The Chant Review ([Redacted])
Upfront Conclusion - I've always liked Cult and supernatural stories so I do like The Chant as well as the time I had with it, but this isn't for everyone. Recommended for those who want to become involved in a bizarre story surrounding a Cult. The game's biggest flaw is in fact poor balance between the game's various mechanics as you will see in the flaws section.
I will say that the composer for the music absolutely nailed the overall tone of the game, I was really drawn in by the atmosphere that the music provided which paired up with the content of the game very well.
Instead of writing an overly long review with a detailed analysis I'm goings to list this game's shortcomings and give my thoughts on them.
Flaws:
- Needs combat variety. Swinging around twined together burning branches or a burning sage stick at enemies just isn't interesting enough in a combat setting. There needs to be more variety in the weapons and attack animations. This is a supernatural game about a cult, I can think of a million and one different attacks and occult weapons which would work.
- Resources are too scarce. If you're playing the game for the first time figuring out the mechanics then you're not going to do well because you haven't learned the resources, their effects or when to use a specific resource for a particular scenario. Scarce resources when implemented properly can work in a game, but it just isn't fun in have Resident Evil type of resource management in a game that isn't Resident Evil. It's almost as if you have to have played the game multiple times with a really strong resource management skill in order to do well in the game which is indicative of poor game design.
- Bosses are spongey. This really detracts from the game because it's bringing a Souls-like experience to a game that isn't in the Souls franchise. This isn't meant to be a souls like game which begs to ask why try to emulate a combat experience from a different genre and a different type of game?
- Unecessary character. There is one bad guy whom is a cookie cutter villain and a completely unnecessary part of the game which makes me question why he was even included as a boss battle. He's not the focus of the story, he's a secondary side character and he isn't even the final boss of the game.
- The story got a little too ridiculous. There is a specific term that I heard while playing which made me erupt in unexpected laughter and the writers didn't need to get so goofy with the lore. There was a guy in the '70s - a time when cults and psychedelic spirituality were at their peak - whom created a commune and is the founder of "prismic science". Yes, you read that ridiculous crap right. We're talking about 3D geometric shapes - prisms - and crystals that hippies like to collect. Now, prisms are an important of math and geometry, but we're not talking about legitimate science instead it's a pseudo-intellectual "science" based upon the study for the flow of cosmic energy as it relates to prisms. I don't think anyone even in the '70s would have taken such a term seriously.
Now usually when a game has spongey bosses or scarce resources there is some type of counterbalance meaning for every mechanic implemented there is another mechanic of a different kind to balance it out. So, if a boss is spongey there might be a wealth of a specific resource you might need for that particular battle or your character might learn a new skill you will need for that boss battle.
Not The Chant. They went all in on scarce resources, limited weapon types, the same basic attack animation, spongey bosses and a hardcore RE styled emphasis on resource management which doesn't work out too well in the end and can make the combat setting more frustrating than enjoyable. It doesn't "kill" the game and I was intrigued enough to stick with it, but there will be a lot of mixed reactions and I don't think they're going to see those big audience numbers for this game because it desperately needs proper balance.
The Chant is an admirable effort with a lot of potential and I'm genuinely curious to see if Brass Token learns from this to give us an even better sequel which is properly balanced. There are some good ideas here, but they don't work well together in this context and The Chant really just needs some fine tuning of its mechanics.