Himno – The Silent Melody by David Moralejo Sánchez
Himno – The Silent Melody is an action Rogue-lite platformer with an atmospheric aesthetic and a focus on resource gathering for its progression system. Expanding on developer David Moralejo Sánchez’s earlier title, simply named Himno, The Silent Melody sets out to build on the solid platforming foundations established in its predecessor.
Lights in the Darkness
Where Himno was a game about non-combat platforming through a procedurally generated world, Himno – The Silent Melody brings enemies, resource gathering, an array of weapons, bosses, and more to the mix. The story revolves around the protagonist, Fash, rebuilding a fallen world and cleansing it of corruption. The interplay between this concept and the visual design of the game is engaging, with neon pinks and greens showing the corruption and purified elements respectively.
The Silent Melody plays off of its mysterious setting perhaps too effectively as the game opens; it’s easy to feel lost in its dark and alien world. With a little exploration, however, the game’s patterns begin to reveal themselves. Fash operates out of a home area and launches into forays into the many regions of the corrupted world from there.
Each run provides access to various harvestable resources in addition to equipment that can be used to ease the next run. Anyone who has played Terraria may find the design philosophy familiar, here as the 2D environment yields some of its resources in similar ways.
Exploration is generally an enjoyable process and the platforming is well-conceived. I tried the game both on keyboard and gamepad; it’s perhaps unsurprising to note that the latter is better suited to the platforming antics here.
Swordplay and Smithing
Combat varies dramatically based on the weapons you choose to wield. The basic sword attack is a short-range but reliable slash that sends out a pulse to slice through nearby enemies. Numerous other options become available with crafting, however, from boomerangs to bows and even explosives that destroy parts of the environment. These will all become crucial as the difficulty quickly ramps up; the first boss easily put an end to my explorations on our first encounter.
Speaking of crafting, the game has a strong system built around various kinds of crafting tables that can be found in the world and brought back to the home area. These can then be used to create anything from weapons to potions. Bringing resources such as these home can be done either by finding relatively rare doorways or by using a unique storage device that allows a limited number of items to be preserved through death and gathered later in the home area. This hub can also be customized using building tools to create a personalized sanctuary to retreat to; I thought this was a nice addition
Silent Melodies and Sparse Imagery
The Silent Melody features simple but eye-catching visuals that elegantly represent its various environments and the dangers within. The striking neon pinks, greens, and blues do a great job of separating key features from the subtler backdrops. Each biome, too, has its own unique style that helps to give this melancholic world character. All of this is backed up with a serene and somewhat somber soundtrack.
Himno – The Silent Melody is a well-designed platformer with an impressive level of depth in its many systems, from the crafting mechanics that support its combat to the procedurally generated world and its increasingly threatening occupants. It’s easily worth a look for fans of Rogue-likes or platforming action.
Himno – The Silent Melody is available in Early Access via Steam.
Watch the official trailer for Himno – The Silent Melody below:
