Digital Sun is another example of how determination can make your dreams come true. This small team from Valencia began its journey in the games industry through outsourcing jobs — which means to create video games for third parties. It was in that fertile soil, rich in experience and knowledge, that the team developed their first original idea. Making use of their spare time between contracts, the prototype of a beautiful pixel-art adventure named Moonlighter was born.
It was a very special way to start their career as indie developers, since they found a way to tell their story through the main character’s routine and ambitions. In this fantasy ARPG with roguelite elements, players embody a young shopkeeper that aims to become a true adventurer — Will deals with the business by day, and explores a mysterious world full of magic and treasures by night. Both sides have a strong relationship. During work time, he can’t stop fantasizing about what’s awaiting for him in the next dungeon; but when exploring, he needs to find new interesting items to keep the shop alive.
On top of its interesting double-life system, where balance is the key to success, you must explore carefully and make some tough decisions to thrive in the future. Especially, since the space available in Will’s backpack is limited. It’s not about the amount of wealth you can take with you at the moment, but about getting what can benefit you most in the future.
Fortunately for Digital Sun, Square Enix Collective put their eyes on their project after it became the most voted game by fans on their community platform. So in 2016, the Japanese company supported Moonlighter’s Kickstarter campaign and it was funded with $134,267 in less than a week.
Moonlighter was released in May 2018 together with the publisher 11bit Studios (The Thaumaturge, Children of Morta). A year after its launch on Steam, Digital Sun released Moonlighter: Between Dimensions, a content patch that expands the endgame with an extra story, and new dungeon, enemies, weapons, and an upgrade for Will’s shop. Both Moonlighter and its DLC are available on Steam, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
The game was a blast in a time where the roguelite genre wasn’t as taken up as it’s today. In June 2022, 11bit Studios announced that the game sold over 2,000,000 copies. Having fulfilled their dream, the members of the studio continued working hard to stay at the forefront of the international indie scene.
Together with Tequila Works, Digital Sun became the only Spanish studio to work with Riot Forge in bringing the universe of League of Legends out of the MOBA genre. The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story arrived on Steam in April 2023, offering an expanded backstory for one of their famous champions. In this top-down isometric ARPG, the many virtues of Digital Sun’s visual and gameplay style can be appreciated.
Players follow the spell thief Sylas in his personal vengeance against the Mageseekers, an institution tasked with hunting down mages in Demacia. After escaping, Sylas learns to use the chains that once held him to defend himself and unveil the dark truth of this tyrannical organization.
Also, we have to talk about their most recent title: Cataclismo, a real-time strategy and tower defense game with realistic physics where players are on a mission to rebuild humanity from scratch. This is the team’s first foray into a genre they never touched before.
Cataclismo was revealed in May 2023 as a part of Humble Games’ showcase. By the end of the year, the crowdfunding campaign went live on Kickstarter — it was successfully funded with almost $70,000. A few months before its release, Digital Sun announced that the game would be selfpublished on Steam. It was released on July 22nd as an Early Access build and, despite the risk, they managed to get a good result — after five months, with almost 2,500 comments on Steam, Cataclismo has raised a 92% of positive reviews. Now, Digital Sun is looking forward to winning the Steam Game of the Year award 2024.
Last but not least, here’s a sweet surprise for Moonlighter fans — a couple weeks ago, Digital Sun dropped a surprise reveal trailer for its sequel Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault. Merchant by day, adventurer by night! Will is back to his usual adventures in search of new treasures and mysteries to solve. Who’s hyped after this long-expected announcement?
Let us know what’s your favorite game from Digital Sun so far, and what you expect from them in the next years.
Activity funded by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sport.
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