Lost in Harmony, musical game for Nintendo Switch

A year and a half after its launch, Nintendo Switch  has become the ideal platform for independent video games. Titles of recent launching like Hollow Knight have obtained a great success in the console and, now, has wanted to try luck Lost in Harmony , game developed by the independent French study Digixart  and  sent in 2016 for iOS and Android . 

Uniting careers with music

The version  of Lost in Harmony that comes to Nintendo Switch is composed of the original story, Kaito’s adventure , and the content that was added to the previous one in subsequent updates: Evacuation of MIRAI . For those of you who have not played, Kaito’s adventure tells the story of two friends, Kaito and Aya , and their relationship after a disease that suffers. This relationship is what drives the game, through sequences, which show us the messages that are exchanged between both characters with their mobile phones, and the levels we play, based on some of the experiences of our protagonists.

Once we get into the action, we have to use both the joystick and buttons A, B, X and Y to overcome each of the levels in the form of Kaito’s dreams. Each one of them starts with music, which is totally coordinated with the movements that we have to do. To advance, we must try to move the characters from left to right, following a bright trail, which makes us win points, and avoiding all kinds of obstacles.  

We can also earn points, interspersed, with some phases in which we have to press the buttons that we mentioned above, but at the precise moment. Doing so, makes us get from a “good” to a “perfect” result that, of course, depending on it makes us obtain a higher or lower score.

The greatness of this title lies in its mixture of concepts. An endless runner in which races and music come together with a frontal perspective of all this. Now, although it is a delight to mix, transmits the feeling of not quite fit, at least in its version for Nintendo Switch .

The music that drives this part of the game, the story of Kaito, is a remix of classical music that invites you to enjoy more than wanting to put yourself to the test overcoming the races. This fact is reinforced with the unsuccessful way to press the buttons. Shortly after starting the first level, the letters A, B, X and Y appear to be pressed in a specific sequence, without giving you time to think. At first, it is difficult to find each one, even more when the succession becomes complicated.

It may be due to the layout of the keys, in crosshead, unlike how they are in the game, from top to bottom. The fact is that it does not end up being comfortable and if you do not manage to do it, you lose part of the grace of these phases. This problem does not happen in your mobile version where you have to move your thumbs to press the orbs every time they appear. In short, the controls are not well translated, which causes the gameplay is not so favorable. 

Despite the above, this part of the game stands out, in addition to the sound section, for the graphic. As we said, the scenarios make up Kaito’s dreams, so they change meaninglessly from one another, as if they were really dreams, creating a most picturesque setting. Meadows, beaches, refugee camps … Everything happens in these dreams, revealing a remarkable variety that makes us enjoy the game. 

Missing news

The second of the contents that are part of Lost in Harmony is Evacuation of MIRAI: the flight of a robot from its creators. As we mentioned, it is one of the contents that came to the game with an update of it. This follows exactly the same outline as Kaito’s main story, only that the levels are much shorter. They also change the music and the scenarios, much more futuristic and belonging to science fiction. Being the same as the main content, it presents the same control problems … Despite this, it should be noted that both contents offer personalization options, which allow us to modify some visual aspects of the different characters.

All in all, we can say that the version of Lost in Harmony for Nintendo Switchdetracts from the great game that managed to create Digixart for mobile. The controls are not well assigned and tarnish the gameplay considerably. In addition, there is no content for this version, so it does not make it a good option to enjoy Lost in Harmony. Fortunately, its great sound section and the atmosphere that is created in each of the levels remain intact.