In the year 2026, farming sims are a dime a dozen. No matter what platform you prefer, what art style appeals to you, or even the price tag, you’re sure to find a farming sim that fits your tastes. So, to stand out from the crowd, you have to do something different from everyone else. Maybe instead of a human, you play as a vampire. And maybe you have magical plants alongside your regular crops. That’s where a game like Moonlight Peaks comes into play.
Moonlight Peaks stars you, a young vampire who has decided to run away from home with nothing but the clothes on your back, your coffin, and your demonic cat. With very little deliberation, you end up in Moonlight Peaks, where your family used to live. And your family has quite the reputation, if the villagers’ occasional comments don’t clue you in. And yet, despite your father’s seemingly nasty attitude, the people of Moonlight Peaks welcome you with open arms.
As you and the other townspeople are all supernatural creatures (vampires, werewolves, witches, and other creepy crawlies), everything will happen at night, from 6PM to 6AM. And there are a lot of shenanigans to get up to. While no one appears to be literally at each other’s throats, tensions do run high at times (and often times, it seems as though Orlock, the town drunk vampire, is at the center). But everyone also seems to care about each other, encouraging friends to get out more or family members to take a break every once in a while. The villagers don’t just interact with you, but with each other as well.
The story progresses as you complete quests, often tied to getting your farm up and running with new magical equipment and tools to assist in your money-making endeavors. But along with the main storyline, each character has their own stories that play out as you get to know them more and boost their relationship gauge. Boosting their gauge is easy, so long as you give them an item that they tolerate or like. If they don’t like what you give them, however, their gauge will go down.
Moonlight Peaks is a farming and life sim where you take the steps to integrate into your new community. For veterans of the genre, all the general activities exist in this game. Farming, mining, gathering, events, birthdays, relationship building, and other random events will more than keep you on your toes. However, you are limited by how much you can do based on your stamina bar. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself with no stamina and a bunch of tasks that still need to be done. The only way to raise your stamina is by eating food, which you can make or purchase.
Farming is a simple loop, where you pave the ground, plant your seeds, and water your plants. Once you have a barn and animals producing fertilizer, you can use it to improve the quality of your crops. All crops have their own seasons that they’re able to be planted in, and any crops planted that don’t thrive will end up becoming wilted. Some crops also take up permanent space after being planted, such as grapes (depending on the season, of course). So if you’re someone who likes to keep their farm structured, you’ll want to look out for crops that mention regrowing. All crops have three levels of quality (regular, one star, and two stars), and the higher the quality, the more they can sell for. But of course, while you can sell your crops as they are, oftentimes they will sell for more if you make foods or drinks out of them.
Along with regular crops, there are also magical crops. Most of them operate the same way, in that they just need to be planted and watered. However, instead of your regular watering can, you’ll have to use your magic wand to perform a watering spell. Some magical crops have requirements besides watering, such as feeding them bugs or fish. Magical crops can be the gateway to earning money faster, as the products that you can construct using them can sell for hundreds of gold coins.
You have a large plot of land to make use of however you wish. In the beginning, it can feel very overwhelming with an abundance of trees, rocks, and grass to clear through. As you collect items, you’ll be able to upgrade your equipment, which will make it easier to clear through the area to build up your farm. There are many tools and facilities that you can have to increase the value of the items you’re selling, such as a barn, a mill, and a mortar and pestle. The only downside that there are a lot of tools that you can create, thus filling up the free space around your farm very quickly. But it also opens up the variety of products you can make, which keeps the game interesting.
Along with your farm and the town, there is the area around town that is available to explore. But at the beginning, the areas farther away will be cut off to you due to broken-down bridges or rocks serving as obstacles. These obstacles will go away as you progress through the story. The map will also reveal the areas that you’ve been to and hide those that you’ve yet to discover.
The map will be your best friend in Moonlight Peaks. Along with showing you where everything is and where certain characters are at a specific time, it’ll even show you when there is a new cutscene to view by having sparkles around the location. Of course, most of the time you don’t need to reference this as your general exploring will have you discovering this eventually, but it’s a nice addition nonetheless.
As you progress through the story, new facilities and interactions will open up for you. You’ll start seeing some new faces who are getting a feel for the town, finding themselves interested in the quaint town. Some characters will open up stands for you to make items in, such as Luna and her flower bouquet stand. You’ll even see some new shops open up that were originally boarded up. While the additions are small and drawn out compared to other games in the genre, it’s nice to see the town slowly transform as you get more settled in.
Moonlight Peaks uses chibi-esque 3D models, with 2D sprites with multiple emotional options. The models are adorable, really leaning into a cute appearance. And while everything takes place at night, the game never feels dreary. It’s almost like walking through Halloweentown. It’s a nice dichotomy against the naturally dark nature of these supernatural beings. Another cool aspect is the fact that a lot of the characters are POC. While definitely not uncommon in indie games, where more diverse stories and characters tend to appear, it’s always a treat to see that representation not just present, but in abundance. You, as the player, are given the freedom to create your own character and dress them up however you’d like, and the styles are, once again, a breath of fresh air compared to options that are typically available for POC in other simulation games.
The best way to describe the music for Moonlight Peaks would be spooky, with cute undertones. Each track sounds like one that you’d hear walking through an amusement park during its Halloween celebration, in the best way. While the general tone is perfectly matched with the game, there isn’t a particular track that tends to stand out more than the rest.
In terms of performance, the game runs great and looks great on the Switch 2. There are, however, a few bugs that are common to run into. For example, there are times when the music and/or the sound effects cut out, leaving an awkward silence as you putter about your daily tasks. And when opening the main menu to go through your menu options, the L1 and R1 buttons don’t seem to work unless you disconnect and reconnect the joycons (but they do work when you’re out of the menu and using them as shortcuts to flick between tools).
Moonlight Peaks is a delight to play through, albeit it is probably better paired with another game as a palette cleanser. Progress can feel slow, and while there are enough unique events happening to keep your day-to-day interesting, at times it can feel monotonous to grind out material or wait x amount of days in order to complete a quest. The amount of tools and trinkets that you’re meant to create and make use of can also be a lot at the forefront. But when paired against other farming sims, Moonlight Peaks does very well. It’s a polished game with a lot of charm, and it’s easy to lose time playing through just one more day.
Moonlight Peaks gets an 8/10.
