![Chrono Ark [크로노 아크] Game Sample - PC/Indie](/images/yt/__/chrono-ark-game-sample-pcindie-qjlt8.jpg)
Chrono Ark [크로노 아크] Game Sample - PC/Indie
25Chrono Ark is a rough but VERY PROMISING "Early Access" indie title coming from the tiny South Korean development team, Al Fine, that is a card-based RPG roguelike that's a compelling combination of "Slay the Spire" and "Darkest Dungeon" with some original nuts and bolts, but it's also a game with a little more controversy than it ought to have. Without going into too much detail, it surrounds the "Me Too" movement, women's rights, and sexist views regarding one of the game's female illustrators, which apparently garnered a lot of attention from English and Korean gamers, but also Chinese fans (even though the game isn't even translated into Chinese) and has overshadowed the development of the game. I don't know how much of it is he said / she said propaganda, but I can say that the "CEO" of the company publicly apologized and bowed his head in forgiveness for any misconstrued messages, so there's not a whole lot of damage control that can be done at this point.
If you don't care about any of that, then you'll be pleased to know that Chrono Ark has the framework of a truly ambitious game that just needs more content and some quality of life features. The game follows the story of Lucy, an amnesiac child who has inherited a pendant that is the key to mankind's survival. A mysterious plague has overtaken the Earth and made the world nearly uninhabitable over the period of eighty years. The few survivors and the lands most brilliant scientific minds formed a team who built a magical safe haven known as the "Ark", which repels the forces of what is now known as the "Twisted Lands", but after a few generations, the secret of the Ark's inner-workings were lost to its inhabitants, forcing them to go and find answers as they fear the Ark may not be safe forever as darkness slowly starts to encroach it. Leaving the Ark is incredibly dangerous as wild beasts and mortals warped by the effects of the Twisted Lands terrorize their victims with reckless abandon, so a special "Investigation Team" is formed of the Ark's most notable combat specialists, but even they barely stand a chance until Lucy comes along; Lucy's fragmented memories and pendant help lead the Investigation Team to the Twisted Land's "Time Shades", magical artifacts that are needed to repair the fabled "Chrono Clock" within the Ark. Rumor has it that if all the pieces are gathered and properly utilized, this clock can act as a time machine and rewind civilization to the events before the disaster.
The plot, outside of the very beginning, is kept to a minimum and presented through cryptic messages you can find, certain variations in your team's composition, and from the number of times you are killed in combat. As this is a Roguelike, you are expected to die (quite often) to gain upgrades and learn enemy traits to progress further in the game. Areas, goods, and even the selection of bosses are randomly generated and dramatically impact how runs play out. Between the slew of unidentified goods with good and bad traits, the finite resources at your disposal, and the brutal difficulty of some of the game's adversaries, the game requires more than high-leveled characters or a firm understanding of your opponents, but quite a bit of luck too. As the game is card based and since not every foe has abilities you can telegraph consistently, the game has a little more RNG than I'd like in my Rogue-style games. There are ways to manipulate your card draws and items to an extent, but progression in the game isn't as satisfying as some other Rogue titles I've played and as if combat isn't hard enough, you have a limited amount of turns before the darkness starts to consume (kill) your team. I can say that experimenting with the game's many unique characters is addicting and the main reason you would want to keep coming back to the game, but the cards, items, locations and such just need more variety in this regard. As this game is still in development, I feel it will certainly get there.
Aesthetically, Chrono Ark is somber and dark (but not too dark) with a somewhat anime vibe to it. It's pretty , albeit simple, in its own way with a soundtrack that invokes melancholy, mysticism and a bit of hopelessness. It's not your typical RPG soundtrack, but it has its own appeal. Navigating your character and going through menus is a bit clunky, and the game could use more configurations, a better save system and a more natural script, but what's here shows a lot of promise if the kinks are ironed out. Here's a few of a few things in the game. You can learn about the game and get it at:
Promo Site:
https://liontoothstd.wixsite.com/chronoark
Steam Page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1188930/Chrono_Ark/
Enjoy.
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