Little Mermaid's Tide Chorus
Sing the sea. Trade the voice. Rise.
The game loads when you press play.
- Free
- No ads
- No account needed
- No install — plays in your browser
About the game
A five-act rhythm game after Hans Christian Andersen. In the first two acts every note you hit IS her song; in the third it is taken from you note by note; in the fourth there is no melody at all; in the fifth a different voice returns.
An original rhythm game built from Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 tale, in which a mermaid trades her voice for a chance at a life above the water. Four lanes, three note types, and one idea that makes the whole title: the chart is not laid over a backing track, the chart IS the melody. Hit the notes and Maren sings; miss one and the song has a hole in it exactly where you missed. Act 3 removes her voice from the mix note by note until the act ends in near-silence. Act 4 has no melodic tone at all - only footfall and fabric over a backing that carries on without her. Act 5 returns the voice an octave up on a choral timbre: not the same voice, a new one. Judgement windows are roughly double a console rhythm game's and a calibration screen measures the panel's own latency on first launch, because seatback touch hardware answers late. Score is notes hit and nothing else. Includes a full chart editor. Every visual element is traced to a line of Andersen's text and recorded in SOURCE_NOTES.md; nothing derives from any film adaptation.
How to play
- Four lanes. Pearls fall toward the line at the bottom. Tap the lane a pearl is in at the moment it reaches the line.
- Hold. A pearl trailing a ribbon of light must be held down, and released when the ribbon ends.
- Rise. A bubble must be tapped and then carried upward with your finger, to the surface.
- You are singing. Every pearl you hit is a note of Maren’s song. Miss one and the song has a hole in it. There is no backing track to hide behind.
- Three pearls. Missed notes dull the pearl you are on. Lose all three and the act ends.
- Score is notes hit. Nothing else. Perfect, Good and Late change how the note sounds, never what it is worth.
Controls
| Touch | Tap a lane as its pearl reaches the line, keep your finger down for a ribbon, and drag a bubble upward. |
|---|---|
| Mouse | Click a lane as its pearl reaches the line, hold the button for a ribbon, and drag a bubble upward. |
| Keyboard | D, F, J and K, or the Left, Down, Up and Right arrows, play the four lanes from left to right; hold a key for a ribbon. Esc goes back. |
| Gamepad | The four face buttons and the d-pad each map to a lane, left to right. A confirms, B goes back, Start pauses. Hold a lane button for a ribbon note; push the stick up to carry a bubble. |
