[h1] See You, Violin Girl! Someday, Somewhere [/h1] Viola is a hybrid mix of turn-based JRPG-style combat, platforming, and rhythm game focused on 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. 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 purchasing or considering this game. With that said, I think that there’s enough of a feature-complete, albeit still unfinished, game to share my initial impressions. This is usually the type of game that I attempt to avoid or outright ignore. The turn-based JRPG style of game is one that I feel we’ve aged out of - it was necessary for its time, but the progress of technology has...

It's a cute, simple game, and was all developed by one guy, which is pretty commendable. The characters can be charming and the story is okay, albeit predictable, and covers topics like loving yourself and such. That being said, I can't really recommend the game right now for some reasons listed below: [list] [*]The game autosaves only whenever you leave a zone, exit the overworld shop, or exit the campfire. The game doesn't save when you exit to the title menu or exit the game, meaning you'll have to exit the level (if the game lets you) to save [*]The in-game menu is pretty wonky, with some weird bugs and design choices (why is there no option for settings?) [*]No convenient way to check out a character's skills, only being able to do so in combat. Even then, it won't let you even move to the spell if you don't have enough mana [*]The game is too easy. Now the game is clearly designed to be simple, which is fine, but this feels a bit extreme [*]Several misc bugs [/list] Granted...

The gameplay is nice, but while the best songs are incredibly short, the ost is okay-ish. I liked the characters and the story as well. But I cannot recommend the game. Stay away from it because it has, not only an annoying bug that forced you to press "comfirm" multiple times to register entering into a stage (otherwise the screen remains black) it also has a bug flat out locking you from beating the game because the game requires you to recruit all characters to beat the game and one is bugged where she joins the party, but she vanishes. You cannot try to repeat the circumstances to unlock her, so you're screwed and forced to restart at a CHANCE that the game won't bug again when unlocking her. Until the devs fix this (if they still care), stay away from the game that can easily become unfinishable.

Viola is a game that you should play if you just need something to cheer you up. It's a real "feel-good"-game. The story will not surprise you, but the characters will warm your heart. They are extremely diverse (including LGBT+ representation which doesn't feel forced but really natural) and their interactions with the heroine help her to become a better person. The dialogues are not too deep or long, so some things feel a little bit rushed (getting Justice to Support Level S, for example), but it fits the game - it feels like a warm, pleasant breeze, so you should be able to breeze through the game without too much effort. ;) So yeah, the game is easy, but I really didn't mind. As I already said, it really fits the overall experience. Too many challenging battles and/or platforming sections would take the wonderful lightness out of everything. I also really enjoyed the music. Actually, the musical theme was the main reason why I got interested in Viola. The soundtrack itself is...

This is a great game; fun story, nice JRPG mechanics. I'm very interested to see how this game evolves.

Overall entertaining and fun game, blending platforming with JRPG elements. The characters are charming and have personality, very excited to see where the story goes. The simple turn based rhythm-based combat keeps combat entertaining with just enough thinking. Will be following the development of the game with excitement, because it really has potential with the elements shown so far.

Can't say I've played more than an hour and a half so far, but a few minor glitches aside, this is very promising, especially for a solo developer. Interesting gameplay, nice soundtrack, cute character interactions and an interesting theme of self-love, Viola's definitely starting out on a high note (HAH! MUSIC JOKE!) Will update as I complete the game, but for $13, this is some very solid stuff that I'd be happy to recommend. Bravo Jelle van Doorne!

This is a pretty unique game, not bad for $10. The story kinda drags initially but the musical themes are endearing, such as Viola's party trying to get her to be herself when she's upset about being the only person who can't play music. The timed normal attacks with random buttons is pretty cool as well as the platforming; I like wall jumping and triple jumping my way to battle visible enemies in RPG form. The character designs and enemies look great too. It's easy to tell a lot of detail went into giving them all style. There's even a type of idle dialogue about what someone's doing as the turns progress too. Edit: Looks like there are continuous bug fixes, so just report if there are problems and see what happens in a month. I do like the additions and updates.

Viola is a wonderful game. The gameplay is mostly rpg battles similar to paper mario and some casual platforming. The strong point to the game is the story, every character is a joy to see on the screen and I can't think of anything in recent memory to make me cry as much as this game has. The music is wonderful and is worth the price of admission alone. There is some minor graphical issues, particularly if you don't have a standard monitor resolution, but nothing worth worrying about

This is a very cute game with surprisingly difficult combat mechanics. It's obvious a lot of love and care went into this. The writing and the characters are nailed down in a way that shows a lot of conscientiousness and attention to detail. Very engaging, looking forward to future updates!