features is its creature collection mechanic. Players can befriend and tame more than seventy different spirits, each possessing distinct traits and abilities that can influence exploration and combat. These spirits not only add depth to encounters but also provide meaningful strategic choices during card-based battles. The combat system itself is easy to pick up but offers enough complexity through deck-building and team composition to keep players engaged and thinking tactically. Farming and crafting are also integral parts of the Moonstone Island experience. Growing crops and brewing potions provide useful resources that help players progress and customize their gameplay. The crafting system extends beyond simple utility, offering a wide array of decorative items to personalize homes and living spaces. This customization layer adds a cozy, personal touch to the adventure and encourages players to invest in their in-game world beyond just exploration and combat. Despite its many strengths, Moonstone Island isn’t without flaws. Some players might find the game’s pacing a bit rushed due to the fast passing of in-game days, which can make completing daily tasks feel pressured. Performance issues have been noted on certain platforms, leading to occasional frame rate drops that can interrupt the otherwise smooth experience. Additionally, the taming system, while enjoyable, sometimes feels inconsistent because of limited feedback on success rates. The lack of key remapping options may also pose a challenge for players who prefer customized controls. All things considered, Moonstone Island delivers a rich and inviting experience that blends adventure, strategy, and life simulation in a visually appealing and immersive world. Its combination of exploration, creature collection, farming, and crafting offers something for a wide range of players, especially those who enjoy games that let them set their own pace and style of play. For anyone seeking a relaxing yet engaging journey through a magical archipelago, Moonstone Island is a rewarding title worth diving into. Rating: 8/10

In-game time goes by way too fast. I was wandering around and then my character passed out. I went to wander around some more and it felt like no time at all and my character passed out again. Really annoying mechanic.

