Moonfrost Developed by Oxalis Games and published by Iterco is available on Steam now.
One hundred years ago, everything changed: a second moon appeared, triggering meteor storms that destroyed most of the planet. The icy meteors that landed were named Moon Frost. The remnants of the meteors are scattered round the world but it turns out, they have there uses. In the world left behind, some learned how to harness the power of the meteors to rebuild, terraform and restore society to what it was before. They are the Frost Hunters, they are part of a wider Frost Hunter Association that at the start of the game is shrouded in mystery.
You awaken with no idea how you got there or what happened. Exploring your surroundings is key here to unravelling the mystery. Through exploration you’ll meet two characters, Ash and Walter. Their goal is to teach you everything you need to know about the games mechanics and what happened all those years ago. You’ll learn farming, building and ultimately how to restore the abandoned village. Ash was suspicious of me during the tutorial and had me trying to prove to her that I have Frost Hunter abilities without training, while reporting me to the Frost Hunter Association who would want to investigate why I have these powers naturally. (Personally, I think she was jealous). Walter, on the other hand, seemed more helpful to my cause, but didn’t trust the association. Once thats over, you are left to go your own way, make a name for yourself while rebuilding the world left behind. As you explore, you’ll meet a host of characters, all with different backstories, opinions and traits. I enjoyed the story unravelling slowly; the pacing drove me to do more tasks to advance. The more I learnt about the world around me, the more it hooked me in.
Moonfrost reminded me of My Time At Sandrock, a world that had been ravaged by an apocalypse and as the builder you have to restore the towns and help the locals. In that game the town evolves overtime and in Moonfrost that’s also a similar path you take. It also reminded me of Stardew Valley with the depth of the friendships, and relationships while also taking on farming, fishing and so on. The life-sim aspects are quite satisfying; like both games mentioned above, you will establish friendships and relationships that develop over time and can become meaningful. However, being introverted, I built my place out of the way of the village and lived a mostly solitary life.
Once my house was done, it was back to work, earning SIL, the local currency, so I could get more building and tool blueprints, items and more while doing Frost Hunter commissions. The Frost Hunter commissions give you the XP to level your Frost Hunter skills, stamina and backpack space. I ran out of stamina quite quickly at first, but once you level up a bit, it gets less frustrating. Crafting is a huge part of this process, as the commissions will get more demanding as you go. What I found unique about the crafting in Moonfrost was the minigame. The minigame has you choose which tile goes where to rebuild the item in question. I found it both fun and frustrating, when you were successful it felt rewarding, but failing meant you had to start over which took a lot of time up that could be spent elsewhere. I did have a few negative points during my playthrough. The durability is an issue, my tools ran out far to fast, and I’d have to grind the materials over and over. It would help if there was a repair function or they just reduce the item destruction.
Moonfrost’s graphical style is great in some areas and some not so much; I love the pixelated art style. There’s something about the rustic design It’s as if you’ve walked into your grandparents’ house back in the 90s, that kind of warmth. The crafted items all look detailed and unique from each other. I enjoyed making a little TV room for myself in the living quarters. The open world around you is beautiful and lush, full of environmental details that catch your eye wherever you roam. However some of the design choices like items respawning Infront of you at random, just after you’d cleared the area you want to live ruins the immersion. I ran into a few graphical errors and wish that you could mess around with the settings more to eliminate them. It didn’t detract from the overall experience, but seeing this weird ghosting blur effect while moving was a little strange for my eyes. The soundtrack accompanies you throughout the journey and is, at times, quite fitting.
Verdict
Moonfrost was a joy to play, I loved how it blends the My Time games with the rebuilding of the environments, exploring an apocalyptic world and overall feel of those games. It also blends with Stardew Valleys farming mechanics to make its own unique life sim style. The more you progress in game the more progress that is made on the environment it makes the world feel alive, buildings pop up more houses appear, more shops open up, people return to the village you’ve restored. While it does have a few issues, Moonfrost is in early access and I have no doubt that they will be fixed. I am looking forward to seeing how the game progresses in the future updates.
