Concord: The Fall of Reverie Assessment (PS5)

On paper, Life Is Unusual developer Do not Nod pivoting to the visible novel style is smart given its penchant for twisting, choice-based narratives. In observe, Concord: The Fall of Reverie is an underwhelming first foray into the house, missing the world-building needed to really promote a narrative advised virtually totally by phrases, that includes selections that evoke little greater than a shrug.

The story begins with Polly returning to her house city within the wake of the disappearance of her mom. Whereas in search of clues, Polly finds a magical necklace amongst mum’s possessions, and upon touching it she’s spirited away to the fantastical land of Reverie, which is inhabited by personifications of human aspirations, corresponding to Energy, Glory, and Reality. Polly — or Concord, as she’s recognized in Reverie — is maybe key to saving each realities, and the one being able to bringing the disparate aspirations collectively.

It is a visible novel by and thru, and you may spend most of your time listening to characters speak over static backgrounds till you are given a call to make. The paintings is usually stunning, with hanging locales and character designs, and the voice work is okay all through, complemented by a sparse however nice soundtrack.

You are rapidly launched to a mechanic wherein Polly can kinda see the long run, with the story laid out earlier than you within the type of a circulate chart, just like ones seen in Detroit: Develop into Human or Zero Escape: Advantage’s Final Reward, though some nodes on the chart are hidden till you progress additional by the story. It is useful, but it surely leaves the sport feeling extra such as you’re merely working in the direction of a selected objective than organically shaping a world by heartfelt, sincere determination making.

One other double-edged sword is the brevity of the sport. Whereas we might argue that a whole lot of visible novels pad out the operating time and get somewhat lengthy within the tooth, the eight hours we spent with Concord weren’t sufficient to successfully flesh out the world or the characters. That mentioned, the story strikes at brisk tempo, and we by no means discovered ourselves bored even when we had been generally somewhat confused.