Viola Review — See you, Violin Girl! Someday, somewhere.

Viola is a hybrid mix of turn-based JRPG-style combat, platforming, and rhythm game by solo indie game designer Jelle Van Doorne. The game follows the fairytale adventure of the titular Viola — a young girl and struggling musician who finds herself sucked into a magical, musical world inside of her violin.

I want to immediately note that Viola is an Early Access title available on Steam. Essentially, that means only about the first hour of the game is currently complete. In other words, what you’re purchasing now is a glorified demo and a “pre-order,” so to speak, of the finished game. So, keep that in mind when considering this game.

With that said, there’s enough of a feature-complete, albeit still unfinished, game to share my initial impressions.

Games like Viola are usually the type of games that I attempt to avoid or outright ignore. The turn-based JRPG style is one that I feel we’ve aged out of — it was necessary for its time, but the progress of technology has allowed game developers to move into more actively engaging styles of gameplay.

Viola features turn-based, JRPG-style combat with a rhythm game twist.

While I understand there is plenty of nostalgia around this type of game and it affords smaller, independent developers the opportunity to craft some elaborate games, in most of these cases, I find its implementation boring, lazy, and often uninspired; however, what intrigued me about Viola is how it seemingly mixes multiple forms of gameplay into a seamless experience.

Viola offers players some light platforming with a blend of turn-based, rhythm game focused combat. As I started the game, I had a few initial apprehensions, the first being the aforementioned musical combat.

Exciting, Musical Combat

My major concern with the rhythm-based combat — and by extension most of this game — was that it would be a clunky experience, too simplistic and easy, or a combination of both of those issues. Fortunately, Viola’s combat works well and even manages to offer a mildly challenging, fun experience. Most impressive is how well the concept of music and the musical gameplay is implemented into the game’s world.

Combat in Viola requires the player to press a series of buttons within a split second window as they scroll horizontally on musical bars — similar to other rhythm games. Attention, reaction, and timing are all crucial.

Different button holds, rhythm sequences, and button mashes are required to cast powerful Crescendo attacks against enemies.

Everything from normal attacks to more impressive “crescendo” attacks require short musical and quick-time button smashing sequences to both increase the actions damage and ensure its success. If you screw up and miss or hit the incorrect button during, say, the casting of a spell, it will fail.

This makes the combat more than the standard fare, click a box, click an enemy, rinse and repeat gameplay old-school JRPGs (and their modern homages) rely upon. In a larger sense, the musical gameplay is carried over into gameplay segments outside of combat.

Even outside of combat, music is an important element of Viola’s story and game world.

Players must learn songs in order to activate campfires, which act as save points throughout the game, as well as other story-based interactions within the game’s world. Additionally, music and musical aspirations are an inherent theme within the game’s plot — both in the story and in its aesthetics. Overall, this is something that’s very well done. Aside from the game’s rhythm features, I was also apprehensive about was the platforming.

Less Exciting Platform Action

Viola adds another uncommon convention to its JRPG-inspired gameplay: platforming. Alongside the musical medleys so heavily featured, players must also hop, bounce, and climb their way across the game world. Unfortunately, this element, while serviceable, misses the mark.

Platforming levels in Viola do their job, but the actual platforming mechanics can feel occasionally clunky. For example, jumping is, at times, unresponsive — almost “sticky” — and whether Viola will execute a double or triple jump seems hit or miss. Additionally, the level designs are rather straightforward and pose little challenge. By and large, the platforming is okay but requires little thought, planning, or precision.

Platforming in Viola works, but never feels like a challenge or a hit.

However, while lackluster, the platforming is there and it more or less works. I don’t imagine players will come into Viola expecting groundbreaking platform leaping, edge-of-your-seat treacherous platform gameplay. Nevertheless, it would be nice to see more challenging level design as the game progresses in development.

Gorgeous Sprites, Colorful Palettes, and Friendship For All

Visually, Viola is a beautiful game. Most sprite animations are fluid and the backgrounds are gorgeous. The color palette is bright, cheerful, and compliments the tone of the game well. There is little else to say about than it’s a visually cohesive and well-executed experience. Much of the color and cheer carries right over into the game’s story, as well.

Viola features splashes of bright color and happy-go-lucky characters — while at times overly cheery, the game certainly has a lot of heart.

As far as the story and the game world are concerned, it’s so far very much a cheery, lets-all-be-friends-and-work-together coming of age tale. The game’s creator, Jelle van Doorne, clearly has a love for these types of lighter-toned, JRPGs. While some of the game’s dialogue can feel a little overly sentimental or too hammy, it still has its charm.

Almost every character seems to only have Viola’s best interests in mind and are willing to tag right along on her adventure of confidence-building self-discovery. Can it be a bit much at times? Sure. But conversely, not every game has to be bleak, dark, or a deeply nihilistic experience that requires the player to question their own morality. Sometimes it’s nice to enjoy a happy-go-lucky tale of friendship. So, I’m willing to give it a pass.

Overall, Viola is off to a great start. It offers much more than I thought it would and I’m looking forward to seeing its progress unfold.

If JRPGs are your cup of tea, then, for $10, you are likely to find something worthwhile in Viola.