Harmony: The Fall of Reverie | Switch Review

Have you ever wished that you could see into the future and know how your choices would affect yourself and others? If so, DON’T NOD had the same desire and crafted a beautiful narrative journey around the concept. Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is a complex game that allows you to influence your journey by glimpsing what will happen with each step you take. It’s also a wonderful depiction of grief and depression. This story won’t leave my mind for a while.

The Butterfly Effect

You play as Polly, a woman who has returned to her hometown of Atina. Her mother, Ursula, has gone missing, and she’s convinced the mega corporation Mono Konzern (MK) has a hand in her disappearance. MK has Atina and the country of Alma, where Atina is located, in a stranglehold. While digging for info on her mother and MK, she finds a mysterious necklace in a bathtub full of glowing blue liquid. Touching the jewelry immediately sends her to a spiritual realm called Reverie. She quickly learns she is Reverie’s new Oracle, and is tasked with bridging the divide between this realm and Brittle (the human world).

To bring these two realms together, she must use a tool called the Augural to see all of the potential paths she can take. The Augural is made up of nodes that reveal small details about what will happen if you choose that specific scenario, and also lets you know if you’ll be blocking off a certain path by going that route. Some nodes are also tied to Aspirations, the six guardians of Reverie. Selecting certain routes will gain you favor with certain Aspirations, but will also cause you to lose some with others. It adds an extra layer of thought and strategy to the gameplay. It sounds complicated on paper, but it’s easy to master while playing.

Being An Oracle Isn’t Easy

As Polly navigates the different realms and develops her relationships with friends and family, you can practically feel the burden that is placed on her shoulders yourself. You’ll have to choose certain individuals or places over others, and it can cause internal conflict. I fell in love with these characters, and it was difficult to make certain calls. I chose to select the options that felt most in line with my moral character, but you can also choose to either align yourself with a certain Aspiration or choose the opposite decisions that you’d normally make. This is your story to create, and the urge to know how different your narrative would have been if you’d made different choices adds an incredible amount of replay value.

I also have to applaud DON’T NOD for their incredibly sensitive, respectful, yet realistic depictions of grief and depression. Their storytelling prowess from their previous games such as Life is Strange is felt strongly in Harmony: The Fall of Reverie. The story beats that encompassed these themes had me recalling my own grief journey and battles with depression. The game encourages you to take breaks during these segments if you need to, and I would highly recommend this as well. It had me welling up in tears multiple times. Of course, this may not affect you at all. Just be sure to take care of yourself while playing.

Surrounded by Beauty

The visual style of Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is stunning. The anime inspired graphics for the characters really pop, and the cutscenes are absolutely exquisite. They could honestly be made into an animated series; they’re that gorgeous and engaging. The backgrounds don’t catch the eye quite as much, but that’s not to say they’re bad. It’s just hard to compete with the character design and cutscenes, and it feels almost intentional. It draws your eye to what you need to focus on.

Lena Raine’s score is perfect. Each piece is reflective of the scene it punctuates. The music switches between being pensive, sorrowful, joyful, and hopeful with ease. The voice acting is also top-notch. Each character feels real and shows the appropriate amount of emotions for each story beat. My only gripe with the game is the fact that loading times can be lengthy. I often found myself waiting upwards of up to twenty seconds each time I returned to the Augural, which occurs every few minutes. It halts the natural feeling of progression to a degree.

The Final Verdict

I absolutely adored Harmony: The Fall of Reverie. Each choice felt important and heavy, and I’m itching to play through it again. My roughly eight hours with the game had me smiling, laughing, biting my nails, and tearing up. The gameplay mechanics can take a bit to get used to, but they’re rewarding once they click. The fantastic visuals, strong narrative, wonderful score, and excellent voice acting makes this an incredible adventure to dive into. I can’t gush about this title enough. Just be aware of the somewhat long loading times on Nintendo Switch and the potential for emotional distress during some scenes.

To hear me talk more about Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, be sure to listen to the June 21, 2023 episode of the Gaming Outsider podcast around the 50:33 time stamp.

This review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy of Harmony: The Fall of Reverie provided by HomeRun PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on PC via Steam and will be arriving on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on June 22, 2023.