Hello, Alchemists-to-be!
We've seen a lot of new faces hit our Steam page since we announced our launch date last week, so, here's a big question: What exactly *is* Moonstone Island? I mean, what does it do? Where did it come from? And how does it work?
We've been spending a lot of time talking about the nitty and the gritty of this game, but not the big picture. So, let's re-introduce you to the game!
Here's the elevator pitch. Come on, get in the elevator. What floor? 18? Okay, great. So, Moonstone Island is a creature-collecting, deckbuilding, farming-and-crafting life sim. What does that mean? It means that it's a big mashup of a lot of our favorite genres and mechanics!
You play as an Alchemist-in-Training, who crashlands on a new island inhabited by a bunch of people who just so happen to be in need of an Alchemist. Your job is to tame and collect the errant Spirits that live on the outer islands and figure out a way to close the dangerous Rift that has formed in the sky.
You'll be fighting other Spirits in tense card battles, and each one of your tamed Spirits will have their own deck that can change massively depending on your strategy, your luck, and the Spirit's elemental type. You'll also be able to level up Spirits through battles, making them stronger, faster, and probably wiser, too, and you can change and swap out their decks by removing, upgrading, and buying new cards.
But when you're not fighting Spirits, you're also taking care of yourself, the land, and your friendships.
You can build and upgrade a house, going from a simple one-room tent to a sprawling four-floor mansion, complete with a kitchen, living room, craft room, potion room, furnace room, and whatever else your heart desires. You'll be able to craft your own furniture and even create custom wall and floor designs, so your house can look as unique as you want!
Outside the house is your garden, which can range from a simple little patio with cute furniture to a gigantic self-sustaining farm! There are about 50 different crops to grow, including some that can only be found in certain biomes, and many that only grow in a particular season. You can then use these crops to feed your Alchemist or Spirits to gain an edge in battle or out in the field, or you can combine them to create concoctions and potions with useful effects!
And what about those friendships, eh? We have 11 different NPCs that can all be befriended and even dated if you choose! Each character is unique and our cast is diverse – perhaps you'll end up hitting it off with nervous non-binary shopkeeper Rowan, or maybe you'll find a connection with the fierce but friendly Filipino botanist, Ofelia. Each one of these NPCs has their own story to tell through dates, as well as their own specially-tweaked rate of romance – some of them, like Gaiana, take longer to warm up to you – and you can even try dating them all if you want!
Oh, sorry, did we miss your floor? Hold on, I'll press the button again and we can go back down. I promise I'm almost done.
There is so much more to discover beyond everything I've just said, including buried treasure, rare islands that only appear in specific circumstances, secrets hidden in ancient temples, and dungeons full of traps and monsters. We've really poured our whole hearts into this game, and we hope that you love it as much as we do.
Okay, that's it! That's Moonstone Island! We'll let you go now, but thank you so much for reading all of this. See you very soon!
~ Kate, Community Manager, and Elevator Enthusiast