Even as little as a couple of a months ago, I'd never even heard of the term "Roguelike" - Then I began playing Balatro. It also turns out you have a variation of Roguelike, commonly referred to as "Roguelite" which is effectively a variant of Roguelike games with more forgiving elements pertaining to things such as permadeath, progression and upgrades. Mooncrash is exactly that. A Roguelite spin-off to Prey's main game. You begin within a habitation pod that overwatches the Moon, which TranStar has a base on called the Pytheas facility. You've been sent by KASMA - a rival to TranStar - to investigate a sudden stoppage in communications coming from the facility.
In order to find out what happened, you plug into a simulation and replay the possible consequences via 5 different playable characters. The goal of the game is to escape the simulation with each of the characters consecutively without any of them dying, using the 5 different variations of escape methods within the moonbase. Death doesn't necessarily signify that the game is over, and if you lose a character, you'll just progress onto the next until each character has either died or escaped - A classic Roguelike feature. It's an experience I can't really liken to anything else I've previously played, which makes sense given my novice levels of experience with Roguelike games.
There are 10 new trophies within this package, and the only way to tackle them was to just dive in blind and get to grips with the game.
Only one character is available from the beginning and the others will need to be unlocked through varying means, which will also subsequently unlock you a trophy. Once you have access to each character, you'll notice they have different traits and abilities that are pulled straight from the main game and are exclusive to that particular character. The hacking skill can only be performed by one specific character, so if you want to hack any computer terminals on the moonbase, you'll need to make sure you do it whilst you're using this character. The clever thing is, once you hack a terminal, this will remain hacked for any future characters that go through the simulation within the same run, and this is essential in progression towards certain goals.
For example, one of the escape methods is via opening a Mimic Portal to teleport out of the moonbase, however the Portal will need to be repaired, and the connecting terminal will then need to be hacked, before it can be used by any other subsequent character. This cannot all be done by the same person and this adds a strategic angle to how you tackle the simulation and the order in which you send your 5 characters into it, and these examples exist in a handful of different scenarios where progression is determined by utilising characters skillsets in a specific order.
But how does overall progression actually work? The moonbase has four distinctly split areas - The Crater, which acts as the centrepiece, and the Crew Annex, Pytheas Labs and Moonworks which all branch off from the central crater. These are always in the same locations and contain the exact same internal layouts each time. Nothing in this regard changes from run to run, so learning the map and your muscle memory will play a key part in making sure you fully understand where you'll need to go for efficiency and speed purposes - both of which become crucial later on.
Things that do change from run to run are as follows; Items that become available to loot - and this is fairly dynamic in multiple ways. Sometimes they'll be there, and sometimes they won't. In other instances, the item you find may be an Elite-standard weapon with all attachments, other times it may just be a recycling material for fabrication purposes. I had a strange sense of intrigue over seeing what random loot I would discover from run to run, and a big part of progression within Mooncrash is discovering better loot that you can take forward with you permanently. I waited for what seemed like forever to finally stumble upon a fabrication plan for an Elite Shotgun which would allow me to use it in future runs going forward, but someone else could find one on their very first run. This is the beauty of Roguelikes - The heavy RNG element ensures that you won't play out the same experience as the next player.
Enemy types you run into will also change constantly, as will environmental hazards that can occur within the moonbase that change the dynamic of how you approach your goals.
For example, power outages will prevent you from using powered systems such as doors, grav shafts and terminals. Radioactive barrels will give you radiation poisoning if you get too close. Your character can also incur status effects. Concussion will reduce Psi abilities and prevent you from installing Neuromods. Bleeding will gradually see your health decrease over time. Fractures to bones will prevent you moving at reasonable pace.
The game has so many different layers that add constantly changing dynamics to the way you play, which give it a varied and interesting experience. It feels like it should fall foul of being too repetitive in nature, but the Roguelike elements add freshness to the game that also feels like you're always doing something new.
It's initially a little bit frustrating when you start out and your characters are weak due to either not having found enough Neuromods to improve abilities yet, nor having any of the better weapons, equipment and chipsets available, and you can still fall foul of some really cheap deaths due to the sometimes overdone environmental hazards that eventually swarm the base thanks to the ever increasing corruption levels. The corruption levels make this a timed mode, which is a very important detail to mention.
Starting at level 1, the corruption meter will gradually fill right up to level 5. With each new corruption level comes more powerful enemies that also pop up with greater frequency, and more hazards around the moonbase. Once the meter hits the top of level 5, the simulation will just end, and any remaining survivors who have not escaped will die. This is where the importance of knowing the layout of the moonbase really matters, as you'll need to ensure you're moving with efficiency and speed to ensure all 5 survivors can make it out - Not just on time, but also quick enough before you reach the higher stages of corruption, which can be perilous and challenging.
You will unlock a variety of the trophies from just natural exploration of the mode. Killing the new Moon Shark enemy, unlocking all 5 playable characters and chaining together a successful run where you manage to escape the simulation with all 5 characters award trophies. However, despite it's Roguelike elements, there is still an actual endgame to strive for here within Mooncrash, and there are a couple of trophies you'll end up working towards from the start;
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Contract Fulfilled - In Mooncrash, Complete all KASMA Orders.
Galaxy Brain - In Mooncrash, install every neuromod power for every character. |
The "Contract Fulfilled" trophy, awarded for completing all KASMA Orders, is the effective "End-game" for Mooncrash. Being a Roguelite, it is still a continuous game that you can infinitely loop, but there are a total of 27 KASMA orders that underpin a very loose story element to the game. These are just a varied list of objectives to tick off from within the simulation, but once you complete all 27 KASMA Orders, you'll see the end cinematic, and everything will reset from scratch.
