Moonstone Island

The main pros of the game

• Art and Visuals: The game features beautiful pixel art and charming visuals that many players found delightful and reminiscent of Studio Ghibli animations.
• Exploration: The open-world aspect with over 100 islands to explore provides a sense of adventure and discovery, which players enjoyed.
• Creature Design: The spirits (creatures) are well-designed and varied, offering a lot of charm and appeal.
• Card-Based Combat: The deck-building and card-based battle system was praised for its strategic depth, allowing for creative team compositions.

Summary

• Customization: Players appreciated the ability to decorate their homes and customize their gameplay experience through farming, crafting, and relationships with NPCs.

The main cons of the game

• Repetitive Gameplay: Many users noted that after the initial exploration and excitement, the gameplay loop became repetitive and lacked depth, particularly in farming and relationship-building aspects.
• Clunky UI and Controls: The radial menu for switching tools and managing spirits was criticized for being cumbersome and unintuitive, leading to frustration during gameplay.
• Performance Issues: Some players experienced stuttering and performance drops, particularly on certain platforms like the Steam Deck, which detracted from the overall experience.
• Shallow NPC Interactions: The NPCs were often described as bland, lacking depth in their dialogue and character development, making relationships feel less meaningful.
• Lack of Clear Objectives: Players felt the game could be confusing at times, with little guidance on what to do next, leading to a sense of aimlessness.

The features or elements that are missing from the game according to users

• Quality of Life Improvements: Players noted the need for better inventory management, such as combining stacks, easier crafting from storage, and more intuitive hotbar options.
• Deeper Combat Mechanics: While the card-based combat was fun, many users desired more depth and strategy in battles, feeling that it could become stale over time.
• Enhanced Story and Lore: Some users felt the game lacked a compelling narrative or lore, with many elements feeling like they were tacked on rather than integrated into a cohesive story.
• Character Customization: Players expressed a desire for more options to customize their character's appearance beyond the default options available at the start.
• More Engaging Farming Mechanics: The farming aspect was seen as underdeveloped, with players wishing for more complexity and purpose in growing crops and managing resources.

Summary

• In summary, Moonstone Island presents a charming blend of creature-collecting, farming, and card-based combat, appealing to fans of cozy games. However, it faces criticism for repetitive gameplay, clunky mechanics, and shallow NPC interactions, with users expressing a desire for deeper engagement and quality of life improvements.

Summary generated on: October 30, 2025