You know when you’ve seen nothing of a game, and then when you finally do, it grabs your interest immediately? That was the case for Symphonia 𝄞 for me, I hadn’t heard anything about it, and when I was writing the Weekly Game Launch last month, there it was. And with the Christmas and holiday period out of the way, I’ve finally had time to sit down and experience the musical world of Symphonia 𝄞 and I though I’d let you know what I thought of this fantastic platformer.

“The Story”

Symphonia 𝄞 is a platformer set in the musical world of Symphonia where music acts a source of life and energy. The world is kept in balance by a number of ‘founders’, but they’ve gone missing and the world is growing silent and the citizens of Symphonia are becoming divided. In a desperation, a Conductor like character (I don’t recall ever seeing him named) revives the mysterious birdlike musician, and Founder, Philemon, who is tasked with seeking out the missing Founders; The Trickster, The Matriarch, and The Kinglet, in order to restore the musical life blood to the world of Symphonia.

Philemon’s adventure takes them across three varied worlds, each inhabited by one of the founding musicians and their musical speciality. Each Founder is experiencing some form of distress or personal crisis which has meant their music isn’t supporting the world of Symphonia as it should. The Trickster, for example, was happy when the other Founders worked together, but dissent between The Matriarch and The Kinglet, led The Trickster to feeling lonely and isolated, ultimately impacting on their ability to keep music flowing in the greenery of the world.

The story is told through visuals in the levels (including one particularly striking stained glass scene), as well as a number of cutscenes. There isn’t any voice acting, or dialogue, in fact, as you might expect, the story is told effectively via the cutscenes and the presence of some beautifully played music, that underscores the events perfectly.

“When I Paint My Masterpiece”

The worlds of Symphonia 𝄞 are beautiful, hand drawn, and brimming with detail. As I live my life, music is in everything, and the world is constructed from a range of full and parts of a wide variety of instruments, as well as natural elements (including some very insidious and prolific spikey type elements).

You do spot inhabitants of the world, that all seem to be robot / clockwork type characters, as well as a few animals too. Peppered through the worlds, they add dynamics to the levels and add to the story. More of the inhabitants can be found in the final world, the Brass Castle, where The Kinglet is trying to maintain his rule of Symphonia, dictating that his subjects serve him.

Between , The Founder’s Amphitheatre, Woodwind Glasshouse, String Meadows, and the Brass Castle, you’ll travel through various themed worlds that are all distinct in their locales and tailored to the Founder that resides there. The Matriarch, for example, changes the day to night, as well as the seasons by playing her cello, and the the world changes throughout your traversal of that level. It’s a shame that this doesn’t change the gameplay on the level (such as icy traps when winter appears), but that’s a minor quibble).

“We R in Control”

When it comes to the gameplay, Symphonia 𝄞 handles really well. It’s something you need to be right for a platformer, generally, but there’s a lot of precision and accuracy required that the controls need to be very much on point, and they are, thankfully. And boy, does it feel good when you nail a sequence that’s been troubling you for multiple lives, it’s a rewarding platforming experience.

There’s no combat in Symphonia 𝄞, it’s purely platforming and no enemies (for the most part), which is a welcome change. You start with basic movements, such as jump and the ability to launch yourself with your violin’s bow to get more height. As you progress through the game, you’ll get more abilities that help you navigate the increasingly tricksy level design, including a ‘grappling bow’ and ‘twirl’ which can activate / deactivate platforms as well as give you a little extra distance on your jumps.

Interestingly there are a number of extra abilities that can be found throughout the world by collecting Philemon’s ‘memory fragments’, where he gains extra moves, such as a double jump, but these aren’t activated by default. You can choose to turn them on in the gameplay settings menu, as well as turn off other moves to mix up your gameplay, and give you a challenge (if you want it).

