Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider
Fair · Shooter · 2023
Steam Deck VerifiedThe verdict
NO RUSH.
Fair at $16.99. Buy it if you want it.
- Length
- 2.9h 6.5h to 100%
- Value
- $5.86/hr
- Reviews
- 86% of 541 positive
Watch this gameOne alert at $4.62 or less.
Buy now or wait
Discounted in each of its last 8 seasonal sales. Last cut ended 11 days ago.
- Next sale
- Winter Sale, Dec 17 to Jan 4
Sources: IsThereAnyDeal, Valve.
What drives the score
How to read this
Grades run S to D, read from the buyer's side. ▲ marks a lift, ▼ a drag or a dock, ? an input we do not have, • a fact this genre's score does not use. How the grades work
About the game
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is a side-scrolling action platformer that channels the golden age of classic 16-bit action games in a full-throttle quest for revenge. Created to defend a totalitarian state, the Moonrider rejects its programming and now seeks vengeance on its creators.
Minimum specs
Minimum on the Steam store: 4 GB of memory, NVIDIA GeForce GT 730, 2 GB or Radeon HD 7770, 1 GB. Windows only.
The value story
It has been discounted 29 times in the 4 years tracked here. The median cut across all of them is 42 percent, about 6 weeks apart. Today it is at full price, and its last discount ended 11 days ago.
Against its own genre it lands in the top 41 percent on value. It is pricier than 66 percent of its genre, and better reviewed than 65 percent. Blazing Chrome ($16.99, scores 55) outscores it, and so does HUNTDOWN ($19.99, scores 78). Both sit among its closest neighbours.
More about Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider
Critics scored it 77. Players sit 9 points higher at 86 percent, which usually means a game that plays better than it reviews.
This site sampled 371 of its Steam-purchase reviews; none were written by buyers who refunded it, sampled from reviews written January 2023 to August 2026. Inside the two-hour refund window, 73 percent of the 135 reviews written there were positive, against 86 percent overall, and those are 28 percent of everything written about it.
Finishing takes 2.9 hours; clearing it takes 7, which is 2.2 times the campaign.
Valve rates it Steam Deck Verified, and at 2.9 hours it is short enough to finish on one.
The drop-off
68% start to 4% rarestNo achievement in this game marks the ending, so there is no finish rate. The curve runs from the most-unlocked achievement to the rarest, and its shape is where players stop. Steam global achievements
What players say
It bills itself as a 16-bit style game, and in fact it plays pretty much like a forgotten Genesis or SNES action platformer - and not really an A-list one. It feels something like a lost cousin to Shinobi III, with a similar feel but worse controls. If that doesn't sound like a glowing review to you, then this game probably isn't for you, but if it sounds ok, you'll probably enjoy the game. That simple.
2 more reviews, 1 not recommended
What a ripper of a game! I loved how high octane and well paced it was. Old school challenging without old school frustrations.
Very disappointing, honestly. Blazing Chrome remains Joymasher's only good game. The controls are fine, graphics are generally pretty good even if at times it seems the entire game is made out of grey and purple, but the stage design makes the game an absolute chore to play. Every stage I have played is extremely simple and linear, rarely presenting more than one or two things to deal with, and seems concerned...
Steam reviews, mixed to its ratio and rotated daily. Opinions are theirs.
Cite this score
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider scores 50/100 on the BANG Score (fair value) as of Oct 19, 2026. The BANG Score rates what a game is worth for the money. Via Steam BANGERS. https://steambangers.com/game/1942010/vengeful-guardian-moonriderReviews set the ceiling, and price against real length moves the BANG Score inside it. How it works, and where it is weak → Steam reviews as of Sep 28, price as of Oct 18. A number here look wrong? Tell me and I will check the inputs.