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Fall asleep in this minimalistic rhythm game | Melatonin - Review

3K View2022-12-16

Melatonin is a minimalistic rhythm game about sleeping and dreams. Where different aspects of our lives such as Tech, Food, Shopping, Money, Dating, Exercise and many others are beautifully represented into twenty different dreamy levels with their own distinct sequences, mechanics; complete with their own song and melody to harmonize with.

Melatonin is not your typical rhythm game. There are no UI elements and button prompts. There are no overly complex gestures or an overwhelming number of buttons used. Instead, it uses clever visual and matching audio cues to assist the player in correctly pressing the needed button, sometimes it's just a single button, sometimes, just two directions.

It's a nice breath of fresh air from all the typical Rhythm games out there that relies heavily on brain twisting button mashing and flashy UI elements as their main gameplay mechanic. With Melatonin’s minimalistic approach, you truly feel like you are one with the beat and feel more connected to the music. It feels more like an experience instead of a game.

At first, the heavy reliance on visual and audio cues alone might make it seem hard and make you feel like you are either blind, deaf, or both. But when you get used to the song and its beat, it just becomes second nature. It really is a fun experience to listen to the song and when you play the song enough times, it all becomes muscle memory.

There are instances where the game will try to hide visual cues and force you to play by sound cues only, where it will certainly challenge you if you really are attuned to the melody.

Accessibility wise, Melatonin gives you the option to do a quick practice session for every level to let you familiarize yourself with the beat and cues — complete with buttons and directional prompts — before you actually play the level. If you still are having difficulties, there are a couple of accessibility options for you available, such as permanently turning on these aforementioned additional prompts, or adjusting the timing register of inputs.

Melatonin is divided into 5 chapters called “nights” and each chapter comprises four distinct levels plus one final challenging level at the end — sort of like a boss fight. Which is basically all the previous four levels fused together, moving back and forth across them throughout the song.

Not all that, as developers are kind enough to include a level editor in-game, greatly extending the longevity of Melatonin and providing us a way to use our creativity and make our own levels.

With its hand drawn light neon-centric art style and lo-fi dreamy soundtrack, Melatonin is a true evolution of the genre and a great mash up of visual and musical art that results in a fun and fresh rhythm game.

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