The levels themselves increase in difficulty and bring new elements as you progress through the game. It never feels repetitive or boring, and there’s a particularly fun ‘final boss’ type affair where The Kinglet chases you across a moving screen. Also, because you will die, a lot, I’m entirely grateful for the very quick loading screens in between deaths, a game like this needs to be quick in that regard.

“The Collector”

Alongside, the previously mentioned ‘memory fragments’ there’s also a number of other secrets and collectibles to find throughout the game; coin notes, auras, and hidden letters. The coin notes are dotted throughout the levels and take a bit of extra navigation to grab them. A feature of these I like is that you have to successfully collect them, and survive doing so before it will count as collected. The letters and memory fragments are tucked away a little, and you’ll need to keep an eye out and do some exploration for off the main path routes to find.

I will quickly say that the auras were a bit annoying, they’re hidden throughout the level in items in the world, but they’re identifiable by a black color and white notes that move when you get near them, I did find them a little trickier to spot, and I know there’s something about finding them, but you really need to be paying attention to spot them.

I really did enjoy working my way through the levels and finding all the different types of collectibles though (keep an eye out for a whole range of collectibles and Symphonia 𝄞 related guides coming soon), they gave a good challenge, and the start menu had a helpful tracker to help you find them. After the second level, you earn the ability to travel to previously visited areas too, always welcome where collectibles are concerned (and you can go get them after finishing too), plus you can’t get them all until you acquire different abilities later in the game.

“Joy in Repetition”

Playing through Symphonia to 100% completion (all achievements, and collectibles) took me just under 14 hours (and over 1000 deaths!). Once you’ve completed the main game, you unlock a couple of new modes:

• Shadow Chaser – a new game where you are followed by a mysterious shadow of yourself. It’s a couple of seconds delayed from your actions, but if it catches you, it kills you. This was super fun, and added a really cool element to how you handle the areas, you can’t hang about, you have to keep moving.
• Hardcore Mode – you have a limited number of lives, and if you lose them all, you return to the last waypoint, rather than the room your died in.
• Time Attack – though not a true ‘unlock’ mode, you activate a timer in your settings to see how long you’ve taken in your game file. There’s an achievement for completing it in under 120 mins (2 hours) – are you up to the race?

These modes combined with the various gameplay options, which includes an increased movement speed and a mode that turns Philemon invisible, gives you a variety of ways to experience Symphonia 𝄞 again and again, setting your own rules to have fun with.

I didn’t notice much in the way of any issues with the game, or bugs, bar a couple of minor ones. One where Philemon would be vibrating as though they were being affected by something that was happening in a previous room, this stopped after restarting the game. Another one, and quite funny, one was the final cutscene, after successfully gathering the Founders together again to perform together, Philemon disappeared out of the cutscene leaving them ironically absent following their harrowing adventure (see below)!

“Thank You for the Music”

Well, you can’t have a game about a musically charged world, with all the main characters playing instruments, without mentioning the games music can you?

Watching the credits, you can see how much effort has been made to get such a breadth of music included in Symphonia 𝄞. From cellists, flautists, violinists and double bass, there’s a wide array of music performed througout the game. Controlling Philemon, you occasionally use your violin to activate switches and unlock doors and it’s a joy, every time, to get them to play. You can even just hold ‘Y’ (on Xbox) and have Philemon improvise with some glorious animations as they dance around the level while you move, scoring your activities.

There’s even a massive piano in the third level that you need to play to progress (as well as a secret task too), I reckon some creative folk could have a bit of fun using that to compose / recreate some lovely tunes.

“In the End”

Symphonia 𝄞 is a gloriously fun precision platformer with beautiful worlds, fabulous scores, excellent gameplay, and fun replayability. Most importantly, for me, it carries an important message about the importance of music, and its role in the world. It’s a must play if you’re a fan of platforming, enjoy music, and a bit of a challenge; you’ll have an amazing time.

Symphonia 𝄞 was developed by Sunny Up and is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series. It’s out now.

Symphonia 𝄞 was reviewed on Xbox Series X.