melatoninThe dreamy pink outside deceived me. Going in, I expect relaxed gameplay to match the sleepy tone of its sleepy world. What I got instead was a demanding experience combining a nail-biting rhythm game with a cute palette. It kicked my ass, and honestly, I love it.
Created and Published by Half Asleep, melatonin takes place inside the dream world of the unnamed protagonist. You navigate a hub where you can choose between different levels — described as dreams — inspired by the character’s life. In one go, you swipe your credit card to shop; in another case you shoot arcade-style little aliens and another requires you to jump from phone to phone as you dream about growing your social media following. me. Each mini-game is set to vibrant electronic music that keeps things moving at a fast pace.
When the game starts, it will tell you that the game requires “exact timing” and it really is no joke. In my experience, the amount of time for a “perfection” seems infinitely small. On top of that, many levels rely heavily on audio signals and less on visual signals. In some popular rhythm games, you can tell which button to press when it runs down a track. melatonin will allow you to practice with such visual aid, but will remove it when you actually play the level.
So let’s say you go to the mall and want to dream about “gaming”. You jump into a video game-like shooter where you take out aliens. As you play, little aliens appear on the screen with no or very little warning, and then you have to press a button exactly one beat after each appearance. It’s amazingly fast-paced in the early levels as the game serves up a bunch of aliens at points.
I found myself memorizing some mini-games to maximize my score. However, it’s also the kind of game where I get up from the couch and sit right in front of the television to be fully present in the moment. So if you are looking for a rhythm game that is surprisingly hard and fun, I recommend you check it out. melatonin.
