Have you played...? Momodora: Moonlit Farewell

Aug 24, 2025

Momodora: Moonlit Farewell is the last installment in the Momodora series, which started all the way back in 2010. All the games in the series were created by Brazilian game designer Guilherme “rdein” Martins and his team, Bombservice. I always like to bring that up because we Brazilians are still very underrepresented and peripheral in the global game dev world.

This follows closely on from the previous entry, Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (RUtM). I remember really enjoying playing RUtM back in 2016 or 2017, so I was thrilled to play Moonlit Farewell. Like its predecessor, Moonlit Farewell is also a platformer metroidvania with a big emphasis on combat and exploration. Also like RUtM (and unlike Minoria, a recent spinoff title), it uses beautiful and detailed 2D pixel art.

Title screen — Momodora: Moonlit Farewell title screen

Momo, the main protagonist, is the same character as in Momodora III ⤴. The story of Moonlit Farewell takes place 5 years after III. The plot is not very interesting or important, but I still think it’s cool that there’s some lore behind the series. Items and annotations in your menu also add bits of story. The basic setup is that the village of Koho, where Momo lives, was attacked by demons. As the main priestess and protector of the village, you are sent by the Matriarch to find the source of the evils and recover the magic bell that was used to summon them.

Momo walking around Koho village under the moonlight — Momo walking around Koho village

My first impression when starting the game was that Momo felt a little floaty, especially compared with Rabi-Ribi, which I recently played, where Erina felt heavier. But it was just a matter of getting used to the game. Momo moves and controls really well: she can attack with her sacred leaf (a staple of the Momodora series), jump, dodge with a roll, and learn more abilities as the game progresses.

The other thing that caught my eye is that all the animations are amazing. It’s been a while since I’ve played RUtM, but I feel that the animations here are even more fluid and detailed than in the previous entry, which was already impressive. I thought the sprites for regular characters, including Momo, were a tad smaller than in RUtM, but that was probably a deliberate decision to make environments and bigger enemies feel more menacing and impactful. There’s amazing attention to detail in moments like when Momo curtsies for the Matriarch of the village or when she pets a cat, which are incredibly charming.

Momo doing a curtsy for the Matriach, a very charming animation — This curtsy animation is so charming

In contrast to the graphics, the music wasn’t very impressive. It’s not bad - it’s very atmospheric and fits the areas you’re exploring. I just don’t think most of the tunes were very catchy overall. The battle themes were nice and epic, especially the boss tracks. I think I might have heard some of the same music in Minoria too? The final area’s music was very cool and epic though. I liked it a lot.

Battling enemies under the roots of the Lun Tree — Battling enemies under the roots

One criticism I have is that battles didn’t feel too engaging or strategic. There were some pretty cool boss fights, especially the gigantic ones where you have to run around the screen to dodge things and hit them, but most of the other battles were basically just mashing the attack button and healing when health got low.

You can dodge attacks by rolling, which you’ll need to do sometimes, and you can do a “perfect dodge” where your stamina is not drained, but it didn’t feel very rewarding or necessary to perform them constantly. The only battle I had to retry many times was the post-game optional boss fight, where I really had to be patient and strategic. In particular, I thought even the regular last boss fight was anticlimatic because it felt too easy. It was still exciting and epic, just not challenging. Maybe I should try the harder difficulties (I played on normal).

Beautiful scenery in the Fairy Springs, showing a body of water under an emerald sky — Beautiful scenery

The metroidvania exploration was well done. The map feels big and connected, which I thought was lacking in Minoria. I especially liked how there aren’t secret rooms - every room and its connections are shown clearly on the map. Also, if there’s any collectible in an area, it will be marked on the map. I love that and how it respects players’ time, even if it makes collecting and discovering everything easier. That said, there were two instances where I spent like an hour searching for something because my poor eyesight couldn’t see a room connection that I hadn’t visited yet. 😂

One of the interesting boss fights in the game — Bosses are fun

Momodora: Moonlit Farewell is a great game, but I’m a little torn. I feel I might still like RUtM more, though that might just be nostalgia: I may have to replay it to be sure. It’s been about seven years since I last played RUtM and we change a lot in that time, so maybe that’s why I think that game was better. Regardless, this is definitely a solid entry in the Momodora series, and I think rdein and his crew did a fantastic job in concluding the saga.

The Fairy Queen is very well endowed. I guess rdein likes big boobs — Oh

It’s short and sweet. I spent around 10 hours, only two weekends, finishing it and completing almost everything. I’d give this an 8/10. It’s a beautiful, amazingly animated and fun game. The combat isn’t too deep, but the exploration and solid gameplay are top notch.