Melatonin Review: Dreaming of Rhythm Heaven
It’s 10:30 PM. My adderall has long since worn off by now and I’ve stopped drinking caffeine hours ago. Although I desperately need to finish this review, I’ve popped my nightly melatonin to have any hope of falling asleep tonight. It’s now a race against the clock to write a couple hundred more words about a game that, despite its similar structure to a fan-favorite, carves out its own uniquely relatable identity. I take a sip of my piping hot chrysanthemum tea as my eyelids begin to droop; to combat the sleepiness, I decide to play a game OST — Melatonin’s OST — giving me the exact kind of calming yet energetic boost I need to finish this article.
For those familiar with the sleep aid, Melatonin is aptly named — an exhausted protagonist spends night after night on his couch doing things like working, playing on his phone, or simply trying to relax. When he finally drifts off to slumberland, his mind is treated to a wide variety of dream vignettes where he works, literally plays on his phone, or relaxes. All of these activities are, of course, set to soothing chillwave music that is simultaneously playful and peaceful.
While most rhythm games tend to stick to a familar format, Melatonin takes a page right out of Rhythm Heaven’s book on a structural level. Now, that’s not a bad thing — Rhythm Heaven is one of the greats for a reason — but it’s worth mentioning simply because they possess the same bones. Case in point, each night will have a theme complete with several levels, followed by a “boss battle” level that combines elements of the earlier ones together. Each level will introduce either a new button press or new timing to master, which is pleasingly blended in the night’s final level. Can you make it through the entire week?
When it comes to the meat on those bones, Melatonin clearly differs in quite a few ways, the most obvious being its aesthetics and direction. Where Rhythm Heaven was truly a series of disjointed vignettes, Melatonin attempts to weave a story of what happened to the protagonist throughout the day — much like how our brains do at night as we dream. The pastel chillwave aesthetics are either going to grab players or melt into the background, and in a game about sleep, I find both of those things to be strengths. I can’t think of a time when I came away from a rhythm game soothed and destressed even if I didn’t get a perfect score, and that’s overwhelmingly due to the dreamlike art and music.
One interesting aspect about Melatonin is that the overt visual cues present in the practice mode are removed for the actual gameplay. This struck me as odd at first, until I realized the audio cues (and subtle visual ones) were still there. There are some levels where this won’t truly matter, as there’s only one button to press, but there are others where you’re truly going to need to listen to the music to understand which button to press. I personally found this to be enjoyable (if not a little different), and if you’re a rhythm game veteran you might enjoy the challenge as well, but if you’re new to this scene, I could see this dreamy game become a little nightmarish down the line.
As the Melatonin OST moves into a more calming selection and I feel my own melatonin kicking in, I have a few closing thoughts: Melatonin is a cozy chillwave romp through the mind of an insomniac, so on that note I found this to be incredibly charming. With that being said, I think diehard fans of Rhythm Heaven expecting some sort of spiritual successor will be disappointed, as the tracks (by the genre’s nature) aren’t as memorable and the game isn’t nearly as long. But if you go into Melatonin looking for a quiet little title to sink a few hours into on your Switch or Steam Deck before drifting off to sleep, it absolutely delivers.
Calling Melatonin a chillwave Rhythm Heaven is both accurate and not descriptive enough. Its structure is roughly the same, but its pastel palette, soothing soundtrack, and loose-yet-cohesive approach to storytelling give it its own unique flair. Melatonin may only be a 1 – 2 hour romp through dreamland, but if you really savor its playful art style, brain-melting music, and easily-mastered mechanics, it can quickly become a bedtime routine of its own. And, after popping some melatonin myself, a level or two of Melatonin before I snooze sounds lovely to me.
Final Verdict: 4/5
Available on: Switch, PC (Reviewed); Publisher: Half Asleep; Developer: Half Asleep; Players: 1; Released: December 15, 2022; MSRP: $14.99
Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of Melatonin provided by the publisher.
