Moonlighter Netflix Edition 9+

Basically, once you play through the first dungeon you’ve gotten >50% of the game’s experience, and I’d recommend being done. With so many items and whatnot, it might seem like there’s depth or secrets to explore, but as far as I could tell there isn’t really: the game is mostly just a huge rinse and repeat every dungeon, and then you beat the final boss and… that’s mostly it. The combat is fairly clunky and repetitive—especially if you use the short sword (it’s just “attack, hold block, sometimes roll, repeat”).
However, that initial experience sure is interesting, and if you like optimization you’ll probably like the idea at first. But don’t let the tease of deeper secrets (e.g., the golem jottings, the books) fool you: it’s mostly an interesting concept (fight in dungeons then be a shopkeeper with the loot) that was stretched beyond its carrying capacity.

I was really enjoying the game, but as of today (3/2/24) the game will no longer load. It freezes on the load screen after the logos. I have tried closing all apps, airplane mode, and rebooting the device. I do not want to delete and reinstall the game and lose my progress (I’ve read this doesn’t fix it anyway). This problem has apparently become universal and has made the game unplayable.

I hope the developers/Netflix are paying attention to this. Maybe they think no one is going to cancel a subscription over a buggy game. But I would caution the company that all of these little irritations add up (canceling shows, raising prices, blocking shared accounts) and people can and will find alternatives. The streaming market is a lot more competitive these days.

UPDATE: Checking in a few weeks later and there’s still no fix, no response from the developers, no nothing. I want to reiterate this: THE GAME IS UNPLAYABLE. Yet it sits here on the app store, probably with hundreds of new downloads per day, racking up more and more 1-star reviews. It’s actually baffling. Does anyone have a direct contact to the game devs (Digital Sun)? Maybe they don’t know what’s going on.

I was looking forward to playing what appeared to be an interesting game, but having just completed the tutorial, it crashed and left me with only a “new game” option upon reopening the app. Unfortunately this isn’t the only Netflix mobile game to constantly delete my progress which is especially disappointing considering how much financial investment Netflix is pouring into their ‘experiment’ in mobile gaming. I would’ve preferred an investment in series continuations, letting my favorite actors, writers, and directors keep their jobs as opposed to this waste which any average Joe could’ve told Netflix would never pay off. Netflix had plenty of time in anticipating the streaming wars. I truly cannot imagine the logic behind choosing to deviate from the methodology that had worked before, keeping audiences engaged by investing in the development and continuation of unique and beloved originals, in favor of cutting corners to squeeze as much profit as possible, almost as if they believed themselves to be an already sinking ship. Well, if you abandon the helm you’re bound to sink sooner or later. Good luck with that.