GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon

Challenging, rewarding, gorgeous and culturally authentic, GetsuFumaDen is one of the most enjoyable roguelikes I’ve played. Mechanically it doesn’t do much to challenge or reinvent the formula, but it streamlines it beautifully. Meanwhile, it offers a vivid and detailed, classical take on Japanese art styles and the Hyakki Yagyō storytelling tradition. As a starting point for learning more about both these things, you couldn’t ask for something more inspired.

GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon is not a perfect roguelike game. If he wants to compete against opponents like Dead Cells, he needs to do more than that. However, what I said does not mean that the game is bad, I had a lot of fun while playing.

The return of GetsuFumaDen isn’t as successful as we expected, with a game that, even though it delivers an enjoyable game, feels inferior to the big names in the genre.

GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon may be pretty to look at and enjoyable enough to play, but the snail's pace of its upgrade system flies counter to the appeal of roguelikes. Without more streamlined growth and acquisition, the incentive to dive back in for another run takes a massive hit. Barring a balance update, it'll remain a textbook case of "slow close, yet so far." [Issue #59 – May/June 2022, p. 21]

I desperately want Undying Moon to be a linear, level-based adventure where I can see all the levels and fight all the bosses without enduring the tedious rigmarole that roguelites require. Keep the randomized level layouts! Keep the randomized paths and boss encounters if you have to, but just let me play your beautiful game without all these roadblocks. Eventually, I just got sick of Undying Moon. It was more frustrating than compelling, in part because it does so much right, but its wings are clipped right out the gate by its grind-heavy, roguelite trappings. There are better roguelites out there (Binding of Isaac and Dead Cells, for example), but I’m sorry to say none of them look nearly as amazing as Undying Moon.