TLDR: Fun game for the first 20ish hours or so. You might notice it earlier but the game is pretty repetitive. Along with other issues I had with the game. I'll explain why below. Instead for Monster tamer like games I'd like to recommend the following. Yarimono, Pokemon Infinite Fusion, Pokemon Rejuvenation, Palworld, Nexomon, etc. You need an item called "moon stone"; you'll need three of those to make an ingot. You'll be using the two the entire game. And they're hard to come by. At the start you'll need some to craft a broom. Which isn't bad since you'll only ever need to craft one. If you make one by mistake, don't trash it because you'll get a recycling machine later. (And yes that takes moon stones to craft as well). Yes, it is easy to craft a duplicate item that you don't need by accident since all it takes is a single click to use up that rare resource. You get a few different ways to earn/get moon stones as you progress through the game, but they in my opinion don't matter because by the time you get the moon stone gum ball looking machine (it gives you one moon stone each day). you've already completed the game. Maybe not 100% it but at that point the credits should've played. I googled it and at no point do the credits roll for this game. This will be the final "deck building game" I'll ever play. I Tried getting into deck building through different games. I just suck at it. I'm definitely not the worst. I just don't think it suits me. The best 'deck' in the game is using psychic in my opinion because you can literally infinitely chain your cards when it is your turn if you do the deck right. I'm not joking. I beat the final boss (without spoilers) 30+ levels below the boss level. And I'm counting from my highest level spirit in my party. (They call them 'spirits' in this game. =pokemon=temtem=etc) My lowest in the party was 20 below that (but was built like a tank). I beat the boss on my second turn. It took me forever to 'fix' my deck to achieve this. There are three different 'talisman' in the game that you can farm to change your deck. One for removing cards, to upgrade, and to add. You can only get these talismans from an arch looking structure scattered throughout the map. Every time you interact with it you have to wait a few seconds before you can choose between the three and you'll receive only one. Other than that there are other ways to improve your spirit through resetting their stats to reallocate them. etc. My other problems: The green house... It's an awesome building where you can harvest plants no matter the season! Cool until you fully upgrade it. And then realize it is uneven... And then you go to make a second green house... And you realize you can't have anymore room than just "ONE" green house. If you try and make/use a second green house it'll only lead to the same 'space' as the first one you placed. The devs probably did this because they wanted people to be able to access from different areas? idk. It isn't good. The barn building... Why do we need this? There is a 'terminal' like machine that does exactly the same thing. You'll only need the barn to collect eggs, or the material the spirits will drop. They drop material related to their element. The barn is really much bigger than it should be. That is why I said I don't understand needing that much room when there is another item that does the same thing. My other gripe with it is the feeding/stall. Again, you need moonstones for EVERY STALL you want to keep a single spirit at. If you want to automatically feed it. They'll run away if they're not fed. (This can be negated with a skill you can choose to get when "leveling" up when you sleep. (I never unlocked the brush. idk where to start) The house. I didn't fully upgrade it simply because you have to farm a LOT of stone and wood. Another 'repetitive' material you'll use the entire game. Earning money wasn't the problem. And I didn't feel the need to. The house upgrades makes the house HUGE. Probably best for those people that really like decorating. But it'll end up as useless space because you'll only ever need to use the first or left and right rooms. Because you don't need that much storage in this game since it lacks item variety. There are other problems I have with the game that I didn't say here but the one that did seal the deal for me choosing to consider this game 'finished' is right after I found out I could chain infinite my deck. Once I though i got to a place where most of my battles were ending in the first turn against same level opponents. I decided to do nothing but the quests I thought were the main story. (No spoiler) and once I finished those I though "huh? where are the credits?" And proceeded to google it. After that I thought to myself whether or not I wanted to capture all the spirits. If I wanted to do that then I'd want to level more to make it easier but doing so was grindy. You either battle by taking the skill/trait (for yourself) that allows whoever in your party to level as you run around (I didn't get that). Through battles, or through feeding them exp potions/plants. 1k exp 'present plant' takes 14 days to grow in winter. 14x2 is what? 28!? That is exactly the amount of days there are in a month in the game. Okay, grow it in the green house! But you only have one green house... The good: Lots of spirits to catch! But I never went after them all because the spawn rate is too low (despite me eating food and turning up the appearance rate in the settings) It took me 4+ hours to find the rare snow spirit. Exploring the whole map was fun. I flew around and found every island. (The flying felt kinda slow though. I unlocked the glider. I have no idea if there are better items for flying. (At least I'm pretty sure I did). I think exploring in Valheim using the boats were a LOT more fun though... And sometimes an island is annoying to walk around in because of how the devs treated 'depth?' where a hill is. Because the world is flat until you need to go 'up' one level. idk how to explain it well. etc etc etc In conclusion I'd give this game a mid rating. Not an up or down vote. More or less mid. There are a lot of ideas the devs explored with the game but never fully thought out how they should be added to the game. Kinda like Dokimon. I think this game is not complete despite it being a full release. I already explain the green house or the terminal/barn. So here area few more examples of that. [spoiler] Doing season dungeons you'll get seals. But before you get those seals each one had a unique tools like fins that you can use to swim up waterfalls. Or a useless boomerang or a tool that lets you teleport very SHORT distance. Both useless tools. Even more so the short distance teleport because it's the winter dungeon. Literally the last one you'll do. Why were they added to the game? They serve zero purpose.[/spoiler] etc I could talk more about that.

I like this game a lot. If you like deck builders and Stardew valley, youll love this game. Catching all of the spirits is really fun here too, unlike pokemon (probably because there are around 150 and not 900)

It's a sweet game. My only con is that the so called Moonstone Island(s) hardly have any Moonstone on them. And you need them to progress. Apart from that it's a nice game.

Simple, Fun game. Suffers a bit from the midgame slump. Still quite good and fun just don't fall into the trap of maxxing out every day, you have alot of extra days to get stuff done.

So far, it is pretty fun I like the combat similar to Pokemon that it has, plus I have like 6 other farming sim/stardew like games so I really enjoy it. Will say it does stutter, I have a R9 5900X, 32gb DDR4 3200 & and RX 9070 so well above the requirements of this game, hopefully eventually it does get fixed. (stuttering on steamdeck too)

Alrighty. I'll take it back... This works on Steam Deck if you're not using a dock or w/e. It's not wrong to want to be able to use a wireless controller these days and it sucks that you can't seem to play this game with one... for that I'll give this a 4/7. Outside of all that. the game itself is nice. just wish it was more compatible with today's technology

i love this game ! although i'm not usually a huge fan of pixelated games, the art in this is quite detailed and really beautiful. the crafting components are very fun, i love potion making. there's a ton of potions you can craft, and you forage and farm for the ingredients ! the spirits are so cute and have such fun themes for the islands they reside on. the fighting aspect is really straightforward, card based. there's a romance component, farming, cooking, crafting, thoughtful quests; catching spirits to battle, farm, and collect.

