Energy Drink Companion
While the low fi beats to sleep to aesthetic of this represents as a decent introductory reference point for building confidence that rhythm games aren't that hard. It would be a tenuous one, since as Patricia covers it doesn't introduce the concept of sycopation at all, its just a 'clap along' game with several different inputs.
It's interesting to see that people are bringing up comparisons to rhythm heaven because in actual fact I think this game only 'works' if you dont know that game exists and dont get access to it. I might not ever beat rhythm heaven but even what I've played of it I know its way more engaging than this is. For instance in the first 3 levels of Rhythm Heaven you have tap, drag, hold input varience introduction. In Melatonin you dont have that level of varience introduced until 10 levels in. Melatonin wants to be easy in order to guide the player through its highly cultivated visual experience rather than test the player. Sure I got stumped in a few situations but only because it relies so heavily on visual clap along that are often unclear. It became at most a matter of resetting once or twice. Meanwhile in rhythm heaven you might get stuck on a level for a while and might even have to redo the ealier ones again.
So if it relies so heavily on its visual stimulus what is there to say about it? Well the funny thing about trying to write around visual art is that any reader could easily just look at it and decide for themselves which is why I tend not to focus on that too much in most of my write ups. Here though its worth stressing that when you actually are enveloped in this pastel wonderland and having to input in response to it, its appalling. There are a few cases where they remove the visual stimulus like for example in the Mind level where the character gets sleepy and you only see a fraction of the screen. It becomes more bearable to play in this condition. It's often better to input based on sound queues to instead of simple visual responses for a few of the levels as well
The symbolism itself is also both trite and exceptionally late capitalist in its blunt depiction of a dreamscape as economically fueled. There's no surrealism in this, this isn't utilizing the bizzare of dream logic or its distress in the way Un Chien Andalou or firths Sock series would, we aren't working with the dream brush of a Dali here. We aren't even working with a disneyesque one ala Alice and Wonderland (1951). It's a collagan mash of Late Burton and the weakest late 10's cartoon network animation (Bee and Puppycat and We Bare Bears).
If you can believe it theres also some frusterating UI choices to. If you beat the combination levels at the end of each night and press the button you are throw immediately into the 'hard mode' version, but you can bypass it by just going to the map. If you aren't playing the hard mode versions of the levels before, why would you want to now. If you want to go back to try levels from previous nights you would have to rifle through a bunch of menus to get there to even look at a section of them, rather than just have it be a simple overworld. Trying to make the overworld 'immersive' at the expense of actually being able to just discern which levels you've done is one element I complained about in my Pizza Tower diagnostic. I was being nice about it there but now I'm just enourmously frusterated in retrospect, if you are proud of your level design why stuff it away in a cupboard like that? A non-discerning eye might try to blame it on something like Mario Galaxy for introducing the idea of an immersive hubworld. I would actually say this is more the consequences of even earlier Mario games (World, 3, etc.) and its 'nostalgic' reintroduction recently with the 3D World titles. If I felt any softness for either of these two games, that it had a rare moment where I was enjoying it. Its been sullied by treating their own gamespace in such a segmented fashion. Even with the game as short as it is, there should be as little interrupting me from entering levels as possible. It's a design approach that puts the idea of difficulty scaling over any desire for mastery. What it ends up incentivizing is not a gratification of completing certain sections but instead, fully restarting from the beggining and going as perfect as you can through each.
What we have is a game too afraid to commit either to strange visual abudance or difficulty scaling. Trapped in a limbo of their own curation, your protagonist limbers in a wasteland of millenial tropes. Letting tindr and monster energy imprint into thier headspace while they continue the stereotypes of Avacado Toast consumption. While the stereotype never arises to a level of offensiveness that a racial one does, its nonetheless irritating and vacuous. If its a parody of that landscape, its too cheeky to stand for anything.
If anybody accuses you of not engaging with art outside your comfort zone, I give you permission to roll your eyes and throw something like this at them, ask if this is what they want you to try out instead. If it is, dont let them pester you. No need to have such a somambulant relationship with the world.
While the low fi beats to sleep to aesthetic of this represents as a decent introductory reference point for building confidence that rhythm games aren't that hard. It would be a tenuous one, since as Patricia covers it doesn't introduce the concept of sycopation at all, its just a 'clap along' game with several different inputs.
