Every day I wake up and I think up the last dream I dreamt. Because as they say, the rest of the day is defined by what you dreamt before waking up. I had a practice of jotting down or doodling whatever fast fleeting images I could recall, but gave up soon afterwards (didn’t want to censor my dreams). That is to say, I have a certain inclination towards games that deal with dreams like The Observer, Dreamscaper, AI: The Somnium Files etc. So when I heard of Melatonin, naturally I was drawn to the concept, and of course, drawn to its glorious music and art style. And let me tell you, I didn’t have this much fun in any music class as I had in Melatonin!
Melatonin is a rhythm game about dreams merging with reality. Developed and published by Half Asleep the demo is currently available on steam for free and the official release date is on 16 September 2022.
Dosing Off
Melatonin begins with a guy (that vaguely resembles Saitama with hair) dosing off while watching TV and dreaming himself in wild scenarios each based on his everyday life. At one point you are flying through the clouds on a chair with wings and chomping down on donuts and pizza slices thrown by food boxes, at another point you’re jumping on a staircase made of phones with different apps like Instagram or YouTube opened in it. At some other point, you’re window shopping as you gleefully keep swiping your credit card to the Melatonin’s funky tracks. And my personal favorite – dreaming of having a PS5 (yes it’s in the game) and playing a VR game on it! As of now in the demo, only these four levels are available. More levels will come in the full release in September including the option to create your own dream levels using the level editor!
Timing is the key!
Melatonin requires precise key inputs to progress through each level and that’s enough to provide a reasonable challenge. Visual and auditory cues exist, like the circle in the center of the screen via which the circles containing input keys flow upwards from the bottom of the screen. You’ve to hit the right input key as soon as they are completely inside the center circle, too early or late and your overall score hampers. Auditory cue includes an inbuilt metronome, however, the most chad move would be to memorize the level’s music and hit the input keys as per the beats with only the metronome to assist. For the rookie class there’s the tutorial level which will make you accustomed to Melatonin’s mechanics.
Sound Design
The magnum opus of Melatonin. In short, it’s a certified banger! You’ll have a smile on your face right from the menu screen, and when you start a level, you won’t realize when you’ve started banging your head as you time your inputs to the game’s beats. It’s not heavy metal like BPM: Bullets Per Minute, it’s groovy, funky and chirpy. The producers and sound engineers really did a great job of eliciting a feeling of lighthearted joy. The best part is how the sound effects created due to your actions are incorporated seamlessly into the tracks. For example, when you dream of food, doughnuts and pizza slices are shot into your mouth at high speeds, and with every input, you chow down. And that chowing sound effect is part of the level music! Even the character animations are tied into the vibes. For example, in the shopping level, the hand holding the credit card would be grooving; in the PS5 level, our character would be head banging donning the VR headset, and so on.
Visuals
The visuals of Melatonin are absolutely gorgeous! The levels are all surreal, hand-drawn artworks painted in a bright “bubblegummish” tint. To be honest, it reminded me of the default abstract wallpapers of Windows 8. Half Asleep studio really nails that feeling of a pleasant dream rife with possibilities and boundless imagination, more so because Melatonin doesn’t bombard you with way too many interfaces or overlays.
Real Talk
Melatonin is a lovely, simplistic and surreal stress reliever thanks to its art style and music that seamlessly flows into the gameplay. The demo is free on steam for you to try and I highly recommend it because the full release is going to have even more content!
INITIAL RATING: RECOMMENDED
