Your vampire in Moonlight Peaks can shapeshift into three creatures, and each one is a movement and interaction tool rather than a combat power. All three are tied to main story quests, so you cannot buy them or miss them permanently. They unlock in a fixed order as you push the narrative forward.
Quick answer: Complete The Dinner Party for the Hellkitten (Cat) form, finish The Mermaid’s Wish after opening Luna Bay for the Mermaid (Aqua) form, and complete Orlock’s Master of the Night quest for the Bat form. Each unlock adds the shape to your Forms wheel.
The three forms and what they do
| Form | Unlock quest | Main use |
|---|---|---|
| Hellkitten / Cat | The Dinner Party | Faster travel on foot, low-energy tilling, digging, crawling through small gaps, talking to animals |
| Mermaid / Aqua | The Mermaid’s Wish | Swimming, diving into water ripples, reaching areas across water |
| Bat | Master of the Night | Flying up and down ledges, crossing water, slightly faster than Hellkitten |
Moving in any of these forms does not drain your physical energy pool, which makes them efficient for exploration and farm prep. Note that Hellkitten cannot use standard tools, but it digs soil and unearths sparkly ground items directly.
How the Forms wheel works
Once you own at least one form, a Forms selector replaces your normal tool wheel. Open it, highlight the shape you want, and confirm. To revert, open the wheel again and pick your vampire icon, or step onto dry land while using the Mermaid form.
| Platform | Open Forms wheel |
|---|---|
| PC | Q |
| Controller | LB (Left Bumper) |
| Nintendo Switch | L |
Unlock the Hellkitten (Cat) form
Hellkitten is the first transformation, and you reach it within the first hour or two of play. It runs in your family, and a magical mishap during a dinner scene reveals your gift.
Tip: Switch to Hellkitten before talking to a farm animal to earn the Do You Speak Animalese? achievement. Adopting a creature once you have a barn makes this easy.
Unlock the Mermaid (Aqua) form
Mermaid appears as Aqua form in the wheel and lands much later, often around late Autumn or Winter of Year One. You first have to open the Luna Bay region, then help a resident mermaid gain legs.
Sparkling ripples in rivers and lakes are dive interactions. Switch to Aqua form, swim to the ripple, and interact. In the Cave of Echoes, Aqua form also opens the earliest cross-water route to Gold Ore, though you still need an Iron Pickaxe to break the nodes.
Unlock the Bat form
Bat is the last form and the one you will likely use most, since it flies up and down ledges you cannot otherwise reach and crosses water. It arrives deep into the story through Orlock’s Master of the Night questline, after the Moon story opens the next branch. Reaching it can take well past 30 hours.
Confirm each unlock and fix a form that won’t activate
You know a form is unlocked when it appears in the Forms wheel and its matching achievement pops. Use this to verify each one quickly.
| Form | Achievement | Confirmation |
|---|---|---|
| Hellkitten / Cat | Purrgatory | Forms wheel opens with the Cat icon after The Dinner Party |
| Mermaid / Aqua | Call of the Current | Aqua icon appears after delivering Special Shell Powder |
| Bat | Wings of the Night | Bat icon appears after the graveyard ritual |
If a form refuses to activate, the cause is almost always the location. Bat form is blocked in some interiors, so step outdoors or into a larger area and try again. For Aqua form, stand at the edge of deep water or on a valid nearby tile before switching. When a Hellkitten dig or ground prompt is missing, move a few steps to a valid spot and retry before assuming the form is unavailable.
All three forms are gated behind mandatory quests, so the fastest way to collect them is to keep clearing main story objectives rather than grinding gifts or farm chores. Once you have the full set, you can chain them for travel, using Hellkitten for errands, Aqua for water routes and dives, and Bat for ledges and long crossings.