It's interesting to see that people are bringing up comparisons to rhythm heaven because in actual fact I think this game only 'works' if you dont know that game exists and dont get access to it. I might not ever beat rhythm heaven but even what I've played of it I know its way more engaging than this is. For instance in the first 3 levels of Rhythm Heaven you have tap, drag, hold input varience introduction. In Melatonin you dont have that level of varience introduced until 10 levels in. Melatonin wants to be easy in order to guide the player through its highly cultivated visual experience rather than test the player. Sure I got stumped in a few situations but only because it relies so heavily on visual clap along that are often unclear. It became at most a matter of resetting once or twice. Meanwhile in rhythm heaven you might get stuck on a level for a while and might even have to redo the ealier ones again.
So if it relies so heavily on its visual stimulus what is there to say about it? Well the funny thing about trying to write around visual art is that any reader could easily just look at it and decide for themselves which is why I tend not to focus on that too much in most of my write ups. Here though its worth stressing that when you actually are enveloped in this pastel wonderland and having to input in response to it, its appalling. There are a few cases where they remove the visual stimulus like for example in the Mind level where the character gets sleepy and you only see a fraction of the screen. It becomes more bearable to play in this condition. It's often better to input based on sound queues to instead of simple visual responses for a few of the levels as well
The symbolism itself is also both trite and exceptionally late capitalist in its blunt depiction of a dreamscape as economically fueled. There's no surrealism in this, this isn't utilizing the bizzare of dream logic or its distress in the way Un Chien Andalou or firths Sock series would, we aren't working with the dream brush of a Dali here. We aren't even working with a disneyesque one ala Alice and Wonderland (1951). It's a collagan mash of Late Burton and the weakest late 10's cartoon network animation (Bee and Puppycat and We Bare Bears).
If you can believe it theres also some frusterating UI choices to. If you beat the combination levels at the end of each night and press the button you are throw immediately into the 'hard mode' version, but you can bypass it by just going to the map. If you aren't playing the hard mode versions of the levels before, why would you want to now. If you want to go back to try levels from previous nights you would have to rifle through a bunch of menus to get there to even look at a section of them, rather than just have it be a simple overworld. Trying to make the overworld 'immersive' at the expense of actually being able to just discern which levels you've done is one element I complained about in my Pizza Tower diagnostic. I was being nice about it there but now I'm just enourmously frusterated in retrospect, if you are proud of your level design why stuff it away in a cupboard like that? A non-discerning eye might try to blame it on something like Mario Galaxy for introducing the idea of an immersive hubworld. I would actually say this is more the consequences of even earlier Mario games (World, 3, etc.) and its 'nostalgic' reintroduction recently with the 3D World titles. If I felt any softness for either of these two games, that it had a rare moment where I was enjoying it. Its been sullied by treating their own gamespace in such a segmented fashion. Even with the game as short as it is, there should be as little interrupting me from entering levels as possible. It's a design approach that puts the idea of difficulty scaling over any desire for mastery. What it ends up incentivizing is not a gratification of completing certain sections but instead, fully restarting from the beggining and going as perfect as you can through each.
What we have is a game too afraid to commit either to strange visual abudance or difficulty scaling. Trapped in a limbo of their own curation, your protagonist limbers in a wasteland of millenial tropes. Letting tindr and monster energy imprint into thier headspace while they continue the stereotypes of Avacado Toast consumption. While the stereotype never arises to a level of offensiveness that a racial one does, its nonetheless irritating and vacuous. If its a parody of that landscape, its too cheeky to stand for anything.
If anybody accuses you of not engaging with art outside your comfort zone, I give you permission to roll your eyes and throw something like this at them, ask if this is what they want you to try out instead. If it is, dont let them pester you. No need to have such a somambulant relationship with the world.
I'm bad, but It's fun
- Mom, mom! Can I have RHYTHM HEAVEN™?
- We have RHYTHM HEAVEN™ at home, dear.
Set in the surreal landscapes of the dreams of a young man who, even in his sleep, cannot escape the trappings of modern life, Melatonin is a rhythm game that takes mundane, momentaneous actions of our day-to-day, like the swiping of a credit card, or swinging of a pendulum, sets them to a beat and turns them into a rhythm game.
