Moonring review – a retro RPG offering more than mere nostalgia

The last few months have been bloody brilliant for RPGs, a period stuffed with massive, triple-A titans, gorged on inflated budgets and turgid with years of work from dozens or even hundreds of people, that have competed to devour hours upon hours of my time. And yet for a couple of weeks now I’ve been consumed by Moonring, another open-world RPG, but one that is largely the work of one man, and available on Steam for free.

Moonring reviewDeveloper: FluttermindPublisher: FluttermindPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out now on PC (Steam)

Moonring is Fable co-creator Dene Carter’s sonnet to the Ultima series, early roguelikes and other RPGs of the 80s. It’s blatant nostalgia bait for gamers of a certain age (even older than me, and therefore Very Old Indeed) but designed with modern players in mind, something that is immediately apparent in the presentation. Simple, barely-animated sprites in a handful of colours contrast starkly against an obsidian-black background. Minimalist electronica accompanies your adventures, while the colour palettes swap realism for a range of searing neon schemes – and the music is all terribly trendy dungeon synth. It’s all very 80s, but the sort of misrepresented, vapourwave incarnation of the decade peddled to people who weren’t born yet. Or were, and just did a lot of drugs at the time.

The moonlit realm of Caldera was once plunged into darkness for decades, until five gods showed up with five moons to light the sky once more. When the inhabitants come of age, they Dream of one of the gods, sort of locking them into worship. Some folks, the protagonist included, are Dreamless and neutral, able to devote themselves to whichever god they please, or none at all. The Archon, a sort of figurehead and arbitrator, is plucked from the ranks of the Dreamless and the current one is getting on a bit, so taking up his mantle is definitely up there as a possible quest goal.

I say possible, because the game plops you into the world with a minimum of fuss and largely leaves you to your own devices. Thankfully, this is where four decades of game evolution come to the rescue, as there is a comprehensive tutorial, a short starter dungeon and extensive automatic note-taking, which leaves you free to play the game without the aid of a notepad and pen. There are point and click mouse controls, but as an old hand at roguelikes, I went straight for the keyboard interface, which is clean and simple. Arrow keys to move, enter for chatting to NPCs, a customisable hotbar and some basic shortcuts, like R for ranged attacks and I for your inventory.