Symphonia – Review

Path of Pain – The Concert

The idea of a non-violent platformer behind Symphonia intrigued me. Okay. To be honest, their idea of using classical music as a central element intrigued me more. You probably don't know this about me, but I've been an avid listener of this genre since ninth grade.

The game actually started as a student project a long time ago, in 2020. If you want a taste of that nostalgia, you can try the original version here. However, some of the chaps who worked on that variant weren't satisfied with it remaining a project. As a result, they formed Sunny Peak to bring the world of Symphonia to life.

Let's see if these talented youngsters managed to deliver a proper musical adventure, or if there are many aspects to adjust before it can be called a game.

The world is your staff. And you are the composer

The magical land of Symphonia is in decline after losing its music. This unfortunate situation arose after four musical geniuses mysteriously disappeared. That is, until one day… when a puppet finds a bizarre mask and brings it to the Founders' Amphitheatre. What it didn't know, however, was that the mask would materialise into the violinist Philemon, one of the four. Awakened from his slumber, Philemon is sent by the puppet to search for his colleagues. Only a concert performed by all four can repair the Heart of Symphonia, a mechanism that will bring life back to this kingdom.

I like how they built the mystery around Philemon's character. Not even he remembers who he is. Fortunately, we can help him regain his memory by collecting Memory Shards. There are fourteen such Shards. They are awarded after you complete optional sections. But be careful, because they are not easy to obtain. But the reward of learning Philemon's story is worth the effort. These also affect the gameplay, but we'll talk about that later.

The other three are hiding in regions they govern. The flautist Trickster looks after the Wooding Glasshouse, which is full of vegetation. Matriarch, who plays the double bass, can be found in String Meadows. Last but not least, the trumpeter Kinglet… well, he has his own kingdom that he rules with an iron fist and a brass trumpet. Don't worry, I haven't given you any spoilers. Their identities are known to everyone from the start. But the part where you have to find them… that's another kettle of fish.

The best part of the story is undoubtedly the music that controls everything in this universe. It can bring plants to life. It can change time and seasons. It can even repair broken objects. It's truly impressive how the developers built a world around it.

Also, I can't help but feel nostalgic when I watch their cinematics or listen to the accompanying music. It's like watching one of those old Disney animations where music is used as a tool to tell a story. I'd go so far as to call music the hidden protagonist of this story.

The concerts you play with each of the geniuses at the end of a stage are breathtaking. The animation is synchronised with the music. The environment is made up of instruments that play the role of the orchestra. And all of this comes together to awaken emotions and feelings you never knew you had.

You can also go through secret levels to find letters from each musical genius. From these, you'll understand what life they led until then, what brought them joy, and what challenges they had to endure.

The world, characters, and story in Symphonia are a spectacle in themselves.

I've been banging on about Path of Pain, haven't I?

I honestly warn you to read about what kind of games you want to try. Symphonia might charm you with its looks and music. But the gameplay itself belongs to a full-fledged Precision Platformer. What's more, it even has the "Difficult" tag on Steam. It's going to give you a bit of a hard time if you're not a fan of such experiences, or if you're not prepared to overcome the challenges to get to the good story bits. Fortunately, I'm a big fan of Souls games, so I felt right at home.

Philemon has a few tools in his arsenal to get past all the nasty traps and mechanisms trying to stop him from his mission. The first of these is his trusty violin. It can be used as a bow, allowing him to jump much higher after an initial jump, or even jump directly higher. You can even hold down the button for this power jump after each landing to gain momentum and reach higher, further. In addition, the bow allows you to grab onto cushions stuck to walls and use them as trampolines.

Later you'll unlock other abilities and upgrades. One of them is Twirl. Its role is to give you more freedom in the air. For example, let's say you need to reach the end of a room. You can't use a power jump, because the ceiling is too low and covered with spikes. A single jump isn't enough, because the floor is also covered with spikes. Then you'll have to jump once and use the twirl. This allows you to float a little in a chosen direction. You can also use it after you've exhausted all your jumps.

The second upgrade is the Grappling Bow. Remember the cushions you can grab onto? The Grappling Bow allows you to shoot an arrow in their direction and grab onto them from a distance. It's extremely useful when you can't reach them by conventional means. It will also give you access to some secret areas in the regions you explore, and it will help you traverse them more easily than the first time you visited them.

