Music can save the world in this Indie Rhythm title, let’s find out if it can make a great game in our Melobot – A Last Song review!

It’s Springtime here in Australia and what better time to dig into Melobot – A Last Song, a cozy indie game with a strong environmental message. Anomalie Studio’s debut title will have you serenading alien plant life to restore balance to a climate-torn planet and uncover the mystery behind it all.

Melobot – A Last Song Review – Story

After discovering a form of plant life that plays and responds to music, humans do what we always do and find a way to exploit it for our benefit. Damning the consequences, we invented machines that could harvest an energy-rich material called Dark Matter from these ‘Meloplants’, only for the same bots to turn on us when we tried to shut them down.

Melobot’s landscape visuals are fantastic.

After awakening and discovering our creator in a life-support tank, we’re given the mission to restore life to the dying planet using a variety of musical instruments. What follows is a cautionary tale we’ve heard time and time again, commenting on the hubris of man and the consequences that can come from ripping the life out of our planet.

The planet has been ravaged by the impact of Humans.

Found around the planet are examples of these consequences, rusted debris left in large heaps, infrastructure being swallowed by the ground and left to waste, tears in the land caused by underground explosions. You’ll come to understand what happened to each area as you collect data by scanning these late landmarks and analyzing it inside the game’s hub.

Melobot – A Last Song Review – Gameplay

Hovering around each biome, you are tasked with seeking out the various dying Meloflowers. As you approach each plant a brief call and response minigame ensues. The call being a melody sung by the flora and the response, an echo of the tune that you play with your keyboard.

Melobot’s rhythm sections are brief and simple.

Melobot is a very forgiving game that lets you try as many times as you need to nail your recital. If you require a second or fifth listen of the plant’s piece, you are free to do so. Each plant will give you a star ranking depending on how well you mimic its tune, and even that gave a reasonable amount of leeway when it came to awarding you top marks. The other half of the gameplay involves taking down the corrupt machines that have been sucking the life from this strange planet. Once certain milestones have been hit in a given region, a boss fight will ensue. These bouts are where Melobot employs the use of simple chords, with combinations of notes used to either attack enemies or heal yourself.

Can you save all the Meloplants?

Strangely enough, there was no use of chords in the musical mimicry section of the game. I would have loved if the game had introduced more complex musical aspects as you progressed through the game, rather than restricting the main minigame to simple note plucking from start to finish. Melobot – A Last Song can also suffer greatly from the lack of variety in the Meloplant’s songs. Every area is filled with 6 different melodies to master, spread thinly over 30+ plants. This can get repetitive quite quickly, saved only by the beautiful tunes themselves.

You can just call me the Meloplant whisperer.

Depending on whichever difficulty you select, the easier mode includes the visual lettering on screen instead of having you rely on your pitch although the challenge throughout Melobot – A Last Song never ramps up enough. The largest fight you’ll have in-game is against Melobots’ unnecessary snail-like walking pace.

Melobot – A Last Song Review – Audio/Visual

The diverse planet you sing your way across boasts beautiful contrasting environments to play in, each torn apart by climate change in its own way. While some places can get overcrowded and visually busy, the majority of Melobot is interesting and thought-provoking.

Learn more about the consequences of climate change by scanning the environment.

An easy to follow map makes tracking your progress a cake-walk, with smooth and simple UI make navigating menus and rhythm mechanics intuitive. The musical minigame is similarly uncomplicated and easy to follow, leading to approachable gameplay for all ages.

Progress is made easy to track.

Being a game focused around music, it’s no wonder that the audio in Melobot – A Last Song is a massive highlight throughout the game. While brief, the performances coming from the plants are very pleasant and calming to listen to. It’s one of the main reasons I had wished for more from this gameplay, it feels like the game had incredible potential for more complex and enjoyable musical mechanics.

The understated ambiance you’ll hear while wandering around the planet works well to keep the main tunes highlighted, never overwhelming the player or taking up more real estate than needed. Conversely, the score during boss battles is epic — filled with strong drumbeats and staccato strings, evoking feelings of pressure and urgency.

Melobot – A Last Song Review – What Else?

For Platinum hunters and achievement farmers, Melobot – A Last Song is an easy pick up for a quick 100%. Just playing through the game will net you half of the trophies you’re after and the other half are easy to secure with a little more playtime.

A small upgrade tree for the little bot that could.

Melobot – A Last Song Review – Conclusion

Melobot – A Last Song is an approachable rhythm title with a clear environmental message that I appreciated. Working its series of momentary melodies into an entertaining albeit repetitive experience, the game may disappoint players looking for more complex musical mechanics. Melobot makes itself as accessible as possible with simple UI design and a comprehensive map, coupled with limited difficulty and lenient punishment when failing.

Melobot’s creator sharing a motivating poem.

Why you might like Melobot – A Last Song Review

• Strong and clear environmental messaging
• Simple and approachable rhythm mechanics
• OST is worth playing through the game

Why you might not like Melobot – A Last Song Review

• Moderately repetitive and unchallenging gameplay

A review code was kindly provided by Anomalie Studio and Microids the purpose of our Melobot – A Last Song review.  You can check out our other reviews here and if you haven’t already, be sure to join the Qualbert Discord to find out about the latest game and review updates!