Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is a story rich visual novel about the fate of humanity developed and published by DON’T NOD. You play as Polly, a young woman who has returned home in the wake of tragedy. It turns out her mother Ursula has gone missing and upon returning home some weird occurrences happen. You suddenly find yourself in a different dimension with these beings called Aspirations who call you, Harmony, and they tell you that you must save their world and yours. It is now your job to use your newfound powers of clairvoyance to see into the future and stop an apocalypse that threatens the very balance between your realm and a realm of deities. Will you be the savior that these worlds need, or will you simply crumble under the pressure?
When you start the game, a brief cutscene plays of Polly returning home. You see beautiful images and scenery of the city that you find yourself in. Once home, you are taken on a tour of the place and told a little of the backstory leading up to now. Your mother Ursula went missing and things started to fall apart and become dull ever since. While venturing through the house, Polly hears a noise coming from her mother’s room. Upon investigation, a necklace glows and lifts off the table flying to you before diving into a tub full of water you dive in after. Then just like that you find yourself in another dimension entirely, a place called Reverie. Here you met Bliss an Aspiration which are incarnations of human desire and intelligence. Bliss tells you that here instead of Polly you are known as Harmony, the link between Reverie and Brittle, which is the human realm.
Your purpose is to save Reverie and Brittle from being destroyed, the heart of Reverie is weak, and the Aspirations believe it has to do with your mother’s disappearance. Through your newfound powers of clairvoyance, you must see paths into the future and save your world and the realm of deities. Right off the bat this is a very story rich game within depth worldbuilding and unique characters brimming with personality. You have a Codex that logs important information as you go so you don’t miss anyone or forget stuff along the way. This is helpful when there is so much thrown at you so quickly. The Augural is basically an interactive decision tree where you can see into the future to make the choices you need to get to the goal you desire. This is an interesting mechanic that allows you to have more control over the story you want to uncover. The story is broken up in the Augural by Acts and Chapters. Chapters are within acts and Acts lead to different outcomes depending on your choices. Each chapter also has different objectives based on certain crystals you obtain from choices. Overall this is an amazingly written visual novel brimming with story and beautiful scenery.
There are some things to note for people interested in the game – this game is perfect if you enjoy a good visual novel but there are a few differences to keep in mind. There is a bit more strategy to this visual novel as you can plan out the choices you can make. This can greatly influence the choices you decide, meaning that you might be influenced to make a choice even if it isn’t one you would normally make if it weren’t for the objective. At the same time however it also gives you much more control over the overall story you wish to play through. I am the kind of person that enjoys the little bit of mystery that comes with different choices in visual novels, so far this one does have a good balance because even though you can see into the future there are still always things hidden that you cannot see. Overall, it’s up to the player to decide if this mechanic is one they enjoy or not.
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is a visual novel with an interesting mechanic that allows you to plan your choices ahead to get the outcome you want. The worldbuilding and story in this game is amazingly written, the text paints a beautiful image paired along with the equally beautiful artstyle. There is a lot to learn and discover in this game and it’s all recorded in the codex so you can keep track of it all easier. The mechanic of clairvoyance that allows you to see into the decision tree is very interesting. I wonder how much it will influence the choices made in the end. Overall, this is a very well-made visual novel that you can tell a lot of effort was put into. I can’t wait to see what changes in the full release.
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is developed and published by DON’T NOD and will be available on June 8 on PC (Steam) and Nintendo Switch and on June 22 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The game is available to wishlist right now via Steam.
Related: Reviews by Brianna Keller
I enjoy a wide variety of games from intricate survival/adventure games to simple platformers. I am also a sucker for a good story game.
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