These mechanics almost always work flawlessly, with a few exceptions. Specifically, there are moments when you can't perform a power jump after a normal jump. I don't know exactly why this happens. Okay, I partially understand, because it might trivialise some puzzles. But if that's the case, they could revisit the level design and adapt it to the abilities they give us. What I mean to say is: it feels rubbish to be explained an ability and then realise it doesn't work.

The Grappling Bow can miss targets you'd swear it would hit, or hit them when you least expect it. For example, it allows Philemon to grab onto bells floating in the air. And sometimes arrows can pass through them, or they can hit them even if you shot wide. In 95% of cases you won't have problems, but it's still something they can adjust.

There are also occasional situations where the bow shoots further than you expect. And you can find yourself teleported through walls directly into a trap. It only happened to me twice. But it happened.

At the end of levels, you won't receive many abilities that directly affect how you play. You'll get the ability to teleport to different points in visited levels after finishing Trickster's level. And that's about it.

I was talking about Memory Shards earlier. These aren't just useful for the story; they also unlock new abilities or modifications you can apply to the game. For example, you'll get Double Jump and the ability to slow down the game speed after finding the first Memory Shard. Later you'll be able to increase game speed, make the character invisible, jump off any type of surface, or stick to and catapult off any platform. You'll even have the option to disable abilities like Twirl or Grappling Bow, or start a new game on Hard mode. It depends entirely on how fun or difficult you want to make your journey.

Speaking of challenges, after you finish the game for the first time, you'll be able to start a new one in Shadow Mode. What does that mean? You'll have a shadow constantly following you and imitating all of Philemon's movements. It's a kind of tag game, and if it catches you, it's game over.

You'll also be able to collect two types of collectibles. One refers to musical notes placed in hard-to-reach places. You can obtain them by bringing them from there to a safe platform. But I must warn you: the first platform you can safely land on doesn't always work. Sometimes you'll have to advance further in this game where the reward and risk are proportional. But hey, you've already picked up a difficult game, so most likely you don't expect it to spoon-feed you.

The other type of collectible comes in the form of Aura Shards. Some environmental elements have these attached to them. You can collect them by performing a violin improvisation in front of them. Philemon's musician aura will grow as you collect more. It doesn't really influence how you play the game; instead, it improves our violinist's ability to play and adds some special effects. And if you've collected them all, Philemon will start playing well-known melodies instead of improvisations.

You'll be able to identify objects that hold Aura Shards if you look for a blackish mark on them. There are also visual cues, such as small musical notes they emit. I didn't even realise these existed at first; I found out about them when I watched a walkthrough to see what I had missed. I'd suggest to the developers that they give us a tutorial and explain that they exist.

As for the tutorials, they do a good job of explaining how basic abilities work at the beginning. But later they don't explain how interactions with different mechanisms work, or we only get half an explanation. I'm referring here to elements like the functionality of catapulting drums, or how you're explained how to jump on a ball that can swing back and forth, but not how to jump off it.

The platforming puzzles are generally fun and make you think. You set certain mechanisms in motion by playing in front of megaphones. Sometimes you have to complete sections against the clock. You have moving platforms that you have to stay on while avoiding obstacles, and even puzzles that involve gravity changes. These are just some of the crazy things that try to sabotage you. It's not that easy to overcome them, but the feeling you get when you reach the end makes the struggle worthwhile.

However, there's a problem with how you reset puzzles. Let's say you've activated a moving platform you need to follow. You also have other safe platforms below or above. But if you somehow miss getting back on the moving one, the only way to reset it is to sacrifice your character and start over. Look, I don't claim to be a god at these types of games and I know my abilities, but I'd prefer these mechanisms to work uninterrupted, not to block us at a point of no return. Especially since the game counts every death.

There are a few other aspects they could work on. For example, I'm disappointed that we don't get a proper map. It would be very useful, especially when you go back for potential collectibles you missed. At least it lets us know when we enter a secret room if we've visited it before, and the pause screen will show us each region, what we've collected from it, and what we're still missing.

