Moon Cycle
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The Moon Cycle is a gameplay mechanic which affects the appearance of Werepigs and Woodie's transformation. Werepigs are normal Pigs who are caught outdoors during a full moon, and Woodie turns into a Werebeaver whenever there's a full moon.
During a full moon, Chester will transform into either a Shadow Chester if he has at least one Nightmare Fuel in every inventory slot or a Snow Chester if he has at least one Blue Gem in every slot.
The complete Moon Cycle lasts for 16 Days and then repeats. Each phase of the Moon lasts for two Nights.
| Day(s) | Moon Phase | Image |
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| 1 - 2 | New Moon | 
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| 3 - 4 | Quarter (Waxing Crescent) Moon | 
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| 5 - 6 | Half Moon | 
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| 7 - 8 | 3/4 (Waxing Gibbous) Moon | 
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| 9 - 10 | Full Moon | 
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| 11 - 12 | 3/4 (Waning Gibbous) Moon |
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| 13 - 14 | Half Moon |
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| 15 - 16 | Quarter (Waning Crescent) Moon |
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| 17 - 18 | New Moon (Next cycle) |
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The Lunar Calendar Generator can be used to see past Day 18.
Downloadable Content
In all DLCs, several additional changes can be observed on a full moon. The moon casts down a dim, blue-tinted light over the world, so the player can safely explore without a light source and fear of Charlie. Mushrooms will turn into Mushtrees. Flowers will turn into Evil Flowers (But will revert back from the 3/4 Gibbous days onwards). The eyes on Pig, Wildbore and Merm Heads glow white, generate an insanity aura, and drop Nightmare Fuel when hammered. Ghosts will emerge from any type of Grave, including Watery Graves.
Full moons can also affect the Cave worlds. Unlike in the surface, the full moon does not provide light visibility to this world since caves are underground. Therefore, characters are required to have a sufficient light source while spelunking. Just like on the surface, the screen tone will change into a bluish color much like in Winter. Mushrooms also have a chance of turning into Mushtrees, Pigs will turn into Werepigs, and Flowers will change into Evil Flowers when in a cave.
In RoG, Glommer's Statue grows Glommer's Flower, which causes a Glommer to spawn nearby.
In SW, Tides in Beach biomes are much stronger during a full moon and absent during a new moon. During a full moon, Wildbores turn into Werepigs, and Big Waves become much more common.
In HAM, during a full moon, Pikos and Orange Pikos will become hostile to the Player, as well as give off a small amount of light if kept in the Player's Inventory. Similar to Woodie, the full moon forces Wilba to transform into her Werepig form. During the Aporkalypse, the moon icon that shows the player the phase of the moon will be constant, showing a reddish moon, and the changes of a full moon will also be present.
Trivia
- By default, it takes 560 days for the beginning of the Moon Cycle to re-align with the first day of the starting season.
- When both seasons are set to "Long", 12 complete moon cycles will occur in 4 seasons' time (similar to a standard calendar year).
- With RoG, if a full moon occurs in the fifth Adventure Mode chapter "Darkness", everything happens as per normal (blue tint, Evil Flowers, etc.). However, it remains completely dark and a light source is still required.
- Since any light is always on the left side of the moon (instead of switching sides as it does for the actual moon), it's not possible to tell if it's waxing or waning from the icon alone
Gallery
New moon.
Crescent moon.
Half moon.
Full moon.
All the moon phases.
Moon phases for the first 500 days.
