Don’t Nod are about as removed from being a stranger to story-centric video games as a developer might be. The studio has made their title creating narrative adventures, with their breakthrough title being 2015’s Life is Strange. Since then, the studio has cooked up some fantastic narrative outings like Life is Strange 2, Tell Me Why, and plenty of others.
The newest sport in Don’t Nod’s narrative slate is Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, which was revealed a couple of months again through Nintendo Direct. While definitely a story-first expertise, Harmony: The Fall of Reverie reveals Don’t Nod getting even nearer to their paperback predilections by heading down a visible novel path. Most of Don’t Nod’s titles let followers transfer all through 3D landscapes for investigation and dialog functions, however Harmony: The Fall of Reverie retains issues simple with textual content bins, menus and animated visuals.
This looks as if it might be a straightforward win for Don’t Nod, as the corporate clearly is aware of how you can construct a sport the place story is the driving drive. In that respect, Harmony: The Fall of Reverie greater than will get the job accomplished, as an intricate story is instructed, fueled by participant determination. What’s actually stunning is how that story sadly collapses to a quite baffling diploma in its ultimate act. Acts 1 by way of 4 give greater than sufficient to sink your enamel into, however Act 5 fully fumbles most of what was arrange earlier than it, leaving gamers with an unsatisfying conclusion and an especially bitter style within the mouth.
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie places you within the position of Polly, a younger girl who returns to her childhood residence after being away for years. Polly’s homecoming isn’t a cheerful one, as she’s come again to seek out her lacking mom. Polly’s mother has vanished beneath extraordinarily mysterious circumstances, however these are nothing in comparison with what occurs to Polly simply minutes after her arrival.
Power to the folks
Upon touching a necklace present in her mom’s room, Polly is transported to a fantastical world stuffed with much more outrageous characters. This world is called Reverie, and also you come to seek out it’s populated by aspirations personified. You’ll get to know Chaos, Truth, Bliss, Power and plenty of others as you spend time in Reverie, and it simply so occurs they’re all conscious of your mom as effectively. You’ll quickly be taught that the world of Reverie and Polly’s homeworld are inextricably linked, and the trail to discovering her mom and saving humanity are one in the identical.
The principal gameplay hook in Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is in how the story is instructed, and it’s immediately associated to your selections. As you information Polly by way of the world she knew and the world of Reverie, you’ll be taught of her clairvoyance. Not solely do Polly’s selections immediately impression the story, however she will additionally see how issues will play out forward of time. As the participant, this places you in a really distinctive scenario. You’ll be capable of see a timeline of occasions that showcase the most important story beats through quick descriptions, however you gained’t know the finer factors. With the varied paths laid out forward of you and vital moments highlighted, it’s as much as you to information Polly in a approach that hopefully reunites her together with her mom whereas additionally saving Reverie and her personal world on the similar time.
You may assume that figuring out what’s forward story-wise would make for a quite straightforward journey, however it seems fairly the alternative is true. Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is more than pleased to tantalize and taunt you with story branches within the strikes forward, however not figuring out precisely what occurs to reach at these factors makes for an ever-present unease. Do you select a path irrespective of how unhealthy it appears with a purpose to arrive at a satisfying end result? Do you make selections primarily based on the way you truly really feel, quite than following destiny’s guiding hand? Is there a approach to make use of your information of the long run to make the current higher? You’ll battle with all this whereas working by way of Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, and the burden you bear solely will get heavier with time.
Along the best way, you’ll have a beautiful solid of supporting characters that will help you. Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is stuffed with household, mates, strangers and Aspirations that provide up distinctive personalities, and every of them is expertly written. Polly may have help from her father, sister, and a large number of mates outdated and new, all richly detailed and effectively fleshed-out. In specific, the mom and father figures in Harmony: The Fall of Reverie are standouts, providing a ton of depth and emotional assist/baggage that basically deepens the expertise. Truly, there’s not a single character on this bunch that doesn’t add some heft to the journey, and every is delivered to life by a stellar solid of voice actors.
This Google Maps replace is complicated as hell
The similar might be stated for the sport’s record of Aspirations, which appear arguably tougher to jot down. How do you personify the concepts of Glory or Truth and never have them develop into shallow one-note characterizations? I don’t know what magic Don’t Nod employed right here, however each single Aspiration comes throughout as real and thought-provoking. Once once more, we get one other group of unbelievable voice actors fueling the expertise, and concepts like Bliss and Power are offered as intricate personalities providing excess of their monotonal names may in any other case point out.
This back-and-forth between worlds and characters makes for a narrative that’s multifaceted, and it’s stuffed with twists and turns which can be all the time powerful to deal with. If you’re somebody who dislikes making decisions, particularly when there are heavy outcomes tied to them, then Harmony: The Fall of Reverie goes to be an actual problem. Pretty a lot proper out of the gate, Harmony: The Fall of Reverie may have you determining solutions to some powerful questions, and as you’ll be able to most likely guess, there’s no 100% proper strategy to go. Even when you’ll be able to see the long run and a few constructive outcomes doubtlessly in play, getting there might be equal elements troublesome and heart-wrenching.
While the humanity aspect of issues definitely performs into the story’s ultimate end result, it’s the Aspirations that matter most. There will probably be a number of cases the place conversations with Aspirations will lead to crystals that characterize their personalities. From there, particular story paths and branches will solely be open to you you probably have sufficient of a specific sort of crystal. Want to have a dialog along with your father that would present critical perception into what your mom has been as much as? You may want three Truth crystals, and you’ll solely get these from selecting a number of story paths with Truth. If you don’t have sufficient crystals for the trail you need, there are all the time different branches to take, however you won’t get the solutions you need.
