Harmony: The Fall of Reverie

Don't Nod are already a prominent force in the narrative adventure video game genre. Their track record includes visually stunning and deeply emotional immersive experiences that many gamers have kept close to their hearts, such as Tell me Why or the widely acclaimed Life is Strange. The French indie developer continues this trend with the release of Harmony: The Fall of Reverie, a vibrant and colourful visual novel that offers the player the option to shape their own destiny through making meaningful choices, resulting in various endings.

The story unfolds in a very near future as Polly returns to her hometown, Atina, following her mom's disappearance. She quickly realizes that things are not how she remembers them to be, since the megacorporation MK is slowly tightening its grip on their community. She also stumbles upon another realm, Reverie, and discovers that she's the Oracle designed to save both worlds and decide everyone's fates by choosing who will rule next among the six Aspirations who live there: Bliss, Power, Bond, Truth, Chaos and Glory. Aspirations are godlike beings that inhabit Reverie and influence people's dreams and hopes, each in their own unique way (exactly as their names suggest).

In order to help both worlds, Polly (or Harmony, as the Aspirations call her) has the aid of the Augural, a clairvoyant ability that helps her see the different paths that await her in the future, should she make certain choices. The Augural presents itself as an intricate tree composed by nodes that enable the player to see the connections between them and decide the direction in which to lead the conversations so as to reach their desired outcomes. It seems pretty simple, but the truth is that there are some nodes that disappear forever once you choose to follow a certain path, others that you need to unlock by obtaining enough currency of one specific Aspiration, or some that you will be forced to play and can cause you to deviate from your desired path.

Even though it may seem confusing at first, the game provides various tools in order to help the player grasp every concept quickly and be able to plunge head-first into the story. Firstly, there's the Codex, a comprehensive encyclopaedia with detailed information on every character, place and mythological aspect of the story. This Codex is a fantastic world-building tool and will be highly appealing for those who appreciate the lore-oriented sides of narrative adventures. Secondly, there's a very simple tutorial that introduces the player into the Augural gameplay, gradually revealing the different kinds of available nodes and the way that the decisions interconnect.

While this is a purely narrative adventure based on reading dialogues and detailed, sensory descriptions of the events in text boxes, the Augural allows for more freedom and involves the player directly in the story, creating an engaging gameplay that keeps you on your toes and maintains your attention. There are different routes to choose from depending on the Aspiration that you decide to follow, and each one of them is unlocked by accumulating enough of the required currency, which then is stored in an additional maze-like interface that allows you to keep track of your choices. In a way that feels kind of reminiscent of the classic mobile dating sims, you will be able to unlock the different endings depending on the Aspiration route you have selected.

However, I would suggest that despite the game's encouragement to either choose the Aspiration that you like or explore different possibilities, it's best to select one route and stick to it as best as possible in order to ensure that you reach the needed amount of currency that's necessary to unlock the ending that you want. Personally, I've played four different routes to test the impact of the choices (more on that later): Bliss, Glory, Bond and a fourth route that resulted from not acquiring enough currency with anyone. While this ending is also nice and fun to read about, it can feel disappointing to miss out on the one that you truly wanted just because in some chapters you tried to unveil interesting bits of the story instead of consistently following choices that would lead you to obtain your desired currency. So, unless you don't really care about the outcome, I recommend choosing an Aspiration and following their desires throughout the story.

Regarding the choices, at first they felt somewhat meaningless, like the game relied too heavily on clairvoyance as a narrative device. It can feel odd when the options are "tell your sister she's right" or "tell her she's wrong" and then the main character concludes that "her power is affecting her relationships", when really, it's a normal conversation that they would need to have regardless of Polly's ability to see the future. The main events and revelations in the game also don't seem to change even when choosing completely opposite routes: somehow, the results always seem to be fairly similar, sometimes even with repeated dialogues in two different paths. However, certain routes allow the player to delve deeper into some of Polly's relationships and understand better her bonds with specific characters. As the game progresses, the routes start to diverge more noticeably, and in the final chapters the ending outcomes do vary significantly depending on the chosen Aspiration. Some parts of the narrative can feel a bit weak, though, due to inconsistencies or instances when the plot would make more sense in some routes compared to others.

It's important to highlight the striking character design and the stunningly vibrant art style, which results of an innovative combination of sci-fi features, and a colourful dream-like aesthetic infused with the timeless charm of a Mediterranean town. Each character has their own distinct personality, brought to life by their 2D animated figures and exceptional voice acting, which I must say is one of the game's standout features. The beautifully fluid animations of the characters and the wonderful animated cutscenes that are presented at some points of the story add a really nice touch to an otherwise 2D adventure.

Most importantly, this is an emotionally charged tale on grief, which deeply explores heavy topics such as loss, gender and sexual identity or depression, all through an incredibly soulful and sensitive lens. Without giving away any spoilers, the use of the Augural interface to accurately represent a depressive episode is remarkably original and heartfelt. It can be triggering to some players, but the game does include a trigger warning at the beginning. It also presents a rich representation of race, gender identity and sexual orientation, and explores modern topics such as the damaging impact of capitalism, open relationships or use of alternative pronouns. Above all, it's a found family story that emphasizes on the importance of a sense of community.

However, one of the main shortcomings of this game is the absence of features that facilitate replays. It's only natural that after reaching one ending, the player will be interested in unlocking the rest or uncovering all of the secrets that may have been lost in the blocked paths. Unfortunately, there's no option to skip the tutorials or the nodes that have already been played. Therefore, you will have to repeat most of the scenarios and conversations, which can become tiresome and repetitive, especially when seeking to follow a different route immediately after finishing your previous playthrough.