Moonfrost is a charming life simulation that combines farming, crafting, exploration and house construction with a mysterious post-apocalyptic setting. Developed by Oxalis Games, it should appeal to anyone who enjoys games like Stardew Valley. We’ve spent several hours with its Early Access version, and while there’s still work to be done, we’ve grown rather fond of its beautiful world and relaxing gameplay, making it an easy recommendation from us!
A Village Worth Saving
A hundred years ago, a mysterious second moon appeared in the sky, bringing devastating meteor storms that transformed the world. The strange substance left behind, known as Moonfrost, eventually became a valuable resource that certain individuals could harness. Playing as a Frost Hunter, we’re able to use this power to restore ruined settlements by gathering resources, constructing buildings and helping the remaining residents. Characters such as Ash and Walter are more than eager to introduce us to the various gameplay systems. The dialogue and guidance during these opening hours made learning the mechanics relatively easy, although we can see why some players might appreciate a little more freedom early on.
Farming, Crafting, and Building
Moonfrost is your game if you’re happy spending time gathering materials, growing crops, crafting items and, of course, restoring the village. There’s nothing groundbreaking about farming, as it works in a familiar way, letting us prepare the soil, plant seeds, water our crops and harvest them once they’re ready. Seeds can be purchased from vending machines, while an application on our in-game smartphone allows us to complete orders and earn money. We also chop down trees, mine ore, go fishing, prepare meals and use different workstations to turn raw materials into useful components. It’s a doozy, and there were times when we thought there was just too much to do. It’s a good thing that we can use all those resources to craft plenty of things, from furniture and decorations to building materials and equipment. Some decorative items even introduce small jigsaw-style crafting puzzles, which are a nice change from the usual crafting menus. Progression revolves around completing quests, unlocking blueprints, collecting resources and gradually expanding what we can do.
Building and decorating have easily been our favourite activities so far. We can construct our home wall by wall, create individual rooms, change the flooring and fill everything with furniture and decorations, just like, well, in every other game of this kind. But here, the system offers plenty of creative freedom, and we enjoyed experimenting with different layouts. We can also repair streets, restore damaged structures, reopen businesses and build homes for other villagers. Watching the settlement recover makes all that grinding for resources and crafting materials feel worthwhile.
Momma Made Me a Builder
It’s easy to fall in love with the detailed pixel art, colourful environments, weather effects and beautiful character portraits. All these things make Moonfrost a pleasure to look at. The gentle soundtrack complements everything nicely, and we found ourselves enjoying the peaceful atmosphere while working on our little construction projects.
Alas, not everything is sunshine and roses. If we dare to explore a bit further, we’ll come across caves and temples where we can collect resources, solve environmental puzzles and fight hostile creatures. Unfortunately, fighting doesn’t feel particularly satisfying, and we’d love to see the developers improve its responsiveness, shorten those lengthy attack animations and do something about that oh-gawd-what’s-the-deal-with-that dodging.
Despite our exaggeration, we feel this is a relatively small complaint compared to the many things the game does well. We hope the developers will make combat more fluid over time, especially since Moonfrost is far from finished. The current version contains approximately half of the planned main storyline, with additional content and expanded relationships promised for future updates.
For now, Moonfrost has left us with a positive impression. We love its atmosphere, enjoy the building mechanics and appreciate the freedom to decorate our surroundings. We’ll be watching future updates like a hawk. Try as it might, this cute little title won’t dodge us.
- Developer: Oxalis Games
- Publisher: Oxalis Games, iterco
- Genre: Life Simulation, Farming, Crafting, RPG
- Platform: PC (Steam)
- Release Date: October 12, 2026 (Early Access)
- Game Mode: Single-player
- Version Tested: PC (Early Access)
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