Momodora: Moonlit Farewell Shines Even Brighter on the Switch

Momodora: Moonlit Farewell is the final game in the Momodora series that released on PC last year to great acclaim. Now it’s come to consoles, and it’s clear that the Switch is the perfect home for an already fantastic game.

For those that haven’t dipped into the Momodora series, or didn’t check out any trailers, I’ll hit you with a quick refresher. You play as Momo Reinol, a priestess in the village of Koho. Demons have begun to appear after someone has rung an ominous Black Bell, so it’s up to Momo to fight off the invasion while tracking down the culprit. This requires a lot of Metroidvania platforming, steadily gathering new abilities and opening up new locations.

Despite being the fifth game in the series, Momodora: Moonlit Farewell is meant to be a suitable point for newcomers to jump in. As a newcomer myself, I’d say it was successful. The premise is simple enough to understand, and while characters don’t get many grand introductions spelling out who they are, they don’t need them either. This isn’t a particularly complicated plot to begin with, and the character writing is strong enough that I warmed to everyone easily. I especially loved the little interactions with regular shop character Cereza, as simple as they were.

Gameplay remains as solid as it was on PC a year ago. Or so I assume, as my experience with the Switch version was similar to what was described in our review last year. Good movement mechanics are always the key thing that sell me on a Metroidvania, and Momodora: Moonlit Farewell does a great job here. It’s not quite up there with some of the best in the genre but it’s snappy and responsive. In particular, the combination of the double jump and wall jump is delightfully satisfying to play around with.

Combat is also strong, providing a decent challenge throughout. However, I did sometimes feel the difficulty was balanced backwards, with a lot of standard enemies causing me trouble while I often breezed through bosses with little issue. It was odd but nothing that hurt the experience for me. I also found myself enjoying the Sigil customization a lot more than I expected, since their effects usually had versatile use cases. Some of them made a huge difference to some of the trickier parts of the game.

All this works incredibly well on the Switch. Nintendo’s console has been showing its age for a while, but Momodora: Moonlit Farewell is exactly the type of game that still works well for it. Being a side scroller built around more old school visuals, there’s nothing here that causes the system to panic, so it was a smooth experience all round. In fact, the gorgeous pixel art looks even better in handheld mode, with the smaller screen reducing some of the jagged edges. I imagine the OLED version might bring it out better but sadly, I have a first-year Switch so I cannot personally confirm this.

Moonlit Farewell is also a great game for playing in handheld mode. The distance between checkpoint bells is rarely long, so it’s easy to jump in and out in between other tasks. Gameplay is challenging and satisfying enough that even in short bursts it can be rewarding and entertaining. The only problem I found is how difficult it often was to tear myself away, so those “short burst” sessions became a few hours. The world of Momodora is captivating and the gameplay feels so good that I found myself wanting to stay in it for as long as possible. Of course, this is a short enough game that you can blast through it in a chill weekend on the couch, or maybe a long journey.

If you played this on PC already, it’s unlikely you’ll need this version, however. As far as I can tell, the console version is a straight port with no new features or modes. I’ve been singing its praises as a handheld title, but if you already own the Steam version and a Steam Deck, you’ll already be able to experience that.

If you skipped out on Momodora: Moonlit Farewell on its initial release, though, then the Switch version is worth your time. It’s an excellent Metroidvania that does a lot to please fans of the genre even if it doesn’t do much to push the genre forward. But it also feels tailor-made for the handheld experience with its shorter length, simple mechanics and visuals that seem to work best on a smaller screen.

Momodora: Moonlit Farewell is out now for PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.