This adorable rhythm game keeps kicking my ass — and I love it

Melatonin’s dreamy pink exterior fooled me. My expectations were for laidback gameplay that would match the peaceful tone of these worlds. It turned out to be a challenging game that combined tough rhythm games with fun colors. It’s been kicking my ass, and honestly, I love it.

Half Asleep created and published this article. MelatoninIt takes place in the unnamed protagonist’s dream world. You navigate a hub where you can choose between various levels — which are depicted as dreams — inspired by the character’s life. One lets you shop with your credit card; another allows you to shoot tiny aliens, arcade style. Another has you moving from one phone to the next as you try to grow your social media followers. The music for each minigame plays to a lively electronic beat that moves the game along at an energizing pace.

As the game starts, it lets you know that the game requires “precise timing,” and it’s really not joking. In my experience, the window of time for a “perfect” feels incredibly small. A lot of levels depend heavily on the use of audio cues rather than visual cues. You can see the button you need to push as the track runs. Melatonin Visual support such as that will allow you to practice, but it will be removed when you play the level.

So let’s say you go into the hub and want to dream about “gaming.” You hop into an arcade-like shooter where you zap aliens. The little aliens appear on your screen at a rapid pace. You must press the button every beat until they disappear. It’s shockingly fast-paced for an early level because the game serves up a flurry of aliens at points.

It was easy to forget some of these minigames and get my maximum score. However, it’s also the kind of game where I got up from the couch and went to sit right in front of the television screen in order to be completely present in the moment. You should definitely check this out if you want a challenging but fun rhythm game. Melatonin.