Most notably, this will include your Neuromod progress for each character, which directly impacts the "Galaxy Brain" trophy. If you earn this trophy without installing every possible Neuromod, you'll reset your entire progress, so it's vital that you make sure you attain these trophies in a specified order that prevents a conflict of interest.
Further to this, the completion of the game will also possibly impact the "Cryptomancer" trophy, awarded for finishing the game with a surplus of 50,000 sim points or more. Sim points are earned for actions within the simulation. Killing enemies, picking up fabrication plans and successfully escaping will total up sim points. They're usually required to purchase weaponry, ammunition, tools and neuromods to assist with your run, but if you don't have 50,000 points banked by the time you tick off the final KASMA order, you won't earn this trophy either and will have to start from scratch.
It's a little bit annoying that you have to earn 50,000 sim points that the trophy list will forbid you from spending. That's 12 additional neuromods, and would easily get you a couple of the higher value abilities for any of the 5 characters.
The trophy creates alot of additional peril that's important to be conscious to. The best course of action to prevent any complications is to leave a couple of orders outstanding until you have each of the other trophies in the list, ensuring that the "Cryptomancer" trophy is the final one you unlock by completing the last KASMA order whilst holding 50,000 points. This is a lengthy piece of DLC, and as fun as I found it, I wouldn't want to be in a position of having to start it all from scratch purely because I overlooked a couple of trophy requirements.
The "Galaxy Brain" trophy, awarded for installing every neuromod power for every character, is where the grind of Mooncrash rears it's head. Across each of the 5 playable characters, you'll need to install around 320 total neuromods to unlock every ability for all characters.
There are 3 primary methods for collecting neuromods; Finding them naturally around the Moonbase through exploration, crafting them through fabrication machines within the Moonbase and purchasing them for 4,000 sim points per piece on the loadout screen.
We mostly focused on the latter method - acquiring neuromods from earning enough sim points to purchase them. The best starting point here is to acquire the 3_ASIC MicroMiner+ Chipset, which increases the amount of sim points you earn per reward. Equipping this at each loadout screen will allow you to accumulate sim points at a higher rate than normal whilst you're navigating the simulation. You will need to find the chipset to unlock it permanently first, and it will also cost you 1,000 points in itself each time you want to run with it, but it will in turn allow you to maximise the number of sim points you earn for every action. This will increase the frequency at which you can purchase neuromods. It's a must for this trophy.
That will support with the purchasing method. On top of this, and once you become familiar with the map, there are a handful of certain places that will always spawn a collective volume of neuromods, and it's important to work out where these are, and ensure you're collecting them within each run as frequently as possible. The Crew Annex and Pytheas Labs can be very neuromod-rich, and Moonworks in comparison is fairly bare. I would personally ignore Moonworks as often as it makes sense to, though if you're desperate to upgrade an ability, and only need one or two, you can find the odd one lying around here. Nailing down a set, optimum path will allow you to efficiently gather enough neuromods to use them on your current character, or if not, store them safely somewhere to prevent losing them in the event of sudden or unexpected death.
It's important to safely store neuromods for subsequent characters to make sure you don't accidently escape without using them, which means you lose them (I foolishly did this a couple of a times) - Or if you have a surplus amount of neuromods for a particular character, and their next available skill is not achievable yet. These precautions will maximise the efficiency for an ultimately grindy trophy. One of the worst things you can do is lose your neuromods because you escaped without stashing them, so leave them behind whenever it makes sense to do so.
One of the earlier mistakes I made was being too liberal with my spending of sim points. Initially, I would load up on weapons and ammunition, for fear of not being powerful enough to cope with enemies. In reality, you can get through the earlier stages of corruption fairly easily, and don't actually need to spend many sim points, which turns out is a vital strategy when going for a trophy that requires a large accumulation of points to purchase neuromods.
Towards the latter stages of grinding this trophy out, the only piece of equipment I'd spend my money on was a Disrupter Stun Gun. This would allow me to bypass Typhon gates without having to worry about conflict. I could easily find the weapons I needed to defend myself in the various areas of the map. It's a waste of money to buy them in the majority of instances and I was guilty of overspending on them, which cut into my ability to spend on neuromods instead. Live and learn. The only drawback I experienced here was that it took me ages to obtain a Disrupter Stun Gun fabrication plan, so it wasn't something I could completely avoid early on. Roguelikes, eh.
You can also increase the amount of sim points you earn each time you escape the simulation with a character, and this will continue to scale right through to the end, should you make it that far. It meant that this strategy effectively came down to running through the simulation on repeat, aiming to extract each character, accumulate sim points to buy neuromods, and ensure you were following the optimal path each time.
This does naturally become a bit tedious, and as much as I liked Mooncrash, my overall playtime when all was said and done was recorded by the game at 72 hours, and it certainly began to feel like I'd spent a long time with the game. There's only so many times you can loop the exact same strategy until a bit of stiffness kicks in, no matter how much you're enjoying the experience, and it does have it's learning curves along the way that will require adjustments.
Could you beat it quicker than I did? Sure. Infact, if you followed a guide that led you straight through the optimal routes for collecting neuromods, you could probably earn every trophy within a fraction of how long it took me, but I just think I got more from the experience from tackling the learning curve head on - As opposed to just following a set path on a rinse and repeat basis. One of the hooks of Mooncrash is the open exploration it promotes and I always seemed to make new discoveries or find hidden secrets, and following a path of least resistance approach would take away those small pleasures.
It does get easier as you progress, both through the ability to develop the strength of your characters and the familiarity of the understanding of game mechanics. There are some very easy pitfalls to completion, which is the most notable point to make of this list. If you can avoid them, and don't mind putting the hours in, this is a fairly steady road to full completion.
