Chronos: Before the Ashes feels a bit like a beginners Soulslike. This was originally released just as Chronos as a VR game before getting a re-release as a more traditional third person RPG. It was marketed as a prequel to Gunfire Game's later project Remnant: from the Ashes. Though there are certainly lore, location and enemy links between the games that I can see how they would set it up as such they are otherwise completely different titles and on the positive side I can see how the studios ability increased between the two titles as Remnant was a truly great experience I loved. Chronos unfortunately, is not.
The biggest issue with it is how it plays and frankly that's a gigantic problem for any game as it's kind of a core requirement for the medium. It manages to be both slow and pondering yet floaty and weightless at the same time which is an impressive thing to create. There are certain games that get these kind of things right, take Monster Hunter World for example, when you swing your giant sword and connect you can really visually feel that impact and Chronos just lacking that crunch. It has a few weapons to use and almost none of them are that fulfilling. The closest is probably the hammer with an upper cut that feels like it's going to have real force behind it but enemy reactions rarely support this in a satisfying way. Add to this that the game is often extremely unresponsive in both dodging, attacking and even the simple act of picking up items. Pressing the button just either has a delay or there is just no response at all.
It's otherwise extremely simple, some basic weapons to upgrade and find and shields with a few elemental power ups and that's it. Coming off the back of Nioh 2 which has insane weapon sets, customization, skills and ranged abilities leaves this feeling extremely basic and why it feels like a beginner's Souls title. That may be slightly unfair comparing a budget game like this to Nioh 2 though. Not everything about the game is bad, it does have an interesting mechanic around leveling up. When you die you age 1 year, starting at 18 and getting older each time. This effects how you level up your character as when younger it costs less points to level up strength and agility. As your character gets older these become more expensive until you can't upgrade them at all if you get too old. The opposite is true of arcane which starts expensive but gets cheaper as you get older, after all with age comes wisdom! (supposedly). It's a unique idea.
Overall once I got used to the game I must admit I didn't hate it. I even enjoyed parts of it but it's severely underbaked across all fronts. The art design is nice but the visuals are otherwise bland, some enemy designs are pretty cool but the combat is unresponsive and shallow, The level up system is neat but the game is super short so I didn't even know about how the stats changed until after I'd beaten the game etc.
I'm glad that Gunfire Game's built on what's here because a friend and I had a great time with Remnant and are eagerly awaiting Remnant II but this one? This one you can skip.
The biggest issue with it is how it plays and frankly that's a gigantic problem for any game as it's kind of a core requirement for the medium. It manages to be both slow and pondering yet floaty and weightless at the same time which is an impressive thing to create. There are certain games that get these kind of things right, take Monster Hunter World for example, when you swing your giant sword and connect you can really visually feel that impact and Chronos just lacking that crunch. It has a few weapons to use and almost none of them are that fulfilling. The closest is probably the hammer with an upper cut that feels like it's going to have real force behind it but enemy reactions rarely support this in a satisfying way. Add to this that the game is often extremely unresponsive in both dodging, attacking and even the simple act of picking up items. Pressing the button just either has a delay or there is just no response at all.
It's otherwise extremely simple, some basic weapons to upgrade and find and shields with a few elemental power ups and that's it. Coming off the back of Nioh 2 which has insane weapon sets, customization, skills and ranged abilities leaves this feeling extremely basic and why it feels like a beginner's Souls title. That may be slightly unfair comparing a budget game like this to Nioh 2 though. Not everything about the game is bad, it does have an interesting mechanic around leveling up. When you die you age 1 year, starting at 18 and getting older each time. This effects how you level up your character as when younger it costs less points to level up strength and agility. As your character gets older these become more expensive until you can't upgrade them at all if you get too old. The opposite is true of arcane which starts expensive but gets cheaper as you get older, after all with age comes wisdom! (supposedly). It's a unique idea.
Overall once I got used to the game I must admit I didn't hate it. I even enjoyed parts of it but it's severely underbaked across all fronts. The art design is nice but the visuals are otherwise bland, some enemy designs are pretty cool but the combat is unresponsive and shallow, The level up system is neat but the game is super short so I didn't even know about how the stats changed until after I'd beaten the game etc.
I'm glad that Gunfire Game's built on what's here because a friend and I had a great time with Remnant and are eagerly awaiting Remnant II but this one? This one you can skip.
FallenGrace
1 year ago