Melatonin Review
A fantastic rhythm game with invisible input patterns catchy modern tehcno-chill tracks
Review code and screenshots provided by Popagenda
I first discovered Melatonin when it was being demoed in a small indie setup at PAX West. My friends and I were drawn in by the unique visual aesthetic of the booth. The developer brought in a literal bed for people to sit on while they were trying the demo to really capture the vibes of the game. The demo itself was also quite a welcome surprise. It was a modern take on rhythm games like Rhythm Heaven, which have great visual design and catchy tracks. We all walked away excited about the future release of this title, and I even wrote briefly about it in an article a few days later. Well, fast-forward to December of 2022, and the game is finally releasing. After playing through the game, I can say Melatonin successfully remixes the rhythm game genre with an addictive yet mellow musical arcade experience.
Melatonin is built on a very simple gameplay concept: Deliver a series of rhythm challenges where you use sounds and visuals as timing cues. It then proceeds to shape a handful of different-level experiences around that concept. There are no true twists to this game; what you see in the beginning is more or less what you get at the end. In almost any other game, I would criticize that as a lack of creativity or innovation, but in this specific case, it works quite well. Rhythm games are all about testing the player’s ability to stay on beat. It’s not necessarily about surprising the player or keeping them constantly adapting; it’s more about delivering a strong set of challenges that can be perfected over time. Melatonin does this.
I would argue that in the beginning, the game has a much higher learning curve than other rhythm games I’ve played. Even though every level gives you a practice round, the challenge of matching the button inputs perfectly without ever seeing them takes some time to get used to. In the beginning, some of the challenges felt slightly off-beat or poorly calibrated, but without fail, I always became more accurate when I tapped my foot to the metronome while playing. It felt as if the game was using visual challenges to mess with your internal rhythm. There were even levels where I performed much better if I closed my eyes the entire time and listened exclusively to the audio cues. What some may find frustrating at first ended up being a fun change-up for me. Being forced to adapt to the rules of the game before truly getting to play at a high level felt like a fun song and dance (pun intended) to go back and forth with each level.
Once you understand how the game wants you to play, then you can really start to appreciate the music. The game has a ton of fun, original, and modern tracks that play over each level. As someone who knows almost nothing about music genres, I would describe them as new-age pop techno tracks, who knows if that helps you get even close to imagining the music in the game. Regardless, I really enjoyed all the music in the game. All of the tracks are exclusively instrumental, and mostly pretty medium-tempo. There are some pretty cool beats and high-energy moments in a lot of the songs, but I could also see myself putting on this track list to lock in and work to. On almost every leve,l I found myself bobbing my head and grooving to the beat while playing, which is always a good sign for a rhythm game.
The music is aided by scenes of several life themes in dream-like settings. You’ll find yourself playing VR video games, shopping, exercising, working, and a handful of other things that will serve as visual fodder. Overall, I appreciated the art style. It used a softer color palette that you don’t often see in games, and nothing was overstimulating or hard to look at, which is appreciated when you need to lock your eyes on the screen for minutes at a time to track patterns.
I didn’t really find anything bad about Melatonin, but I do wish there were more features. The support addition of a leaderboard and some additional challenge options. I realize for an indie game that’s a lot to ask for, but I think the best parts about rhythm games are the journey to perfect the hardest songs, the chase of getting a higher score, and being able to compare your scores against your friends. I think those features would go a long way to keep people playing. Though not a necessity, if we’re lucky, some of those improvements will be added in at a later date, and even if they’re not, the current game is still a great experience.
Melatonin is the definition of a solid game. It does what it sets out to do really well and provides a unique take on the genre at the same time. While it’s not as feature-packed as some of the most popular rhythm games out there, it’s still a great ride from start to finish. Having a great indie rhythm game was not on my bingo card at the beginning of the year, but I think a lot of people are going to be excited and surprised when they discover it. Melatonin locks in an 8 from me.
