Moonlight Blade might scratch your mobile MMO itch

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SHOULD I PLAY MOONLIGHT BLADE?

Eh, you could do worse, but you could also probably do better. If you’re desperate for a power-grind, free-to-play MMO to play on your phone, Moonlight Blade is a totally solid if unimpressive option. With a setting in historical China and a focus that expands beyond just combat, this is much better than other recent mobile MMOs, but it’s not likely to keep you engaged long-term unless your phone is your only gaming platform.

TIME PLAYED

I’ve spent around ten hours playing Moonlight Blade, which has been long enough to get my character above level 50. I’ve also experimented with most of the different gameplay options available, including group content, solo challenges, story quests, PvP, and more.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT MOONLIGHT BLADE?

• Martial arts combat that’s genuinely challenging sometimes. A lot of mobile MMOs, even those with action combat, tend to focus on mindless grinding. Don’t worry, Moonlight Blade has plenty of that, but it also has a number of combat encounters that genuinely challenged me. Boss encounters during dungeons required paying careful attention to ground markers, and solo challenges pushed me to figure out strategies for survival. I wasn’t able to go on complete autopilot, which I appreciated.

• Finding a career path. Beyond the traditional MMO questing gameplay, players who progress to the late game can choose to pursue multiple potential careers. These include things like chef, ranger, constable, and bounty hunter. There are seven careers currently available in the Moonlight Blade, and it seems like they provide a lot of variety outside of the usual power grind. If nothing else, this shows a sense of ambition much greater than the average mobile MMO.

• Make your own home. Speaking of ambition, Moonlight Blade also has a robust player housing system that players can unlock after reaching level 40. There’s tons of decoration options, and I felt like I could really make my virtual home feel like my own place. If anything were to keep me logging into this game, it’s the expanded virtual life elements like this.

• Easy access to fun player-versus-player battles. I love MMOs, but I’ve never been a big fan of PvP content. That said, Moonlight Blade makes it so easy to jump into quick, fast PvP encounters that I found myself actually having a blast. It’s hard to tell if there’s long-term appeal to the game’s PvP—especially given the pay-to-win concerns with any free-to-play MMO—but for quick sessions while leveling up, it’s pretty fun.

WHAT SUCKS ABOUT MOONLIGHT BLADE?

• Spotty translation. As you might guess from its fantasy historical China setting, Moonlight Blade is a Chinese MMO. And while I’ve played Chinese MMOs with much worse English localization, there were definitely still lots of awkward and confusing moments throughout the dialogue and tutorials of this one. It’s a shame too, as the story actually pulled me in for the first hour or so, but I quickly found myself unable to really follow what was going on.

• The usual mobile MMO auto-play mechanics. If you already play and enjoy mobile MMOs, this may not be a big deal for you, but Moonlight Blade has auto-pathing to get to quest objectives and auto-combat for handling the action. On the plus side, auto-combat doesn’t unlock until quite a way into the game, and the boss fights require enough attention that players will have to control for themselves to survive. But I still found myself eventually feeling like I was just hitting a button to automatically ferry me to each new quest.

• The usual mobile MMO monetization overload. We’ve got battle passes, premium mounts, cosmetics, gacha for AI teammates, experience boosts, monthly pass subscriptions, upgrade materials, and on and on. I didn’t spend a dime and still had fun for ten hours, and I expect I could go for dozens more without being too worried. The endgame seems destined to inevitably devolve into some pay-to-win shenanigans, though, especially for PvP players.

PLATFORM TESTED

Android via Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G phone.