The game is rendered in a cartoon style with soft pastel colors, which match its low-fi, low energy audio design. As enticing as this presentation is at first, it's at the core of the issues with Melatonin that ultimately turn it into a deeply disappointing experience. The game does not let go of this chill aesthetic to its detriment, resulting into multiple issues with the gameplay. Lack of effective cues within the minigames is the most important one: the sounds that are meant to guide the player are low-energy and hard to make out, like the almost hum-like whirring of a printer, echoes of thunder in the distance, a ding sound that's easily drowned out... all of them far too timid, too reserved.
The contrast is evident when the game is placed side by side with its (obvious) inspiration Rhythm Heaven, as in that game, cues lean on the side of loud and energetic: animal noises, clapping, verbal commands.. even the more artificial prompts are loud clanks, screeches and the like, all of them unmistakable for anything else. The sound design is so intense, in fact, that some cues are committed to memory forever. Anyone who played Rhythm Heaven can probably hear these:
And buh buh buh TAP TAP TAP!
JAB, JAB, JAB, GOGOGO!
Wubbadubbadubbadub, is that true?! EH!
Two flipper rolls!
Sure, not all Rhythm Heaven minigames are perfect, but most Melatonin ones veer on the side of bad due to a widespread unintuitiveness and lack of clarity. The game has to rely on a visual indicator during practice to explain each minigame, and sometimes, the cues are so obtuse, even that doesn't help much. Time is an example where not even the game can explain how the minigame is supposed to work; Money and Stress reuse sound cues for different inputs, forcing reliance on visuals only; Work and Dating take it a step further and change the sounds midway to throw the player off...
Melatonin even commits a cardinal sin for a rhythm game in that, in some levels, such as Shopping and Exercise, the stage track itself doesn't match the intended inputs at all, meaning it's far easier to play with the BGM volume set to 0 -- a depressing way to play a rhythm game, where vibing to the music ought to be a pillar of the experience. On that note, the remixes between nights are another way in which the game performs disfavorably: the basic gist is taken straight from RH, with multiple minigames interspersed with each other as a unique song plays, but Melatonin does not visually change anything to make the remix feel new, and while the tracks featured are unique, they're neither memorable nor exciting, resulting in remixes that lack the cathartic release one yearns for after practicing multiple minigames in a row.
Among those hardcore rhythm gamers desperate for a fix, I suppose some might see value in Melatonin. I, however, and I'm left confused at the glowing reviews it received: despite playing the game to the end, I can't remember a single song, a single motif nor a single sound cue from Melatonin's many underwhelming levels. The experience was about as exciting as its main character's life, and all I could think of as the credits rolled was that we all could really use a new Rhythm Heaven.
- We have RHYTHM HEAVEN™ at home, dear.
Set in the surreal landscapes of the dreams of a young man who, even in his sleep, cannot escape the trappings of modern life, Melatonin is a rhythm game that takes mundane, momentaneous actions of our day-to-day, like the swiping of a credit card, or swinging of a pendulum, sets them to a beat and turns them into a rhythm game.
The game is rendered in a cartoon style with soft pastel colors, which match its low-fi, low energy audio design. As enticing as this presentation is at first, it's at the core of the issues with Melatonin that ultimately turn it into a deeply disappointing experience. The game does not let go of this chill aesthetic to its detriment, resulting into multiple issues with the gameplay. Lack of effective cues within the minigames is the most important one: the sounds that are meant to guide the player are low-energy and hard to make out, like the almost hum-like whirring of a printer, echoes of thunder in the distance, a ding sound that's easily drowned out... all of them far too timid, too reserved.
The contrast is evident when the game is placed side by side with its (obvious) inspiration Rhythm Heaven, as in that game, cues lean on the side of loud and energetic: animal noises, clapping, verbal commands.. even the more artificial prompts are loud clanks, screeches and the like, all of them unmistakable for anything else. The sound design is so intense, in fact, that some cues are committed to memory forever. Anyone who played Rhythm Heaven can probably hear these:
And buh buh buh TAP TAP TAP!
JAB, JAB, JAB, GOGOGO!
Wubbadubbadubbadub, is that true?! EH!
Two flipper rolls!
Sure, not all Rhythm Heaven minigames are perfect, but most Melatonin ones veer on the side of bad due to a widespread unintuitiveness and lack of clarity. The game has to rely on a visual indicator during practice to explain each minigame, and sometimes, the cues are so obtuse, even that doesn't help much. Time is an example where not even the game can explain how the minigame is supposed to work; Money and Stress reuse sound cues for different inputs, forcing reliance on visuals only; Work and Dating take it a step further and change the sounds midway to throw the player off...
