Don’t Nod Entertainment is a company that needs no introduction. Since the release of their first game, Remember Me, back in 2013, the French studio has become known for great thought-provoking narrative-driven adventures that have gone to become massive successes, such as the Life is Strange series. Over time, the company branched out into other genres, such as the action role-playing game genre with 2018’s Vampyr, but it’s still the narrative-driven experience the one where it excels, as the first few hours of Harmony: The Fall of Reverie clearly show.
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is set in the near future when main character Polly returns home to Altina after years away to search for her missing mother. In the years that passed, however, her hometown changed quite a lot, and not for the better, as the megacorporation MK managed to extend its power so much that it has almost complete control of the population, putting the entire community of Altina in danger. The search for Polly’s mother soon turns into something much bigger, as a mysterious pendant found inside her mother’s room connects Polly with the world of Reverie, where the Aspirations of Humanity such as Bliss, Power, and Bond dwell. These Aspirations tell Polly, who represents Harmony, that both Reverie and Brittle, the material world, are in grave danger, and only her actions can save them. The first step will be to recover the missing Aspirations, which have been scattered due to Polly’s mother’s disappearance.
While the overarching story may feel a little too fantastical compared to what the Life is Strange series offer, it’s clear from the very first few hours that Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is a Don’t Nod game through and through, as the bigger tale is masterfully weaved together with a more grounded story and some very relatable themes, such as the excessive power giant companies have in our everyday life, piecemeal families whose members eventually develop bonds stronger than blood, the generational conflict between a mother and her children and so on. The writing and voice acting are also solid, making every little interaction rather enjoyable.
While Harmony: The Fall of Reverie doesn’t seem to offer much in terms of gameplay with its visual novel-styled experience, the game actually gives players plenty of agency and what feels like massive replay value with the Augural system. This system, which is the main progression mechanic in the game, visualizes the future that awaits Polly, giving her and the player a glimpse of what they are about to experience and what their choices may lead to. The multiple nodes on this board represent story events that the player must experience in order to move the story forward.
I was surprised at the complexity of the Augural system and how it makes the game engaging. The board has multiple branching paths, for example, and some of the nodes can only be accessed once a certain amount of Aspiration Crystals have been obtained by choosing specific branching paths. All paths, eventually, lead to the Objective nodes, which determine the end of a chapter. These nodes are also locked behind Aspiration Crystals acquisition, so players will have to plan their path through the Augural to reach the Objective they want to get. Over time, Polly’s preference towards a certain Aspiration, or keeping such preference in balance, will further change the destiny of Altina, and of the world at large.
The Augural really ties the whole Harmony: The Fall of Reverie experience together. It represents Polly’s powers nicely without feeling too gamey while giving players a decent level of agency. It’s also a great way to provide massive replay value without breaking the spirit of the experience, as the boards for each chapter, bar the first few ones, have a lot of branching paths and nodes that lead to very different outcomes. Given how complex some of the boards get in the early game, I’m really looking forward to seeing if more twists await as the story proceeds and Polly gets closer to finding her mother and saving the interconnected worlds of Brittle and Reverie.
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie launches on PC and Nintendo Switch on June 8th, and on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on June 22nd.
