Become the Moon is a quirky and visually striking roguelike deckbuilder that caught my attention for its charming presentation and streamlined gameplay. Developed by solo dev Sean Cellan Jones and released in June 2025, the game challenges players to climb a series of increasingly difficult encounters by drafting minions, casting spells, and managing how effects play out during auto battles. After spending a fair amount of time with it, here’s my in-depth take on what Become the Moon does well, where it stumbles, and what kind of player it’s really for.
A deck building auto battler like you know them, but with its own charm.
One of Become the Moon’s most compelling features is its vibrant, cartoonish art style. The game’s visuals strike a delightful balance: bold, readable designs with a playful whimsy reminiscent of Adventure Time. Whether crafting a deck of minions or spells, each card feels lovingly illustrated and brimming with character. The minions aren’t just visually distinct, they’re expressive, memorable, and imbued with personality in how they’re portrayed.
You’ll immediately notice how much care has been poured into the card art. From unique visuals to the humorous text and effects that some units possess. each design reinforces the game’s charm. In my view, this creative presentation isn’t just cosmetic, it shapes the experience, making drafting a deck feel like curating an art gallery as much as planning a strategic toolkit.
The art is engaging, what about the gameplay?
This loop is satisfying, and the draft picks exciting. after the initial draft the player will ‘tier up’ when exhausting their entire deck, at this point the deck get reshuffled and the player gets to choose 5 more cards to add. Deck-building’s tactile pleasure is enhanced by synergies; flying minions, taunts, shield units, death abilities, battle spells that tweak stats mid-battle, you can cobble together combos that feel powerful and clever.
However, that’s also where the limitations creep in. Despite boasting ~140 cards, player experimentation hits a ceiling. The constrained card pool and procedurally rigid offerings mean a few clearly optimal strategies emerge, flying buff-deck, exhaust-heavy builds, taunt-slayer hybrids. Once you pin one down, runs tend to converge. Players approaches quickly crystallize, diminishing the game’s replay experimentation. A core criticism I found is balancing and randomness issues. With limited card variety and heavy reliance on RNG in drafts, high-skilled experimentation diminishes. You often need to embrace a particular ‘best build’ to reliably complete runs, especially on harder modifiers. Choices become less about crafting crazy combos and more about assembling the checklist of must-haves—e.g., a set of flying units and buffs or a mid‑tier tank line with spell support.
Add to this the auto-battle AI’s randomness, minion targets are random and lack intelligent prioritization, leading to occasional frustration when perfectly arranged line-ups fizzle out due to dice-roll targeting. One moment your decks shines in fully optimized execution; the next, a poorly-timed multi-hit misses and derails your hard-built synergy. While the 10 characters and daily seeded runs add variance, the draft constraints, recurring enemy archetypes, and reliance on few cards means exploring more unusual or off-meta builds seldom pays off. After enough reruns, you’re likely to default into safe archetypes because it’s simply more efficient.
“one more run” We’ve all said it Become the Moon ,Will make you say it again
Become the Moon packs a punch in difficulty and progression. Early runs are forgiving, but it ramps fast, by mid-game, combat shifts from manageable to punishing. The tier system (re-shuffle trigger for new cards) provides pacing, but success still depends on locking in synergies early. The devs smartly added difficulty modifiers, offering a “true ending” for hardcore players . However, because the meta consolidates around top strategies, progression still feels linear: harder runs demand the same deck archetypes, with only minor relic tweaks or class bonuses differentiating them.
The user interface leans into Hearthstone’s clean, functional design, clear displays, intuitive placements, and no fuss visuals. It’s fast, smooth, and supports quick reruns that make sessions punchy and addictive. Speed-up options, fast load times, and casual music ensure you can hit play again without friction.
My Conclusion
Become the Moon is an aesthetically charming and mechanically solid deck-building auto-battler—you can feel the love in its art, animations, and UI. Its core loop is hooky and engaging, packing plenty of tension across its roguelike battles. But the flaws I noted, the constrained card pool, the emergence of a few dominant strategies. On top of that, the randomness of auto-battle targeting, hold it back from becoming a sandbox of creative experimentation.
If you love compelling visuals, enjoy shorter roguelike sessions, and don’t mind leaning into the meta, it’s absolutely worth it. For a affordable price you get a polished, fun package with decent replay-ability that will put a smile on your face with its visuals. But if you’re hoping for endless twisty paths, quirky builds, or runaway experimentation, you’ll eventually bump into it’s walls.
