The Chant Review (Tsul)
Now that I've had some time away and the Dev responded asking for clarification, I wanted to flesh out the review.
The game had potential. It feels like a Mass Effect 3 fix could work patching in a "complete" story. But at 40$, even then it wouldn't pass the threshold for recommended due to the shallowness of world the length imposes and I can't base my recommendation on sale prices as those fluctuate and are not always available. I would say this game feels right for 20$ as-is or 25$ with a satisfying story.
First, clarification on the endings.
Endings are somewhat subjective, but storytelling is a craft and there are guidelines on how to achieve endings that resonate with your audience and leave the player feeling complete.
The protagonist needs to resolve their goal. In this case Jess needs to deal with her part in Angie's death and heal the relationship with her friend. I felt this was too quickly and lightly dealt with when Jess just admits her part and then moves on.
The antagonist needs to be clearly identified. In this case, the game sets up Anton (the grandfather) as the antagonist, only to have it shift suddenly to Hannah as a vessel for the Gloom, which makes little sense. Anton wasn't manipulated, unless I missed something, there was no big bad in the Gloom behind the scenes so everything after that fight feels deflated. It would have been better to use Angie as an extension of the Gloom act as the final challenge. How the challenge is resolved could have led to the different endings, rather than the arbitrary and opaque mind/body/spirit player stats.
Finally, the endings themselves make no sense and are all downers, which does not fit with the tone of the story. This isn't Cthulhu and really shouldn't be.
The one ending has time travel, which has never been a thing in the game prior and does not factor into the gloom or cultist roles in the story.
The mind ending has a random vortex in the ocean and no indication of what is happening. There could have been a swarm of school buses in the shape of a giant hummingbird and it would cause the equivalent confusion.
The ending with Jess being hunted by Angie is flat. Why did it the Angie thing come back? I thought this was resolved?
So, to work through with Jess to a resolution only to have a rug pulled is what sours the whole the experience retrospectively.
Second, the length that even with a fixed ending can't quite justify the full price. I position this game as a more combat-heavy walking simulator. There really aren't puzzles and the combat is more of an obstacle than a feature which makes the story, world, and characters much more paramount to the quality of the game. I love how Jess and the other characters are presented as normal characters but we never get a chance to develop any connection to the cast beyond Jess. They have their superficial traits and personalities and that's it. There needs to be 1 or 2 chapters simply dedicated to getting to know them and setting up interpersonal conflicts while getting embedded in Glory Island as a member of the cult. There needed to be more lore items, more backstory, more grounded events.
Third, the combat. 80% of the time I didn't care what I had in my hand, it all worked to roughly the same degree. I honestly believe the combat could have been dropped with a focus on environmental play. The possession, candles and mirror encounter was way more interesting than anything that came later. The monsters could have been puzzles rather than enemies.
I want to end on what was positive.
Most importantly, the Gloom is probably one of the most interesting supernatural ecosystems in any form of media I've seen in a while. I would advise, if possible, to stick with this and expand on it with future developments. The Gloom feeding on negative emotions and the hint at humanity simply being a food source is on the same level of Control for world-building potential.
The cast were designed well. They come across as real people, believable in the setting. There was a lot of potential there for an interesting ensemble.
Glory Island is fine, and the settings around the island are well designed to feel lived in.