A new addition to the rhythm genre in an innovative new game, Melobot: A Last Song by Anomalie Studio. In this harmony-filled game, you play as a small robot named Melobot as they travel around a strange world, using their instruments and music to heal the world around them. With its captivating storyline and beautiful soundtrack, this game is sure to captivate players and redefine the rhythm gaming experience.

The Story of Melobot

In the world of Melobot, you find yourself, a small robot on an unfamiliar planet, waking up, unsure of your location and your purpose. After being taught the basic mechanic through the song “Do Ray Me”, Melobot discovers the strange, quiet world filled with dark matter that is destroying the plant life on the planet. As a Melobot, your main goal is to achieve peace through music. The only sign of human life is a scientist in a tube that helps guide Melobot to a new location where plants need healing. As you go through the planet, you’ll begin to discover clues as to what has happened to the plant life around you.

Making Music that Heals

The cozy and wholesome art-style mixes well with the intense and engaging story of healing. In this game, when you reach a damaged plant, it will play a small song with several notes for you to copy. Just hit the left keys on your keyboard in the right order and at the right time, and boom—you’ve healed the plant! It’s a fun way to aim for 100% completion in each area since each plant gives you a star rating based on how spot-on your timing is.

As you travel through the different places on this strange planet, Melobot will also receive new instruments to play, changing the tune of the songs you play to fit the instrument. As you learn new tunes and travel around the unique environments, the game continues to keep the player engaged by adding new challenges and unique music.

Fighting Off The Bad

Another aspect of Melobot’s controls is the use of fighting that appears throughout each section. While it seems counterproductive for a cute tiny robot designed for peace like Melobot to be fighting, there will be times when it is necessary to protect yourself. The fighting controls are a combination of keys that the player is already familiar with on the left side of the keyboard. Keys combinations like “Z” and “Q” gives the player blast that attacks enemies, while combinations like “C” and “W” give the player a chance to pause and heal their tiny Melobot before going back into battle. This seamless integration of combat mechanics not only adds to the overall gameplay but also encourages strategic thinking, as players must decide when to attack, when to heal, and how best to win the battle while all the obstacles around you add to the challenge.

The Controls

As mentioned before, Melobot’s controls use the left side of your keyboard when playing on PC or Mac. For the most part, this works well for the gameplay as it keeps everything close together so that players will not have to learn a lot of controls for each mechanic in the game. This works excellent for the rhythm section of the game, as I found it easier to learn the new tunes with the controls so close together. However, for the action section of the game, I found the controls to be more challenging and frustrating at times to play. I imagine that both sections of Melobot are easier to play on the PlayStation and Xbox ports, as you can play with a controller. Unfortunately, the PC version does not give the player the option to play with a controller.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the musical adventure of Melobot: A Last Song is a refreshing addition to the rhyme genre. With its engaging story and adorable art style that is similar to the coloring and feeling of a Studio Ghibli movie, this game gives the player a chance to use music to heal an abandoned world. As you progress through the different environments, you will encounter challenges and memorable moments that reinforce the importance of connection and harmony. The experience of playing Melobot is not only a cozy experience as you play an adorable robot, but also a powerful story that invites players to lose themselves in its magical universe and discover the healing power of music together.

Melobot: A Last Song is available now on Steam, PS Store, and Xbox for $24.99. Anomalie Studio generously provided a review key to NeverMore Niche, and played on a PC.