This beautiful little game mixes Stardew Valley with Pokemon! Very enjoyable, can't wait to see what the developers add next.

This game is an amalgam to say the least. With influences from Studio Ghibli, Pokemon, Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, Stardew Valley, Yugioh and not least of all, that old school bit graphics feel of Zelda. This game was wonderfully designed and real thought was put forth in its development. Fight other spirits, use cards to win, farm and grow crops, build and expand your house, spirit barn and greenhouse. So many things to cook, various decorations for your home. A variety of spirits with different powers, different designs(Holo), and lets not forget the new evolutions. This game will keep you busy and entertained for easily 60+ hours of game play. Don't forget the NPC relationships you can build as well! The one negative I see is for those people who are achievement chasers on the Steam Client(Like I am). There are at least two achievements that will be hard fought to get. Easily 20-40 hours of game time just to get the hardest two. That is for fishing and the coveted "Gotta Tame 'Em All". Nice Pokemon reference btw ;) If you don't mind having to do the same tasks over and over to the point of complete monotony to gain them, then ignore this. Otherwise I would give this game a solid 8.5/10. Great job Studio Supersoft!

This game is really fun to play and level up your spirits. I'd definitely recommend playing this

It's a cute exploration game where you can collect cute monsters and build a deck. It's worth giving it a try

This is a "qualified" recommendation at best. If you're looking for a cozy farming, animal, adventure game, this may - or may not - be the one for you. It's mostly about collecting creatures, and a lot about card-based battles. You could actually ignore farming all together if you wanted to. The interacting with the townfolks is weak and a bit of a crap-shoot at best. None of them really have enough personality to draw you in to wanting a relationship with them. If you like a creature-collector game, then this is probably right for you, but if you're looking for that Stardew feeling, well it just doesn't have that. I think the game needs more plot, more reason for doing what you're doing. It has it's moments, but overall I was disappointed.

This is a very charming and sweet cozy game and I do recommend it if that is your kind of thing. That being said, I must agree with many of the other reviews in that, the game is fun and cute but seems to have a focus problem. I can tell from about 5 hours into the game that the dev REALLY likes Pokemon, Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, and probably several other indie games that use card-based combat systems; because several features from each of those games is present here. That is by no means a bad thing, but it makes me wonder if somehow the game could be improved if rather than going for a jack-knife approach the dev had selected only SOME of those aspects to draw from and distilled down those mechanics. If you like cozy slice-of-life type games with minimal stakes and an easy going feel you will very likely enjoy this game. But if you have an eye for game dev and design, you will likely notice the cracks here and there as you play through. This by no means makes it bad, but just something to be aware of.

Moonstone Island is a combination of 3 other games I liked - Stardew Valley, Pokemon, and a deckbuilding card battler like Slay the Spire. It simplifies (and sometimes improves) them in order to fuse them, and it's done very well. Of course, it helps to have experience with these genres to pick up the game quicker. I did encounter some bugs. They are actively updating the game with fixes: * You can get stuck on raised platforms during winter. You fly over the ice when landing, but cannot fly over the ice when taking off. It suggests to use flippers, which have no effect in the winter. You cannot walk on the ice because you are higher elevation than it. Thank goodness for that warp whistle! If I had used it already either time this happened to me, I would have lost a day. * You cannot brush spirits using the mouse. The keyboard works. * A temple seal did not spawn for me after clearing the boss. Their support team was great with helping me resolve this. I had to go back a day in the game and try again. Remember to make manual save files! I would also recommend some quality of life improvements. * There are 3 menu systems. You have a grid for items, lists for buying/interaction, and a radial menu for tools. I am not sure why the tool menu is different than the other two options. It seems that a grid would fit the need without introducing another type of menu. * The teleporters on islands link between two islands. This is nice for exploring, but it would be nicer if you could teleport to any of them after activation. A lot of time is spent on flying later in the game. * I spent a while trying to figure out how to refill the watering can, not realizing you didn't need to. The tutorial could state this fact. All in all, this is a very fun game that keeps you hooked. The quests give you good instruction on what to do next. The islands are generally arranged in a way that the lower level spirits are closer to home, although there are some exceptions (save your warp whistle, you might need it!). I especially enjoyed all the jokes and puns, whether that was in the names of the spirits, the achievements, or just the dialogue. If you enjoy these genres, pick up this game! Highly recommended!

