GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon

I didn't expect to love GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon as much as I did. As a revival of an old game that not many folks are aware of, it does an excellent job of offering a modern and challenging roguelike experience. I hope to see many more games like this.

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 a classic roguelike game with a stellar art design and some issues in terms of balancing, that forces the player to grind a lot to be more competitive.

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.

GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon is not up to the level of the exponents from which it is inspired, but it remains a decent diversion for those who want yet another action roguelite.

GetsuFumaDen Undying Moon is a roguelite that takes great inspiration from Dead Cells, but without offering the most peculiar sides. Konami's is a slower game, devoted to farming and more repetitive.

GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon reinvents itself through the inclusion of rogue-lite elements. However, the weight of numerous collectibles, basic combat and odd design decisions mean that the game struggles to compete with contemporaries. Although there is still plenty to enjoy for fans of the original and newcomers, it fails to cut through the competition.

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]

GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon is a title that stands out at an audiovisual level. Its gameplay is entertaining and challenging, but it doesn't add anything new to the genre. It is a proposal that may not convince due to being quite tedious in its development.

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.

It remains an interesting operation with its own dignity, especially due to the fact that it is an IP that arrived in the West for the first time in 35 years, which is always a moment of discovery and curiosity.

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.

After a few content updates, GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon has the potential to be an essential in the genre. Right now, it still feels like an early access game and one that has annoying technical issues on Nintendo Switch. Its biggest draw is the aesthetic and combat, but it needs to be polished and tweaked in its current state to be an easy recommendation when you have much better games in the genre on Nintendo Switch priced similarly.

Less a reboot of a forgotten NES game and more a sub-par clone of Dead Cells, where the gorgeous visuals cannot hide the mediocre gameplay.