Melatonin even commits a cardinal sin for a rhythm game in that, in some levels, such as Shopping and Exercise, the stage track itself doesn't match the intended inputs at all, meaning it's far easier to play with the BGM volume set to 0 -- a depressing way to play a rhythm game, where vibing to the music ought to be a pillar of the experience. On that note, the remixes between nights are another way in which the game performs disfavorably: the basic gist is taken straight from RH, with multiple minigames interspersed with each other as a unique song plays, but Melatonin does not visually change anything to make the remix feel new, and while the tracks featured are unique, they're neither memorable nor exciting, resulting in remixes that lack the cathartic release one yearns for after practicing multiple minigames in a row.
Among those hardcore rhythm gamers desperate for a fix, I suppose some might see value in Melatonin. I, however, and I'm left confused at the glowing reviews it received: despite playing the game to the end, I can't remember a single song, a single motif nor a single sound cue from Melatonin's many underwhelming levels. The experience was about as exciting as its main character's life, and all I could think of as the credits rolled was that we all could really use a new Rhythm Heaven.
This game wants to be Rhythm Heaven but I feel like it doesn't grasp what made Rhythm Heaven so enjoyable. There's so little weight to everything you do, both in terms of visuals and audio. It never really feels satisfying to get the timing right. Everything feels stiff and static and quiet. I get that they're going for a chill lo-fi vibe but you can do that without sacrificing the feedback the player gets from playing well
It's fine? Very pretty and I admire any effort at making more Rhythm Heaven. The minigames are very hit and miss fun wise and I had to change the timing settings to be less strict because I found the default settings very annoying.
It took me months to get through this despite it being maybe 2 hours long if you take your time. It really struggled to pull me in.
I won't go lower than 3 stars because Melatonin is an admirable and competent package with some dreamy vibes, but overall I was left shrugging by the end of it.
It took me months to get through this despite it being maybe 2 hours long if you take your time. It really struggled to pull me in.
I won't go lower than 3 stars because Melatonin is an admirable and competent package with some dreamy vibes, but overall I was left shrugging by the end of it.
Very nice vibes, I didn't expect a lofi rhythm game for some reason but it obviously works! Very polished, great tunes, good mechanics, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Short and sweet!
ladies and gentleman, there it is, the chillest man in america
Even as someone who isn't that big on rhythm games, something just felt off to me about this. It just really didn't match up to my expectations.
Rhythm Heaven but with a low-fi, relaxing, pastel toned aesthetic. It has a choesive story/mood/sound and the songs are honestly just... nice to listen to!
If anything, I just wish it was longer
If anything, I just wish it was longer
First rhythm heaven-like game, and I was very impressed. Would be great if you could change the main characters design though, it does feel like the stars/discs don’t really do much besides get you to the next level.
My only real complaint is that I wish it were longer.
O verdadeiro jogo de ritmo, aqui tu real tem q ter o tempo das batidas. Acompanhada de uma arte mt agradável aos olhos (meio minimalista) combina mt com os ritmos lo-fi do jogo que não é muito longo, porém mesmo assim compensa essa breve experiência pra quem curte o gênero.
Achei a construção de ritmo muito criativo tanto a arte quanto música mesmo que os controles não sejam tão complexo em cada fase tu tem uma aprendizagem diferente com o ritmo e a jogabilidade ( tu tem q realmente a aprender a escutar até pq nem sempre tem um auxilio visual para acertar o ritmo) e essa sensação de progressão/aprendizagem foi que mais curti no jogo.
Recomendo muito pra quem curte o gênero, acredito que este jogo esteja no top 5 para mim nesse estilo, realmente gostei.
E uma dica: recomendo ao começar a jogar um capítulo tentar terminar logo ou em pequeno periodo de tempo, pq sempre no final há uma junção de todos os ritmos do capitulo e se tu acabar esquecendo de um meio q complica kkk.
Achei a construção de ritmo muito criativo tanto a arte quanto música mesmo que os controles não sejam tão complexo em cada fase tu tem uma aprendizagem diferente com o ritmo e a jogabilidade ( tu tem q realmente a aprender a escutar até pq nem sempre tem um auxilio visual para acertar o ritmo) e essa sensação de progressão/aprendizagem foi que mais curti no jogo.
