• Challenging but forgiving rhythm game.
  
• Simple and elegant design of aesthetic and play.
  
• A lot of options to provide for your computer, eyes, and skill level.
  
• Cool action hero moves.
  
• No losing, just degrees of success.

The game play is as straightforward as you would expect from a rhythm game; hit the buttons indicated at just the right time as your character walks, or runs, or flies into them. However, a lot of beautiful UI decisions make it just a relaxing experience to do anything at all with and there are some very neat extra features.

The calibration and other tools in the menus are easy to find and use. There are instructions in the menu, but the game never insists you look at them unless you want to.

You can, if you wish, customise your Melody's outfit and hair from a few standard options, or player made aesthetic mods available on the Workshop which give you more dress-up options if you want them. All the areas of the menu are backed by a hypnotic, soothing visual of soft circles fading and floating and the main menu music is groovy if you want to listen to it and can be readily turned off if you don't. Overall the aesthetics are simple, elegant and minimalist. It works.

Difficulty ranges from "Relaxing" with gentle standards for timing and very little messing around between different buttons, to "Overload" with two different sets of buttons which you have to pair together when facing some obstacles, and exacting standards of precision. Each new difficulty mode is a substantial step up in challenge from the last one and you can earn all the achievements without touching the highest one, it's never demanded of you, just available as a challenge if you want it - which is nice.

As another exceptionally convenient option, you can also customise your own difficulty level, picking and choosing between levels of strictness on timing, the number and complexity of inputs to hit and how much time it takes to spawn in after falling down. If you like, you can also set the display to be zoomed out and see further in front of you, or zoomed in to see Melody and her immediate concerns more closely, from the General Options menu.

The simple animations work very well; It feels rewarding and cool to hit strings of perfects in a jogging beat, and watch Melody soaring from one ledge to the next and sliding across and under barriers to the rhythm, without being distracting. It's also kind of hilarious watching her fall off edges and get hit in the face after missing an obstacle note and she spawns in again through a portal after a few seconds, making mistakes amusing and not all that stressful... Unless you're trying to get a Perfect Chain: Hit every single target in the song and when you touch the last note, your score bar will turn gold with a rewarding chime.

When I originally left my review at ten songs played, I found Medium difficulty challenging but not punishing.

Having now completed all the achievements, I mostly play comfortably on Intense and have started to dabble in Overload on some easier songs. 75 hours and I'm still having fun with the game. It has my hearty recommendation.