You have no doubt heard the term “cosy” used to describe any number of games in the past – even I have fallen foul of overusing the word to describe my favourite kinds of stress-reducing jaunts through the genres: cosy racing games, cosy cross-country adventures, and even cosy horror fishing games have cemented their reputations into the public consciousness, but no genre has dominated the market quite like the cosiest of its kind: farming simulators.
Unlike the quaint village life of Story of Seasons or Stardew Valley, some games push the boundary of what it means to be a farming game by exploring new ideas, settings or even by giving the farming mechanics a back seat. On one hand, Wylde Flowers puts witchcraft at its heart but keeps farming front-and-centre, but on the other are games like Graveyard Keeper, which exchanges turning bodies of soil for exhuming bodies of… well, people. By contrast, Moonlight Peaks decides to gracefully straddle that line, delivering a farming experience without compromising on its left-field ideas.
You take on the role of the child of Dracula (yes, the famous one) who runs away from home, settling into a long-abandoned family plot within the quaint little town of Moonlight Peaks – hence the name – to start a new life free of your family’s meddling. From this point on, anybody familiar with the gameplay loop of a farming simulator knows the deal – grow crops, sell crops, buy upgrades and repeat. Most of your time in Moonlight Peaks (the game and the town) will be spent building up your farming empire, turning crops into valuable resources and seeking out smoochable residents – more on that later.
In the core experience you won’t find much deviation from other games of its kind – your tools start out simple, crops only grow in certain seasons, you need to plough, plant and water everything, and you are still beholden to your stamina, even as a vampire – if you run out of energy, you’ll be stopped in your tracks until you eat or sleep. Thankfully this gameplay loop remains as satisfying as always, but the game also does plenty to refresh this, introducing supernatural elements that will produce unique crops or otherwise make farming easier; one of the biggest boons comes in the form of magic, something you will be given access to early on in your first spring.
Magic and the associated abilities you pick up along the way generally have one of two uses – narrative or utility. The narrative elements of magic include transforming into different creatures, such as a bat or a cat, to access new areas or traverse the map more effectively – they have their uses when getting around, but they mainly serve as a method of staggering your access to different parts of the game too early. Utility magic, on the other hand, takes the form of spells, each of which can be purchased once your wand has been repaired – these spells can be as simple as refilling your watering can to decimating entire forests with a flick of your wrist. You can also brew potions that affect how your stamina is used or even allow you to change your appearance – largely, the potions are just used to give you a period of free stamina usage during mining or other activities and act more like normal consumables than anything.
Unusually for the genre, Moonlight Peaks also includes a quest log, tracking your tasks as you interact with the people around you and help fulfil their wants and needs – it proves to be a handy tool for anybody trying to work through the story elements of the game, but it does take away that sense of natural progression and discovery that other games such as Harvest Moon might bring. Thankfully the game still has plenty to offer the more relaxed player, being designed with the life simulation elements at the fore, each with their own magical twist – the supernatural residents aren’t treated as a gimmick, with werewolves transforming in the streets, the day cycle being replaced with a night cycle (6pm to 6am, the true witching hours) and ghosts of yore just loitering around expectantly.
On the subject of people, deceased or otherwise, the characters you encounter during your time in Moonlight Peaks are pivotal to both enjoying the story and getting comfortable as you join the community, which is why it’s a shame that dialogue can feel like a chore at times. Cutscenes and story moments stand out spectacularly as the action moves forward and each citizen gets the chance to let their personality shine, but for the rest of the time, they remain somewhat hollow; you may get the occasional topical comment or interesting statement, but much like their portraits, they remain flat – a tragedy considering how beautifully designed each of the NPCs is.
We can’t talk about people without also mentioning one of the biggest draws of the genre: smooching. Much like a Castlevania cast lineup, each of the romanceable townsfolk (of which there are many) has their own unique charm and tends to be supernaturally handsome and cute, ranging from the fiery red-headed Saga to the wine-soaked vampire grouch Orlock – we won’t judge your taste in magical folk, though if you fancy a challenge, you could always try and smooch Death itself. As you enter the character designer, there is very little gendering in your choices, meaning you have the utmost freedom to swing whichever way you want – gender doesn’t matter when you’re smooching a forest witch.
For all that the game does well, there are a few major drawbacks to progression. The first and most pressing thing in my time on Nintendo Switch 2 has been load times between areas, which are unusually long, usually 4 or 5 seconds apiece – this isn’t too taxing when arranging your farm, but when there are multiple transitions between areas or houses, it can become tiresome. Additionally, the game tasks you very early on with learning various new techniques for producing materials, including a refiner, cask and cooking pot among other things – including these tools isn’t inherently bad, but progress feels heavy-handed at times, expecting you to prioritise industry over that necessary cosy feeling – suddenly you are spending more of your time mining ore and crafting machines than cultivating both a healthy farm and healthy relationships with the residents.
Regardless of the issues it has, Moonlight Peaks remains an entertaining game – it’s comfortable, it’s silly and the writing can be witty at times, with entire quests taking you on the wildest journeys. From collecting the numerous “Vampsters” dotted around the world and returning them to their cave to hugging a tree, you’ll find yourself with a glow in your cheeks more often than you will frustration in your eyes.
