Thank you Visual Arts for sending us this visual novel to review!

Visual Arts/Key has made some of the most memorable visual novels (VNs) I've ever read. While they are more well known for their major ones with choices and routes like CLANNAD and Little Busters!, they have released several kinetic visual novels, which read more like a book or movie. These have no choices but still offer words, voices, visuals, and music. Harmonia was Key's second kinetic VN, and the final project worked on by one of the founders, Itaru Hinoue. It was also the only Key VN released in the West first before Japan to date. Despite this, all of the voice acting in both existing versions of Harmonia feature Japanese voice acting, with no other voiced language available.

2024 represents Key's 25th anniversary, and Harmonia Full HD Edition is their first release of this year. Harmonia was originally released in 2016, and this update increases the quality of all of the art quite substantially, from 720p or thereabouts to a full 1920x1080 resolution. There is also an all-new voice for the protagonist, which I found quite an improvement for some scenes, since he was silent before. Controller support has also been added. One thing not mentioned in their promotional material is that I noticed some tweaks to the script as well. I read through the entirety of Harmonia Full HD Edition, then did a quick skim through the original release, which is still on Steam, and picked up one notable change: 'powapowa' was retranslated as 'fluffy'. Powapowa is a Japanese onomatopoeia, or a phonetic word that sounds like a noise or sound effect. Some English readers were confused by this in the original version, so this was changed for this remake.

In Harmonia, you primarily see the world through the eyes of a robotic teen boy normally capable of emotions, called a Phiroid. He wakes up in a strange factory, seeing only robotic parts strewn about. He leaves the building only to find a world in terrible condition, with constant wind, ash, and dry land everywhere. Seeking out the nearest group of people he can find, he walks as far as he can before he finally collapses. He is brought to a nearby church by Shiona, a girl who discovers him lying in the road. Since he has lost all of his memories, Shiona gives him the name Rei. They live together in the church as he discovers himself, remembers how to feel emotions again, and ventures to get to know the rest of the people in the town he finds himself in.

It's quickly revealed that Rei has a good heart, as it's not long before he takes it upon himself to help the people who saved him from likely death, and he solves many problems. I don't want to get too much farther into the story as it's only around five-hours long, but the character growth of Rei and those around him is quite heartwarming. There are several scenes with a strong emotional pull, which is as you expect from a Key title. I had to hold back manly tears as one does.

The story itself is really well written. I have generally been pretty happy with Key's localizations, and Harmonia didn't disappoint me. With that said, I can speak less to the original Harmonia release, since I mostly played the Full HD Edition. As I mentioned before, there were at least some changes to the script, though I don't know how many.

I played through Harmonia Full HD Edition on my large 42" 4K IPS monitor that tends to expose every stray pixel and I have to say the art in this game, especially the character portraits, are stunning. It's anime style, which I suppose some might not prefer, but I enjoy it. Each portrait also looks hand drawn, with lots of pencil marks to accentuate details. It's hard to overemphasize how good the artistry looks. In comparison to the original Harmonia, the resolution and clarity is greatly improved, especially on my large, high-clarity monitor.

What I found interesting is that I compared the art directly between the original and Full HD version, and I have to say first that the original also looks great on smaller screens. When I compared them on my laptop's 15" 1080p screen, the original art still seems quite crisp, but with shifting diagonal pencil marks on each character sprite. What I mean is that the original Harmonia had some kind of filter over the screen, showing a pencil stroke effect over the characters in each frame that moves about once a second. That effect is neat but inconsistent, because scenes where the characters are drawn into the background don't act like this, only when a portrait is present over a more generic background. You also don't see this effect when viewing the art in the Gallery. The Full HD Edition removes the pencil mark filter, so the art is always consistent between background and foreground characters. A few of the images, those with smaller characters in a scene, really benefit from the Full HD treatment. While I do like and miss the pencil line effect in the original Harmonia, I think overall the Full HD Edition's treatment of the art, with the higher resolution and detail along with a more consistent presentation is better overall.

The music and voice acting is just lovely all around. Each voice is distinct and sounds great; I found myself moved by the beautiful music and charmed by how the characters are represented vocally. Despite not being in English, it would be an absolute crime to not listen to the Japanese voices in Harmonia. I will say that while Rei has relatively less lines than the other main characters, the all-new lines are performed well and sound like they were always there. A few of them in particular really help add gravity to the situation the cast finds themselves in. You might expect a story with a title like Harmonia to sound great, and it doesn't disappoint.

Morally, Harmonia is one of the cleaner visual novels I can recall, and this might be an excellent introduction to Key's style of work for many readers. Even still, it's not for young kids, as the setting eventually lets on to how dark the world is, with blood and death present. The main cast does not kill anyone though, and avoids doing so when the opportunity presents itself. As for the rest, I noted a curse word use of 'h*ll' and I think 'd*mn' but I'm not 100% sure on that one. There is a scene where a female opens her dress from the center and you can see a center view with breasts visible but no nipples. The in-game reason for this is not in any way sexual, but more medical. Nevertheless it is shown prominently on-screen for this section.

On the flip side, I am very pleased how this game deals with Christianity specifically. The person who lives in the church prays the Our Father more than once throughout the story, and there is a funeral service that is handled in a Christian way, with mention of God's Son and Heaven. The only fault of sorts is that there is no male pastor, but what can you do? Overall I feel that the representation of Christianity is positive overall and I am pleased with it.

I found that from a technical perspective on PC, it works great with a controller or keyboard and mouse. It also works just fine in Linux and on the Steam Deck. I experienced no glitches or crashes in my playthrough.

Harmonia Full HD Edition is a welcome remake of a Visual Arts/Key classic. While I never did get around to reading the original until this opportunity to review it came around, I'm glad that I finally did. It's a charming, lovely story with memorable characters, great music, art, and stellar voice acting. I will say that it is relatively short at around five hours, and some readers may prefer Key's other works, and I can understand that. Harmonia has a relatively positive conclusion, and lacks a supernatural 'save the day' that some of their other VNs rely on, which I consider a plus for Harmonia. If you are interested in visual novels, or curious about why Key is held in such high regard, Harmonia is a great entryway to check it all out. If you like your stories short and sweet, I can easily recommend Harmonia Full HD Edition.