Mentari: Everything We Know

“Your dance can heal the world” is the mantra behind Mentari, and I’m here for it. There’s something beautiful about dance combat, and when executed flawlessly, it can be divine. The early trailer release, though, seems to need a little more polish. Still, there is a special gem hidden in the sneak peeks the devs have revealed. And if the line “you don’t know what it’s like to waste your life for nothing! You don’t know!” doesn’t get you, I don’t know what will. Anyway, as we anticipate the game’s arrival, here’s a look at everything we know about Mentari so far. 

What is Mentari?

Mentari is an upcoming action-adventure game featuring dance combat. It’ll depict a world haunted by The Stillness. Essentially, it is a dark, mysterious force that has made everyone in the world be still. However, your character, a girl, is the exception, as she prances around trying to revive the world. She does so using her special powers that can undo the harm caused by The Stillness. You’ll control the titular heroine as she embarks on a wild adventure, healing NPC characters one by one with her dance. This dance-based combat system will be the core gameplay of Mentari and is shaping up to include several deep combinations and combos.

Story

The story of Mentari will kick off in the lands of Bead Isles. Here, everything and everyone was thriving in a vibrant world. However, a mysterious entity known as The Stillness enveloped the world, freezing everything and everyone. The only person who can withstand the effect of The Stillness is the titular Mentari. She’s a young girl who must embrace a heroine role and save the world. 

She does have extra help, thanks to special powers that enable her to dance and heal the world. Through her dance moves, she can revive people and make the world move again. As the player, your job will be to guide her on her quest to save the world. You’ll explore Bead Isles, healing the NPCs you come across. 

Gameplay

Mentari’s gameplay will center around a unique dance-based combat system through which healing and revival will flow. By dancing, you’ll bring people back to life and restore vibrancy back to the world. Every person you will heal also returns the favor and opens up new paths for you. Plus, you’ll also have hidden secrets to discover in the Bead Isles archipelago. Among the key features you can expect in the final game include:

• Dance-based combat system: It’ll be a unique system where you cannot kill anyone. Rather, through dancing around enemies and unleashing special powers, you can bring healing to the world. The combat system will also include dodging to evade incoming attacks.
• Create your own dance moves: While you’ll only start with a small number of moves, with time, you’ll learn to come up with your own combinations. As you explore the world and master new abilities, you’ll create your own dance moves with hundreds of potential combos you can come up with. 
• By healing others, you’ll help yourself: Healing other stagnant NPCs has its benefits, helping you build new connections and open up more areas in Bead Isles. It’ll be a show of kindness given to others, and they, in return, reward you with new areas to explore.
• Self-discovery: While exploring Bead Isles is part of gameplay, you’ll also be discovering your inner self. You’ll build lasting connections and friendships, resulting in growth not just in the world but also in your character.

Development

Indie Indonesian developer stellarNull and publisher indie.io will be working together to launch Mentari sometime soon. stellarNull has worked on several titles in the past, including Anuchard and Enthrean Radiance. Meanwhile, indie.io offers a creator platform for indie developers to hone their craft. The indie.io collection is ever-growing, with Anuchard being a part of their catalog of games. To date, indie.io has a whopping 100+ games and developers on their platform. 

If Anuchard is anything to go by, then we can expect an engaging gameplay system and a charming world. stellarNull definitely specializes in a unique take on development. Their move to focus on dance and disallow destruction is definitely out of the box. The studio is also known to tap into retro charm from eras like the SNES and Sega Genesis. However, they put their unique spin on the classics to stand out from other developers. 

Trailer

Mentari’s announcement trailer is out now on YouTube. It’s pretty brief in its story and gameplay. The visuals, too, look a little less ideal. Still, the game seems like a cozy exploration of a charming world. You’ll unravel the story via still images and text, which already seem to tackle some pretty deep and relatable issues. 

Meanwhile, the dance-based combat looks exciting. You can see Mentari spin around on a kind of grid-based platform. She switches between multiple moves while dodging away from incoming projectiles. All in all, we hope stellarNull smoothens the rough edges in time for the final launch, as there’s genuinely a potentially great game here.

Release Date, Platforms, & Editions

Unfortunately, we don’t quite have a release date for Mentari just yet. All we know is that the game is “coming soon.” However, the development team is urging you to add it to your wishlist to not only get a notification when it drops but also support the development of the project. PC owners will be happy to know that the upcoming game will be launching on PC via Steam. 

It’s currently unclear whether there will be any console ports in the future. As for the editions, it’s still way too early to tell whether there’ll be any available for preorder. For information that is still in the wind, feel free to follow the official social handle here to keep track of new updates.

So, what’s your take? Will you be grabbing a copy of Mentari when it drops? Let us know over on our socials here.