Overall a pretty good game, if you like creature collectors, deck builders, farming sims, or better yet all 3, then its worth taking a look at. With that said, while its a blend of these genres, it doesn't do any one of them particularly well. The balance in the game also isn't the greatest, with spirits of the same type sharing the same card pool so it doesn't matter too much who you use, and the abilities being kinda meh. The new evo update helped with this a bit by making some abilities better but the balance/combat still isn't the greatest. I cleared every dungeon by fall and now I just have to wait for winter to "finish the game" just by using a couple poison spirits and a psychic spirit i got in my first week of playing. The npcs are all romance-able to my knowledge and most of them seem pretty cool, so if that's something you like you can take that into account. The art is also very good. The game is overall good as I said and part of that is because i like all of the genres that this game is made up of. However, keep in mind that this game isn't super in-depth in any one area, more of a jack of all trades, master of none.

I love this game. Not much instruction at the beginning, but easy enough to figure out on your own and fun to explore. :) If you like Pokemon, Stardew, and Maplestory this game is right up your alley.

The new Evolution update brought me back to this game I struggled with. Its been pretty good so far, I enjoy the idea of dual typed sprits with increased deck variety and always like collecting more guys. There's also more content for me to use them on once I beat the final boss, something i felt a bit anticlimaticly about when I first beat the game I have a couple of issues however. Evo stones can be a bit annoying to grab, while there is a degree to where psychic storms can land its not a guarentee that it'll be on an ideal island you want, and its taken several nights of waiting and hoping it landed on a island where I could reasonably contend with the spirits (if it even landed in an island they would spawn period) but also are high enough level that the chances aren't miserably low per fight. Deep Mines are an interesting idea gated by a specific evolution with unclear conditions on how the trigger works beyond a 50% chance and that its only once per entrance? I unlocked one on my first delve into an old mine and then went through 10 more mines both new and old and failed to open anymore since I wanted to contend with a different islands element for thr new miniboss. despite this though the new update is good, and I'm glad they added evolutions for the other 2 starters after the fact which gives me hope this may be addressed if its considered annoying by more than just me, the singular silly reviewer. The main developer clearly has a lot of love for the game and gives it free updates which is always nice to see

I love this game. Hits all the marks for my monster catching heart. Plus farming and stardew valley feel it has, it has me in a chokehold.

Я прошёл игру за 40 часов (с учётом демоверсии) и хочу сказать, что она мне очень понравилась. Но хочу отметить некоторые минусы. В игре хоть и присутствует много различных видов островов, но на всех них ты получаешь одинаковые базовые ресурсы — такие как дерево, трава и камень. Меня тяготило на протяжении всей игры то, что в ней присутствует так мало видов материалов: всего два вида металла, один вид дерева, камня и травы. Мой мозг получает урон, когда я рублю уже сгоревшее дерево или дерево, которое излучает молнию, но в итоге получаю свежее зелёное дерево — то же самое, что и на первом острове. Если бы в этой игре было больше видов материалов, то было бы интереснее изучать другие острова и пещеры. Это, в свою очередь, разнообразило бы надоедающий гринд дерева и камня.

I love this game so much its adorable and fun, it's like a mix between pokemon in a gotta catch em all way and half stardew valley way! it makes such a cozy cute game that can also be bit challenging at times. beautiful game creative spirits that are super SILLY vhikl adventuring, decorating, farming. I love it. however It can get repetitive at times and I really don't want to get bored of the game BUT THE DEVS ARE STILL WORKING ON THE GAME OFTEN SO YAYY

I love how this game reminds me of the best parts of stardew valley, but it also reminds me of pokemon, which is a game I always wanted to play as a kid but I was never able to

Really enjoying this game so far, it's like a cross between a Studio Ghibli film and an old school Pokémon game, Fantastic.

Great fun; easy to pick up; fun little dungeon puzzles.

Everything you love about stardewvalley, except the locations, dungeons and temples are cuter. Highly rewarding to explore. Also everything you love about the famous monster game if the monsters moves were card deck controlled instead. Im in love

after "pavlov-ing" myself into falling asleep while playing pokemon games every night at bedtime, I thought that element of gameplay was out of reach lest it was naptime, but this game is such a nice blend of farming, social sim, turn based rpg, & card strategy, that the "catch em all" element doesn't make me tired!