14 DAY TRIAL // The fine folks at Don’t Nod are trying once again to enchant us with a riveting story that involves the fate of two fantastical worlds. Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is the next project belonging to the same studio that gave us the amazing Life is Strange series. Although the tone and narrative seem to be just a solid, at least from the first few hours of the game, Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is a very different game than any of the Life is Strange titles.
In Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, players take on the role of Polly, a young woman estranged from her mother. Forced to return home after her mother disappears, Polly soon finds herself in the center of a strange conflict between two very different worlds.
Unexpectedly transported to Reverie, a world inhabited by so-called Aspirations, Polly must do the one thing that she probably hates the most: try to find her mother. The fate of two worlds depends on the outcome of Polly’s mission, so every choice you make along the way will lead her one step closer to deliverance or total annihilation.
The Aspirations take the form of emotions and other spiritual concepts like Bliss, Power, Glory, Truth, and Bond. These are immortal beings that can travel to the material world but can only intervene through dreams and inspiration. It goes even deeper than this as humanity’s action produce a special liquid that it vital to Aspirations’ existence.
Every once in a while, a human is chosen to walk the path of the Oracle. Polly is one of the few humans that can travel between worlds, as well as hear and talk to the Aspirations both in the material and Reverie worlds.
It’s an interesting concept that I’m sure it’s been done before, if not in games, then perhaps in cinematography. Progression happens on a chart-like map called the Augural, where you can see the nodes you need to open and their requirements. To save both worlds, Polly must find her mother and discover what’s her involvement in the imminent demise of Reverie and Brittle.
All the investigative work is done through Augural’s flowchart, which offers Polly multiple paths, each tied to an Aspirations. Some nodes require a high number of crystals that belong to a certain Aspiration, so you’ll have to make decisions based on what Aspiration you decided to support from the beginning of the chapter.
Once Polly chooses a path, the other becomes unavailable, so there’s some replayability involved if the outcomes are different enough to worth another playthrough. However, you won’t be spending too much time looking at the flowchart because Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is a visual novel, so there will be a lot of reading involved.
Luckily, the game is voice-acted, so apart from Polly’s thoughts, you’ll be hearing everything that the characters tell each other. Also, the visuals are nothing like what Don’t Nod has been done before, which is quite refreshing to see.
Conclusion
There are a lot of things that I enjoyed while playing Harmony: The Fall of Reverie. The story is captivating and emotional at the same time, the visuals and voice acting are great, and the writing seems very strong from the first few hours. I’ve been once again bewitched by the setting created by Don’t Nod and can’t wait to unravel the mysteries of the Reverie.
Preview key was provided by the publisher.
