Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory from 2020 is a rhythm game that celebrates the series' fifteenth anniversary and both recaps and reminds players of its long, convoluted story through dozens of rearranged tracks from its famous soundtrack by composer Yoko Shimomura. Instead of exploring worlds and battling the Heartless, the player here reacts to notes flowing along a track in the style of Sora and his companions, while short cutscenes and text passages play in the background, recapping key moments from the very first installment in 2002 all the way to the most recent spin-offs and mobile titles released shortly before it, including characters that the average player of the main series would barely remember.

The game was released practically simultaneously on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch with completely identical content, track list, and story scenes - none of the versions offers exclusive content, only minor differences in performance or the option to control certain passages with motion controls thanks to the gyroscope on Switch, which players who prefer gaming on the go will appreciate. Alongside the standard rhythm mode, which requires precise timing of button presses in line with a track's rhythm and distinguishes several difficulty levels from easiest to expert, the game also offers a simpler mode built around an almost automatic rhythm for players who mainly want to follow the story and enjoy the soundtrack without pressure on their reflexes, plus competitive online battles and cooperative passages, in which players around the world compare scores on the same tracks and difficulties. Besides tracks from the series itself, the game also features arrangements of music from other Square Enix titles, which appear in the story as guest worlds.

Why play it: Melody of Memory will especially appeal to longtime Kingdom Hearts fans who want a pleasant reminder of the fifteen-year saga through its beloved soundtrack, as well as casual rhythm-game players who never got into Kingdom Hearts because of its notoriously convoluted mythology.