As you journey all through the story, you’ll additionally see decisions which can be locked behind different partitions that don’t have anything to do with Aspiration crystals. Sometimes you’ll have to have a set variety of conversations earlier than a path opens up, and different instances you’ll arrive at a degree that’s perpetually blocked attributable to a choice you made an hour again. Again, the flexibility to see main factors on the timeline of occasions is a fully essential aspect in Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, and it’ll inform your selections in quite a few methods. That stated, it’s not the be all/finish all on the subject of discovering your approach, and as a rule, following your instincts would be the strategy to go.
Blissfully unaware of what is forward
What I’ll say is that you simply’ll have to be ready for some emotionally taxing content material as you’re employed by way of Harmony: The Fall of Reverie. Without a doubt, there’s some heavy stuff mentioned right here, and in plenty of completely different areas. I don’t need to spoil what lies forward in Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, however you’ll see grief, loss, anxiousness, and plenty of different concepts explored in nice element. These gained’t be simply blips in your timeline of occasions both; they’ll as a substitute be main plot factors that drive the grand scheme of issues. There are even instances when a whole chapter will probably be spent on these uncomfortable subjects, so be prepared. Thankfully, proper from the title display screen, Don’t Nod offers gamers a transparent warning that tough subject material awaits.
While Don’t Nod has positively tread rigorously by way of critical subject material of their earlier titles, I don’t assume they’ve ever accomplished higher than in Harmony: The Fall of Reverie. The deft with which they navigate these conditions is extraordinarily spectacular and practical. I do know I felt the burden of those conditions deeply whereas working by way of the story, and there are moments that may stick to me for years to come back. All parts are dealt with with care, respect and dignity, and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a sport handle such a tightrope stroll with this stage of experience.
This multitude of poignant moments are each highlighted and elevated by a fully stunning soundtrack from Lena Raine. Raine has crafted some phenomenal soundtracks in her profession to this point, and that observe document continues with Harmony: The Fall of Reverie. There are loads of tunes that scream out Raine’s unmistakable type, however there are additionally some songs that present her stretching her limbs in contemporary methods. As a serious fan of Raine, it’s actually spectacular to see her making an attempt new issues together with her music and succeed proper out of the gate. There’s not a nasty observe to be present in Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, and something you hear solely serves to boost the expertise and sear moments into your reminiscence.
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie clearly has a lot going for it. A top-notch solid of characters, a narrative stuffed with intrigue and significance, a litany of choices that may have your blood pumping, a soundtrack that calls for to be listened to time and time once more…so what’s there to complain about? As I touched on earlier, all the things was shifting alongside fantastically for almost all of time with the sport, however it’s the ultimate act the place, for me, issues fully fell aside. Honestly, I can’t inform you the final time I made my strategy to the ultimate hours of a sport solely to see it make so many missteps, and it was completely heartbreaking.
I understand how you’re feeling, guys
The finest approach I can put it’s that it looks as if the writing staff knew precisely what they wished to do for the majority of Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, however they’d no concept how you can wrap issues up. Either that, or the ultimate Act was written by a very completely different staff of individuals than Acts 1 by way of 4. I’m not exaggerating after I say that all the things felt fully off from what I skilled within the 8 hours prior. There have been plot holes all over, story payoffs that by no means occurred, what felt like extremely rushed writing, parts which can be left out fully, and pacing that’s noticeably wonky. I actually don’t need to come throughout as extra harsh than constructive right here, however I’m solely making an attempt to specific my true disappointment in how the ultimate Act got here collectively. Being as reduce and dry as I might be, the best way Harmony: The Fall of Reverie ended for me makes me really feel like your complete journey wasn’t price my time, and I really hate saying that.
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is a sport with a number of endings, so there might be one which comes collectively in a greater approach. I did some analysis after the sport’s credit rolled, and I came upon that the ending I obtained is taken into account among the best, if not one of the best end result there’s. Knowing that solely made issues worse, as what I skilled was so unsatisfying it ruined the entire story for me. Again, it’s all from a mix of story beats that make little to no sense or aren’t defined, together with a voice and tempo which can be fully completely different from what I had seen as much as that ultimate Act. Even if there are endings that deal with issues higher, it nonetheless doesn’t excuse how off the mark my ending was.
In a sport the place storytelling is your complete focus, the ultimate Act of Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is about as near unforgivable as issues can get. I want I knew how issues went so off the rails, and the way a number of builders and writers didn’t ship up crimson flags like loopy. A misstep right here or there’s effective, however the concept that complete groups signed off on this route and high quality is mind-boggling.
I’ll all the time be 100% sincere in my opinions, however it by no means brings me any pleasure to pile on the lumps for a developer. Based on Acts 1 by way of 4, Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is a critical achievement in visible novels and storytelling for video games. Including Act 5 fully turns my opinion on its head, and it’s actually arduous for me to advocate the sport. When story is the core of all the things a sport hangs its hat on, seeing issues stumble this fashion makes your complete package deal really feel like a waste of time. Again, there are a number of endings and a few of the others might deal with issues significantly better, however my story led to a approach that introduced issues to a screeching halt. If you do determine to provide Harmony: The Fall of Reverie a go, I sincerely hope you have got a extra satisfying conclusion to your story than I.