Recomendo muito pra quem curte o gênero, acredito que este jogo esteja no top 5 para mim nesse estilo, realmente gostei.
E uma dica: recomendo ao começar a jogar um capítulo tentar terminar logo ou em pequeno periodo de tempo, pq sempre no final há uma junção de todos os ritmos do capitulo e se tu acabar esquecendo de um meio q complica kkk.
want to play rhythm heaven now
This review contains spoilers
Aw man. I wanted to love this game but I'm not sure I'll be continuing it.
Pros:
• Cute, pleasing art style with cutscenes between chapters
• Fantastic accessibility features which allow below average rhythm gamers using Bluetooth speakers like me, to still score. (These include visual assist, a metronome, and wiggle room to get 'perfects').
• Relatable adult themes referenced (dating, work, exercise, the future, stress)
Cons:
• Music is not memorable and all blends together, similar to the art due to the colour scheme which hurts my eyes
• Too lo-fi to feel that hyper fun, but it's not relaxing either
• I've only finished the first chapter but none of the levels gave me that satisfying 'flow state' rhythm game feeling for too long
• Overall kind of mediocre in many respects. It's missing something.
Pros:
• Cute, pleasing art style with cutscenes between chapters
• Fantastic accessibility features which allow below average rhythm gamers using Bluetooth speakers like me, to still score. (These include visual assist, a metronome, and wiggle room to get 'perfects').
• Relatable adult themes referenced (dating, work, exercise, the future, stress)
Cons:
• Music is not memorable and all blends together, similar to the art due to the colour scheme which hurts my eyes
• Too lo-fi to feel that hyper fun, but it's not relaxing either
• I've only finished the first chapter but none of the levels gave me that satisfying 'flow state' rhythm game feeling for too long
• Overall kind of mediocre in many respects. It's missing something.
It's a chill rythm game about dreams. If you like rythm heaven, you will like this game.
Not a lot to say on this one but it’s a cool way to pass some time. The lo-fi music itself is chill if kinda dull (which isn’t ideal for a rhythm game), but makes up for it with its cute art style and creative use of visual cues/timing with its songs. Short and worth checking out
It's alright. Some of the games were fun, but so many of them just didn't click and none of the music ever really blew me away. The art is cute though.
Meh-latonin
Você sabe que tem algo de errado quando um jogo rítmico depende muito de "visual cue". É muito difícil jogar Melatonin só pelo ritmo, pois algumas notas que deveriam diferenciar certar ações são muito parecidas. Além disso, a trilha sonora é composta por diversas músicas lo-fi genéricas. Já a dificuldade se baseia em mudar o tempo das notas e sumir com as "visual cues" citadas anteriormente.
As duas estrelas que dei foram mais pelo conceito do game e pelos visuais, que são bem bonitos. De resto, foi uma decepção.
As duas estrelas que dei foram mais pelo conceito do game e pelos visuais, que são bem bonitos. De resto, foi uma decepção.
That burning pictures level is awesome
pretty fun, but I'm not the biggest fan of the music and I wish the themes of some of the games were more unique. Or I'm just desperate and need a new rhythm heaven idk
Great homage to Rhythm Heaven. However this is a more vibey/lowfi take on it, hence the name of the game. Loved all of it, wish there were more songs.
Cool rhythm game. Played a bit because I'm turbo bad at rhythm games (I prefer League of Legends).
the music is great and matches the visuals well, a different spin on something like rhythm heaven in a sleep setting
Lindo
A vibe meio despretensiosa desse jogo foi oq mais me conquistou de fato
Was pretty fun despite being a tad frustrating at times with some of the levels
I didn't think it was satisfying and thus not very enjoyable or relaxing, for that matter.
Juego de ritmo bastante relajante.
Hay algún otro juego minijuego que es complicado porque debes de ser muy preciso, pero hay opciones de accesibilidad.
Muy corto, habrá alrededor de 15 minijuegos que te puede durar como mucho 1/1:30h desbloquear todo y acabar la historia.
Hay algún otro juego minijuego que es complicado porque debes de ser muy preciso, pero hay opciones de accesibilidad.
Muy corto, habrá alrededor de 15 minijuegos que te puede durar como mucho 1/1:30h desbloquear todo y acabar la historia.
The game sabotages you by playing relaxing music while you play /lh