The Chant Review (michaelcomor)
I give this a thumbs up, but it's with some caveats.
Firstly, the story is good. Mourning the loss of her sister, protagonist Jess embarks on a retreat, where her friend Kim is already ensconced. Pretty soon you realise this retreat is not all it seems, where a chant goes wrong and starts affecting the group. You set off and figure out not all is what it seems with the group. You fight magical enemies with magical melee weapons to get through and figure out what's happening with everyone. As far as stories go, it's simple, but conveys the message well.
The graphics are also good. Nothing AAA, but the animations, world, ambience, and lighting were all pretty good. I felt immersed in the world the game created. Also, I'll give props to the voice acting in the game, too. All acting was believable and conveyed the right emotions at the right times without any hint of force. Good job.
I will also commend the game for its stability. I don't recall it crashing even one time. No stuttering, glitches, or breaks of any kind.
Now here's where things get a bit shaky:
Weapons and crafting supplies are scarcer than you think. At the start of the game I was killing all enemies I could see and soon realised I was skint on weapons all the time. Pretty soon I understood that the best way to defeat enemies is to not attack and to run past them. I want to attack enemies, so this strategy was a little disappointing, but wholly necessary.
You will die. A lot. Around the 3rd chapter I realised that death was coming thick and fast, and seeing any enemies was cause for concern. At some point within the 4th chapter I got sick of not getting through any level and not having the health necessary to survive, that I ended up lowering the difficulty to its easiest setting. I ended up getting through relatively easy by doing that. It was a cheap method, but boy it worked when nothing else did.
The path to proceed isn't always obvious. Many times I got lost and the exit isn't clearly marked. The apex of this was a point in the game where you have to align light sources at a tower. This section of this chapter took me over an hour to complete. I honestly thought the game was bugged. It wasn't. I just wasn't following the right path to the right light. That was immensely frustrating to get through. Maybe I'm just an idiot (plausible), but just keep that in mind for your own playthrough as you go through the chapters and find that the way to go isn't clearly marked.
The ending was disappointing. I had the Mind ending, and it just ends on a huge cliffhanger before the credits roll. I assume the DLC kind of addresses this, but I expected something more after slogging it out.
Anyway, I know I listed all the stuff I disliked, but overall I do recommend this game. The combat is fulfilling, once you figure out what to do, and the puzzle elements are well integrated, despite me not being able to see them immediately. I got more enjoyment out of the game once I downgraded the difficulty. It's a good price for what it is, even without a sale.