Something completely missing in these rooms is the ability to pass through floors. I don't mind if we don't always have it available, and most of the time we get a shortcut to return to the main route. But sometimes we have to redo a difficult puzzle just to get out, in case we forgot we already discovered the secret. A possible solution would be to show us if we've explored that room before we access it, not after.

It wouldn't hurt to be able to look around either. It makes sense to be able to look up or down, to see if we have anywhere to land.

The camera sometimes works against us and we can see dangers when it's too late. Even if it's not a problem in most cases, there's a chase scene I absolutely despised. You're being chased by a wall of spikes that kills you instantly. The camera focuses more on the area behind than on the dangers ahead. And to make matters worse, they also shoot cannonballs that track your position from time to time, usually at the moments when you'd least want them to shoot at you.

If we put it all together, Symphonia's gameplay makes you think and doesn't tolerate mistakes. But it has some mechanical and optimisation issues that need to be resolved.

The graphics are nice. But the music is the real hero

It won't take you long to fall in love with Symphonia's visual direction. The wooden textures and mechanisms, the bronze and iron accents, the colourful stained glass, the subtle lighting and warm colour palette. All of these come together to create an environment where you feel safe. Don't get me wrong, you're far from safe when traversing this fairytale world, but it gives you that feeling of warmth.

There are also subtle details like the staff lines Philemon leaves behind when he moves. Philemon's aura when he plays becomes visually richer as you unlock Aura Shards. And the environment is made up of musical instruments like drums that catapult you, strings you can jump on to gain momentum, or bells you can grab onto.

But let's be honest, this game is about music. Music should be front and centre. And it is. That feeling of old Disney animations I was telling you about doesn't just come from the graphics. The adventurous and hopeful melodies in the background also play their part, as do the concerts you play with the other musical geniuses, as well as the sound effects when you interact with the instruments in the environment. This game has invested a lot in music, as you can tell from the long list of artists in the Credits section. What started as a passion project by thirteen students has become much more.

Final Verdict

Symphonia impressed me terribly. It wasn't just a Precision Platformer to test reflexes and quick thinking; it was an emotional journey into the world of classical music. Yes, the gameplay is solid and will satisfy your thirst for challenges. It even offers options to make it more difficult or easier, depending on how much you want to suffer. But the real reward is what you get at the end of the puzzles. I'm referring to the story you discover, Philemon's recovered memories, and the sound and visuals that come together to deliver unforgettable experiences.

That being said, there's also room for improvement. I'd appreciate it if the normal jump plus the power jump always worked properly. It would be healthy to see more tutorials when we encounter new interactions; some are missing, and others are only half complete. Some mechanisms stop working after we activate them, and the only way to reactivate them is to kill Philemon. A map is also missing, so we know where we missed collectibles. And an active camera that we can move wouldn't hurt either. The right stick of the controller serves no purpose now and could be used for this. In addition, they could take a look at that chase scene I highlighted, and change the camera angle to better see the obstacles coming from the front. We already know there's something big and bad behind us.

Before I give it a score, I'll warn you again: this is by no means an easy game. I say this because I've looked a bit at what people are saying on Steam, and I've seen players complaining that a game with the tags "Precision Platformer" and "Difficult" is too hard. It's just a way of telling you to keep your eyes peeled before buying a game. But hey, you've reached the end of this review, so you probably know what you're getting yourself into.

Right! Drums, please! Symphonia gets a solid 7 from me. It's fun to play and the perfect way to test your skills in a Precision Platformer. You also get enough replay value, as you can activate Shadow Mode on a new save, or try to finish the game in under 120 minutes for an achievement, which is perfectly achievable. It took me about six hours to finish it the first time, and another four hours to finish with the rest.

You can get it for €20 on Steam or GOG, or €18 on Epic. If you play on consoles, you'll find it for $20 in the PlayStation or Xbox stores. I'd say €15 is a fairer price for what it offers now. It's quite short, even if it's full of emotion, and the value you get when replaying it also has its limits.

That's all from me. See you in the next review!

Played on: PC

Release date: 5 December 2024

Developer: Sunny Peak

Publisher: Headup, Beep Japan
Sunny Peak

Review by Constantin Dumitru