Harmony: The Fall of Reverie Hands-on Impressions
08
Jun 23
How will your story unfold?
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is the newest title by DON'T NOD, the team that has developed the Life is Strange franchise alongside Vampyr, and it has players taking control of Polly. A seemingly common occurrence by her mother turns into a tale far, far more complex.
In this title story-driven adventure, you will be tasked with a quest that isn't so simple — connect the world of humans and deities (named Reverie) to bring back the Aspirations, a pantheon of powerful creatures, and return their influence to the world. But let's back up a second — how did we get to that?
A Seemingly Normal Start
Before universal hijinks occur, the story starts as Polly receives a message from her father figure, Laszlo, about her mother going missing. Our dear protagonist is not a stranger to her mother's antics, and neither is anyone in the family, but Ursula's been gone too long, and everyone's starting to worry.
Polly returns to her home after eight years and sets out on an adventure to find her mother, only to find a necklace that turns those plans upside down. As the necklace begins to hover above the ground and levitate away into the bathroom, she follows it and is transported to a world unlike our own — a world of Aspirations, a world named…
Reverie
Harmony — the Oracle name for Polly in this universe — awakens and is introduced to her role: become the new Oracle that will bring back harmony (hah) to the Aspirations of humanity and balance them out. Will you be a Oracle that finds balance among the seemingly warring deities or favour one and give them the Heart of Reverie, which gives them power over humanity?
With your newfound powers of being an Oracle enhanced by the necklace, you will embark on a narrative adventure with a unique twist — you can see the future and the consequences of your actions. When a path seems to be worse and worst, how will you choose between the two?
A Heartwrenching Tale About Hopelessness
With the power of clarity, you will then need to make decisions that affect both the real world and Reverie, giving power to the various Aspirations as you interact with them and make decisions that favour them. But before you become overzealous, you need to think of the cosmic implications of choosing one too many times, even if it means making a decision that doesn't favour your real life.
This story-rich adventure has you seeing the future and planning ahead — a theme I hadn't experienced before. Play through the story as Polly and experience the way the world unfurls due to your actions, with some affecting several Chapters and Acts down the way. With five Acts to go, will you favour the real world or make decisions that ensure you are following your duties as an Oracle?
Take Advantage of the Augural
Using the future-seeing capabilities, you can peer into the Augural, the branching universe that shows you the consequences of your actions and a unique take on storytelling. This new system allows you to plan ahead and ensure you get the path you want without having to take notes of your adventure and learn what gave you your various endings — you always know how you're affecting the narrative. The only question becomes whether you're doing the right thing.
A second playthrough is pretty much a no-brainer in Harmony: The Fall of Reverie — with the lovable cast of characters that you will interact with, it will be impossible to make a decision between both forever, and the branching narrative only teases you with how the world could have been affected by your actions. The informative Augural gives you every resource you could possibly need to make decisions, and it brings a couple of gameplay elements — like a ticking timer before another character's patience runs dim — to spice up the narrative and make it more gameplay-heavy.
Who Will You Champion?
Ultimately, your goal will boil down to make a decision on who will become the new heart of Reverie and affect humanity moving forward. Will you be able to carry out your duties as an Oracle, bring harmony between all of the Aspirations, or find the task all too difficult? The choice is yours, Harmony.
In verdict, we couldn't recommend playing Harmony: The Fall of Reverie more. DON'T NOD's genre expertise shines throughout the story and uses various clever and new gameplay twists that ensure you are experiencing a new type of "visual novel". From lovable characters, an engulfing narrative, and a unique gameplay experience with the Augural, there is no reason not to recommend this title. You can pick up Harmony: The Fall of Reverie from here.
This is a sponsored campaign in collaboration with DON'T NOD