What if you were a tiny, vegan vampire? That’s the question posed by Moonlight Peaks, the gen Z-coded, achingly TikTok-ready supernatural life sim. Inspired by the popularity of “cosy games” such as Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, Moonlight Peaks drapes you in the cape of Dracula’s daughter, who has fled her father’s corpse-ridden home to start a new, peaceful life.
Soon, she settles among werewolves and witches in the supernatural farming town of Moonlight Peaks, where she grows crops and rears animals instead of subsisting on the blood of innocents. Both cosy and creepy, the game has you creating your own plant-based blood substitutes, befriending the town’s residents and fixing a whole host of problems left in daddy Dracula’s wake.
While farming and decorating make the core of the game, its creators tell me there are a surprising number of story-led quests to find. “We joke that you’re the town therapist,” says Mia Boas, art director, “because you arrive and have to help everyone solve their family issues.” From calming worried werewolves to quelling quarrelling mermaids and even flirting with the grim reaper – plus flower-arranging and embroidery minigames – developer Little Chicken promises there will be more than just perfecting your haunted homestead.
“We decided it should be a cute and cosy experience, through and through,” says Yannis Bolman, CEO game director. “When we first started out, we had a mechanic where you could bite every bystander. It just felt off, because you’re trying to make friends with these people, and then you’re biting them? It just felt really weird.”
Like any social-media-friendly life sim, Moonlight Peaks has a range of romance options for players to sink their teeth into. “Once you become romantically interested, you can go on dates like stargazing, marshmallow roasting … And if you do well enough, you can get married,” says Bolman. “The ultimate step is, you can turn them into a vampire, too. But you’re biting them with consent, of course. They’ll ask you to bite them.” In an adorable touch, finding your fanged soulmate turns your home’s single coffin into a double.
Bolman and Boas tell me that fan feedback has helped guide the direction of the game, which is already attracting an excitable – and predominantly female – fanbase. With a vibrant art style that looks surprisingly slick considering the size of its team, Moonlight Peaks looks set to fill a Twilight-shaped gap in the sim market.
