A Reader’s Function argues that Harmony was a misunderstood masterpiece and that its solely flaw was Sony’s advertising for it.
I’m one of many few individuals who purchased and performed the ill-fated Harmony. Having heard little in regards to the sport previous to its launch I stumbled upon it by chance and have become curious after I discovered it was a primary occasion Sony sport with a brand new IP. I’m writing as a result of I really feel the sport has been misunderstood and dismissed, each by the gaming media and the gaming group as an entire.
The explanations for this are multifarious, however primarily it was a colossal failure of promoting on Sony’s half. At first look, Harmony seemed like simply one other hero shooter within the fashion of Overwatch. Nonetheless, these of us who truly performed the sport (all 25,000 of us) found it was a lot greater than that, and finally realised we had an actual gem on our palms.
This may increasingly sound ridiculous to you, however I genuinely imagine that Harmony is among the finest video games I’ve ever performed, and I say that as somebody who has been gaming usually for over 30 years. I usually have little interest in on-line multiplayer video games; nevertheless Harmony drew me in with its weekly story updates, and a stage of polish and a spotlight to element you’d usually solely affiliate with Sony’s first occasion single participant video games.
I’ve performed Overwatch, Name Of Obligation: Warzone, and plenty of others, however none of them captured my consideration the way in which Harmony did, and one of many main causes for this was as a result of I felt invested within the characters and their tales.
Gameplay-wise, I discovered Harmony extraordinarily participating and extremely well-balanced between all of the totally different characters. Each character felt distinctive and enjoyable to play, and I by no means felt that any specific one was over- or underpowered.
The gunplay felt clean and snappy, and intensely satisfying in a approach I’ve solely ever felt in single-player shooters like Titanfall 2 or Doom. Motion was equally joyful, and even after I was shedding I used to be nonetheless having enjoyable as a result of shifting round and interesting in gunfights was simply so rattling satisfying.
It was accessible for newcomers, however extraordinarily deep and rewarding for many who wished to grasp the entire sport’s mechanics. In brief, I used to be blown away by how good the sport felt to play. I can perceive that individuals had been postpone by a mixture of things, together with value, character design, and even tradition wars.
Of those, the most important issue was undoubtedly the worth tag. We’ve turn into conditioned to the concept stay service multiplayer video games needs to be free-to-play, though we acknowledge that free-to-play usually comes with important drawbacks (microtransactions, pay-to-win, hiding necessary content material behind paywalls).
Personally, I’d a lot quite pay upfront and obtain your entire sport, quite than being milked for all I’m price, nevertheless Sony didn’t do practically sufficient to influence folks why they need to half with their cash for Harmony, after they might simply play their favorite free-to-play shooter. If that they had launched a demo, or made it out there to PS Plus subscribers, I’m certain extra folks would have tried the sport, the player-base might have reached a vital mass and it might have taken off.
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Nonetheless, it appears like Sony set this sport as much as fail, with poorly judged trailers that did little to convey what was fascinating or distinctive in regards to the sport, and a price ticket that acted as a barrier for anybody to even give it an opportunity. Very like its namesake, Harmony was an extremely well-designed premium product which finally went down in a ball of flames. I sincerely hope it returns in some type sooner or later.
By reader Adam West
The reader’s options don’t essentially characterize the views of GameCentral or Metro.
You possibly can submit your individual 500 to 600-word reader characteristic at any time, which if used can be printed within the subsequent acceptable weekend slot. Simply contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff web page and also you gained’t have to ship an e-mail.
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