Review Rotaeno: A New Spin on Mobile Rhythm Games

Hey gamers. I referenced a few weeks back that I might review a game, so let's review it, shall we?

Rotaeno is a new mobile rhythm game that was released on May 29, 2022. It is available for $2.99 USD on the App Store and Google Play Store. The main gimmick of Rotaeno is that you rotate your device to hit the notes- hence the name Rotaeno.

Spoiler: Game Mechanics

The playing field for all charts is a large circle where notes come from any direction (similar to another mobile rhythm game called Lanota). There is a small section in the center of the left and right side of the playing field called the Catch Area. This is where you are supposed to hit the notes.
There are 5 types of notes in Rotaeno:

• Tap notes (blue circles): tap them when they reach the Catch Area.
• Slide notes (yellow diamonds): hold down where they are approaching the Catch Area.
• Flick notes (purple circles with lines through the center): flick in any direction. Only in higher difficulty charts.
• Catch notes (small red circles): rotate the device so that they align with the Catch Area. These do not have to be tapped.
• Rotate notes (red or blue arrows surrounding the playing field): rotate the device in the direction the arrows point; red rotates clockwise, and blue rotates counter-clockwise.

(The gameplay will be able to show this better than trying to describe it.)

Judgement of notes is fairly lenient in Rotaeno: there are Perfect+, Perfect, Good, and Miss. Only a Miss can break a combo. I don't know the exact timing windows for the notes though.

Spoiler: Gameplay

Let's watch me play some Rotaeno! I have in-game tap sounds on, and I have taps showing on this screen recording. (Slight flash/motion warning!)

Spoiler: Difficulty

Each song has 4 difficulties: I, II, III, and IV. The easiest is I, and they progressively get more complex with higher difficulties. In III and IV charts, Flick notes are introduced, as well as overlapping notes (Catch notes will overlap with Tap, Slide, or Flick notes, forcing you to perform the main note's function while aligning with the Catch Area).

Spoiler: Songs

As of this post, there are 52 songs in Rotaeno. Similar to other mobile rhythm games like Arcaea, songs are divided into packs which can be purchased. The main pack (the free one) consists of 25 songs, and there are 4 other packs consisting of 5 to 6 songs. The other packs are purchased with a paid currency called Stellar Gems. There were a few songs available for free for a limited time, but I don't know if this will be a reoccurring phenomenon.

As for the songs themselves, I think it's a fairly decent collection so far. Obviously since it's still a fairly new game, we won't be having big-name rhythm game artists like Camellia or t+pazolite any time soon, but I have heard of some of the songs/artists before. Some of the artists so far included that I have heard of from other rhythm games are HyuN (there are a LOT of HyuN songs in this game- almost a third are from him), SOTUI, MYUKKE., Sound Souler, HeavenEGHD, and others. There are a few infamous rhythm game songs- "PUPA" by Morimori Atsushi, "Infinity Heaven" by HyuN, and "CROSS SOUL" by HyuN feat. Syepias.

Some of my favorite songs are "Witches' Party" by Kirara Magic feat. Shiroroll, "Reverie" by Soba, "Anthem" by Silaver & SOTUI, and "KING" by Kanaria. These are pretty much the only charts I play!

Spoiler: Story Mode

As of this post, there is only one chapter of the story. The devs are working on chapter 2 though. In Story Mode, you unlock stepping stones by holding down on the one you want to unlock. Each stepping stone must be unlocked with the correct amount of miles, which are obtained by playing any chart in any difficulty. You can unlock new songs or excerpts from the story.

The main plot is that this planet, Aquaria, has been trapped in eternal rain for the past 10 years. The two main characters are Ilot (the girl with white hair) and Hoppe (the girl with dark hair), and they are friends. Hoppe sets out to discover why their planet has been raining, but she must leave Ilot in order to travel to other planets. Hoppe is Ilot's only friend and she does not want to be left behind, so she tries her best to find Hoppe after she has left Aquaria. (This is the extent of the story so far; again, there is only one chapter as of this post.)

These are the main important things of Rotaeno that I'd like to talk about, so finally I will give my thoughts on the game.

I was a bit hesitant to buy it at first (I don't like to spend on mobile games that much) but it was definitely worth it. It's a really unique concept, and, reiterating something I saw written in the comments of a video about Rotaeno, it's one of the few mobile rhythm games that's designed with phone players in mind. Often there's debate between tablet and phone players for mobile rhythm games for which is better. Think of pretty much any other mobile rhythm game, and it's pretty much bound to be easier to play on a tablet. (Dynamix comes to mind- I can't imagine trying to play a Giga chart on a tiny phone.) Rotaeno has the niche of being better for use on phones, because it is easier to rotate the device and still play. (That said, there is an option in the settings that allows you to play on a flat surface for tablet players, but I tried it out and it's hard to rotate your device while it's sitting flat on a table and still hit the notes.)

I have high hopes for Rotaeno, regarding both the story and the song selection. I'll be honest, I don't care too much about rhythm game story lore, but I still find it interesting to read. And while I might not be the most invested with the story right now, I still want to know if Ilot and Hoppe will be reunited. With the new chapters that come in the future, I hope they will keep adding in free songs to the story pack. I hope to see the day that we get a big-name artist into the game, or a collaboration with another rhythm game. (Personally I think they should collab with Lanota since both of them involve circular playing fields, but we'll see.)

As for the critiques, I don't have too many, and they're minor. The Catch notes are very tricky to land in the Catch Area, so I wish they made the Catch Area a little bit bigger to avoid this problem. There are also problems with frame drops (I think that's what they are called?) when trying to hit large chains of Catch notes. This might just be an Android problem (I play on an Android phone), but this is still an issue. It's especially prone to happening when I try to screen-record, so trying to get any gameplay of me was especially tricky because I had to hope it wouldn't do it to me.

Spoiler: Frame drop (?)

I just happened to catch it on camera this time. Let me know if this is actually called a frame drop

I think that's all I have to say. Great game so far, and it can only get better from here!