When the Moon hits your eye.
Life can be a crazy test of patience and endurance. With everything that can and will happen, whether it's an office 9-5 grind or a stressful family life, a fresh new start can be what is needed to recharge the soul. So naturally, you leave the hectic slog behind in favour of a small town and your own bit of land out in the country.
Does this sound familiar? I bet it does! It is an age-old story told by many games over the span of decades. The farming slice of life sim genre can definitely seem overcrowded at times and hard to know which is worth spending your time with. Some may stand out a bit more than the others with an interesting premise or mechanic. However, some try borrowing and expanding on ideas from others that came before. Then there are the rare few that define and evolve the game type altogether. So where does the supernatural themed Moonlight Peaks fit in? Is it another pebble in the over crowded landslide of farming Sim games, or is it a rare gem ready to add to and elevate the genre? Let's chat about it and I can tell you my personal experience with the game.
The curtain rises on a fateful night in what appears to be a dramatic family argument. The main character, a flustered vampire (which you customize before the opening scene) rushes from the manor and heads to an overgrown plot of land outside of the small town Moonlight Peaks. It turns out that this land is owned by your family but has been long abandoned and sits empty. Your keen vampire eyes glisten at the potential spread out before you and you can't wait to get started on your new life!
Gameplay starts off pretty simple and familiar. You're given a standard mission to introduce yourself to the local residents and other small tasks that comfortably knit you into the functions of your tools and your hub. The controls can make or break an experience if they don't let you feel melded with the mechanics and tasks.They do feel a little bit different than every other farm sim game I've played, but feel nice and smooth when swinging tools and switching pages in your inventory or journals.
I played on the Switch 2 and the thumb sticks control things very quickly. That said, they can be a little too sensitive when needing to switch quickly between farming tools on your wheel. I would find myself accidentally switching to my pick instead of my water can and would accidentally wreck a hard cultivated crop. After a few adjustments, it can fix the issue, so whether you have an annoying natural twitch to your fingers like I do, or move too fast in a panic (which I'll be honest, I do that as well..), you can adjust it to your preference in the settings menu that is accessible at anytime, except during cutscenes.
So, let's talk about the main staples in Midnight Peaks. We can begin with the biggest of these, farming. Here they have taken a well loved and well used mechanic and dressed it up a bit differently than many games in the genre before it. We've already established with the opening that we were in for a gothic Halloween vibe with our player character being a vampire from a very prestigious vampire family. The best part is, instead of the standard vegetation and seedlings to care for, they are all darkly entertaining versions (such as cruelcumbers and blood tomatoes) that you will care for at night. Yes, you read that right, your farming time and time spent away from your ghoulish farm takes place at night. But being that you are a creature of the night, I'm sure that you had to expect this in a way. You cannot thrive during the daytime and so you will care for vegetables, herbs and fruits on the same flipped schedule.
It is not only vegetation you will scurry around busily to care for. We can't forget that farming also means animals are under your supervision and will provide you with similar forms of milk and eggs for recipes. And no, they are not your usual sunshine frolicking creatures, but are creatures of a different variety. For example, there are cowculas that you can collect milk from. They come in black and white splotches like regular cows, or a different black and red combo. They also have sharp little fangs in their cute round mouths and on their backs they have little bat wings that flap around to lift their hefty bodies a few inches off the ground before setting them back down. All the other animals you care for have fun little twists like this (purple round cheeckens for eggs, a pig/goat hybrid with a single eye and huge curled horns, etc) and sometimes they are amusing to just follow around and pet to get happy dances of affection in return.
Mentioning affection leads, of course, into the last major staple we can chat about and one that is just as important as farming, gathering foragables and crafting! I'm talking about your friendships and even romances with the residents. There are quite a few fellow creatures of the night to meet throughout the game. Fellow vampires, werewolves and witches, to name a few. Everyone you meet is incredibly entertaining to interact with. From how they introduce themselves in unique little cutscenes, to how they react to reviewing gifts, it's never a full moment.
Each character is wonderfully written. Their dialogue is interesting and really makes them feel full of life no matter what seems to be happening. Want to know what my favorite part of relationships is with your fellow creatures of the night? Once you gain enough friendship, aside from gifts, you can give them hugs! Hugs are more than just a super cute animation of your characters embracing, because they also serve as another way to gain affection daily. This is something small but rarely ever added to these types of cozy games, regardless how many times we've all made that wish (I'm looking at you Animal Crossing).
Visually, Moonlight Peaks is a gothicly sweet feast for the eyes. At first, I was a little concerned about how bored I would get considering the game only takes place at night, when others of the genre takes place during all times of the day. Honestly, my worries became non-existent the more I played. The colors are deep, bright and quite rich and there is never a barren area. There are tall grasses and loads of different flowers that have a large variety of colors each, and a few distinctly unique types of trees that each produce different types of wood. I like to plant a few of each tree to add different pops of color to compliment the other herbs and veggies in my farm. Each season brings with it slightly different color schemes and vegetation, such as mushrooms and wild pumpkins during the fall as an example.
Behind the scenes, the game runs smoothly, even when the screen has a lot going on. Character animations move without any hitches, load times between area transitions are quick and painless. The only issues I've encountered were with animals and insects. There have been a few times I would go into a barn and some of my animals would appear out of bounds and unable to move. The odd time they would also be glitched into the river. They would move about out there, but would be unable to get out of the river. With the insects, you'd give chase and be stopped when whatever you're after will disappear into the environment (such as cliffs and trees). This can be especially frustrating if you are on the trail of a really rare bug you haven't got in your museum collection. Thankfully, this only happened with the animals and insects and not with anything else. You could reset animals by leaving the area and coming back, but in the case of insects, they would be gone, as their appearance is random. Hopefully, these glitches may be fixed, as the developers seem to be consistently updating.
Lastly, if we can refer to it as a complaint or rather a disappointment, is the lack of character options. I would've loved to be able to have a more open story that allows the creation of one of the other types of night denizens. A werewolf, witch, or even a seer would've made an entertaining choice. Although this could be a potential future plan to add DLC with this content. Perhaps even a sequel? Who knows!
The rest of Moonlight Peaks is very positive. Beautiful settings, entertaining characters and situations, and smooth animations no matter what is happening. With us being in the midst of the spooky season and fast approaching Halloween, Moonlight Peaks is a great cozy time and feels right at home alongside many of the other slice of life titles.
Developer - Little Chicken Game Company.
Publisher - XSEED Marvelous Europe, Closed Leopard Entertainment Inc.
Released - July 7th, 2026. / PS5 (Nov 17th).
Available On - Switch, Switch 2, PS5, PC,
Rated - (T) - Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol.
Platform Reviewed - Nintendo Switch 2.
Review Access - A review code for Moonlight Peaks was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Rebecca is a huge fan of JRPG’s, RPG’s, and Survival Horror. From Silent Hill to Resident evil. Xenogears and Final Fantasy. When she isn’t tinkering with skill trees or equipping the right rifle to take down numerous monsters, you can find her farming away on Stardew Valley.