Game:

Chronos: Before the Ashes (2020)

Duration: 9:32:54

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When I saw this was done by Gunfire Games, the same people that did the Darksiders games I got kinda excited. Ignoring that this was previously a VR game, I was pumped for some Souls-like action. This is a prequel to Remnant and I thought it a good idea to play this before I played that. This game is best described as clunky. The world is cool and interesting as is the lore, but the controls leave a lot to be desired. You can attack, block, parry and dodge. You have a choice between just a few weapons throughout the entirety of the game and you kinda have to choose whether you are going to be strength or agility based. I went with agility, which is something I rarely do and you focus on dodging more than blocking. The dodge takes some real getting used to. It's like the Bloodborne hop but so so so much more shorter. You really have to time you dodges well. As you level your stats I think you get more iframes. I could be wrong so your dodge is supposed to get better. The game does have a cool mechanic. Every time you die you age 1 year, at each decade you get a permanent buff of your choosing. It's pretty cool and they do come in handy. The game does suggest that the older you get the weaker you become and have to rely more on arcane. Not sure if that's true, but when you start out health, strength and agility are super cheap to level as you die the more expensive they become and arcane becomes much cheaper. Arcane is like you counter magic and it can actually do some good damage, but is largely ignorable the younger you are. Perfect dodges get you a counter and it's a very helpful mechanic, the counter relies on arcane and does a sizable chunk the higher level it is. The levels are pretty linear and there are some puzzles here and there. Some are pretty obtuse and one that I had to brute force since there didn't seem to be a hint anywhere. I probably just over looked it. The game wasn't too bad, unitl I hit a literal wall on an enemy. Ther was a huge shielded enemy and I just couldn't find a good way to fight it. I eventually did, but holy cow did it take me a while to figure them out. I probably died 15-20 times against them. The final boss was also pretty damn tough and I died quite a few times to them. I think I finished at 65. The game is fun and does some unique things, but it's not a great game. In fact it's fairly mediocre. The level design and aesthetics were pretty neat, but the game just doesn't play all that great. I guess if you have a more than passing interest in the Remnant series it might be fun to play through, but for people that largely like Souls-like games, it's a pretty big pass. You aren't missing out on much. Enjoy my blind playthrough.

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