Boy, was I ready for this - Moonlight Peaks has been on my radar for a long time, and I am bloody impressed with it, if you pardon the phrase. 'Farm sim' is definitely my favorite genre of game, but it can get a little stale like last month's wheat - so a shake-up in the formula is very much appreciated. For Moonlight Peaks, it comes in the form of only farming at night, and you being a literal vampire.
You take on the (slightly daunting for a sci-fi fan like myself) role of Dracula's child, who's leaving home after getting sick of their parents and moving out to Moonlight Peaks to start fresh. Here, you inhabit a rundown farmhouse with some overgrown land. Everything is a fairly gloomy purple and green color, due to it being nighttime. You can't stay up into the day, on account of you being, y'know, a vampire. You need to head back to sleep in your coffin by the early hours of the morning or else.
During the night, you farm, you fish, you forage - but you also meet the town's citizens and help them out with quests. The first mission is to bring a bottle of red wine to an angry neighbor, Orlock. He appears outside your door and right off the bat (not the flying kind) demands items from you. He does give you grape seeds, though, and this kicks off your farming career.
It takes a week for the grapes to grow, and two more to ferment the wine, so I got on with anything and everything else in the meantime. I bought more seeds, cleared away some debris on my farm, did a little decorating, and explored the nooks and crannies of the map. There's the main town with shops, cafés, and homes, but also a quarry area to the south, forest to the north, and a river running through it all.
Unfortunately, as I only had 20 nights to play with, I couldn't make as much money as I wanted and therefore couldn't purchase too many items. My plan was to get a barn, fill it with animals, and then grab some spells from the magic shop - perhaps some new clothing, too. However, I spent my money on seeds and then waited for them to grow. Then I went fishing for a while and chatted to the locals.
The preview may not have been too long, but it did give me a great look at what to expect. The art style is super cute, really matching the spooky but cozy setting, and the color palette adds an air of mystery with a relaxed sort of vibe, too.
I played on PC with a controller, but also used the keyboard and mouse controls. I'm looking forward to playing it on the Nintendo Switch, though. Some things need a little tweak before the game fully releases, I think - I couldn't quite work out how to pick any furniture up off the floor without first going into my inventory, placing something down, and entering the sort of 'decorating mode' with that. Some of the listed keyboard controls in the menu also don't seem to match up - but as this is a preview, I won't hold it against the game.
While the preview does a great job of introducing us to the world, I feel like there's a lot more to be discovered within the town, with the characters, the roster of available crops… You name it. Bring on July 7, when the Moonlight Peaks release date is.