KHMM_TV_Size.mp3 – Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory Demo Impressions

It’s time to go through the convoluted plot of Kingdom Hearts again, but this time in song! Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory may not have been a title anyone really expected to see release, but come out it will on 13 November 2020. We got our hands on the previously announced demo ahead of time, so here’s our impressions of the sampler!

WALTZ

You have three basic buttons: L1, R1, and O. You don’t need to worry about the button positions; just so long you hit the right command, the appropriate enemy in the lane will get hit. It’s more about worrying how many buttons you will need to hit simultaneously: if there are two enemies, then you’ll need to hit two buttons at one go.

As you might’ve seen in gameplay trailers, you will also need to go airborne at certain points. On the PS4, you hit X to jump, the timing of which will be indicated by coloured arrows on the ground. You will also be able to collect music notes for more points when you hold X to glide. You will still need to attack normal enemies, however, so stay on those toes!

TANGO

With two persons, it’s much easier than regular mode as you and your buddy will only control one character each. In the demo, it also seems to be far more forgiving, as you heal up often even on Proud difficulty. It’ll be a test of your synchronization as you can knock enemies into your friend’s path or vice versa, requiring you to react appropriately.

You’ll find songs from the first Kingdom Hearts game, Birth by Sleep and Birthy by Sleep 0.2. There are two separate songs for co-op mode too.

LAST MEASURE

As you would expect from a rhythm game, you need to keep to the music. The visuals can be especially distracting, and you’d probably be better off getting used to missing notes and not panicking and jumping into enemies.

Because of that, it might be a little overwhelming for some players due to how many things you need to keep track of: jumping, getting items, hitting multiple enemies, as well as multi-hit enemies. That’s not even forgetting all busy visuals on the screen which you get plenty of even on Normal difficulty. While you do need to defeat the enemies in your way, the feedback from chaining enemies also feels strange at points, as though the game doesn’t like it when you hit the same button over and over.

The demo for Melody of Memory is a free one as well as being quite short and missing VS Mode, so your experience might vary. As such, download it for yourself and try it out!