"Chronos Before the Ashes Review"

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Reviewer: Carless Yen

Developer: Gunfire Games & THQ Nordic

Publisher: THQ Nordic

Platforms: Stadia, XBOX, PS4, Switch

Release Date: 12-01-20

Price: $29.99

                                                                            Buy Chronos here:

Description

Chronos: Before the Ashes is an atmospheric RPG that chronicles a hero’s lifelong quest to save their homeland from a great evil. Grow wiser, stronger and more powerful as you explore the depths of the mysterious labyrinth. But beware, the labyrinth takes a heavy toll – each time your hero dies, they lose a year of their life!

Unique Aging Mechanic – Every time the player dies they age one year. Player’s must adapt to their advancing age as they progress their character; starting the game young, nimble and quick, and ending wise and more attuned to magic.

Features

Adventure RPG: Refreshing combination of Adventure Game elements and RPG mechanics.

Deep Combat: A variety of weapons, abilities and powers are available to the player in the pursuit of their quest.

"Review"

    Souls like games have become a very popular genre in gaming. We have reviewed a ton of them, and as a Souls fan I really look forward to them. In my opinion though Chronos might be the best of them all. I had thought before this "Mortar Shell" held that title. Chronos though made me fall in love early. Like Mortal Shell it wasn't an exact copy, they did something different in the genre. Mortal Shell had you change bodies, Chronos has you age when you die. As the hero you get a flask like item that completely heals your whole health bar. You start with one, and you can find more as you go. The thing is they don't restore at checkpoints like in Souls though. Checkpoints are crystals that you can use as fast travel spots, but like I said your health nor your health items don't reset when you get to them. I know that sounds like agony, but every time you level up your health bar is restored, but not your health items. You just have to continue on your journey until you die and trust me you will. Every time you die your age goes up by one year, and you can actually see yourself age. To me that was a really awesome and original idea. the way you level up, and fight changes as you age. every 10 years like 20, 30,40, etc you unlock a new skill as well. If your playing on a hard mode your going to die more of course, and these skills will become very handy. You play on easy mode, which I recommend first because there are achievements for beating it before turning 21, and no way your doing that on easy until you master the game. If you want to try different ones you get 3 different save spots. So you can try both or even play one as male and one female. There isn't any customization besides that though. You can how ever choose your starting weapon. I recommend the sword for achievement reasons. 

      Another thing I love is the atmosphere and reasoning behind it all. You play as a hero that is on a quest to save is homeland from an ancient evil that only he can bring to a halt. You are a hero on a RPG like quest that is so important to you that you face it knowing every time you die you give up a year of your life. Starting at 18 being quick and nimble, and experience how you change as you age. Things like slowing down, but being more talented with magic. It's something I've never really experienced in a RPG game like this. It really does an amazing job at capturing the Dark Souls feel, but it also felt like Fable at times to me as well. The areas is a mixture of old and new. To me this was really awesome as well. A civilization falling, and converting back to ancient looking setting. So you are running around buildings with computers, yet still fighting in castle like structures with Blacksmiths. Yet another original and fun concept. I enjoyed the look a lot. It really looks indie, but still looks really amazing and beautiful at times. Beautiful blue waters, glowing caves, and so much more. I was really impressed by the overall look and sounds of Chronos. Epic music, realistic sounding weapon crashes, and so much more. I can say with ease it's the best game I played in the month of December.

     Right off the bat you will be impressed by all the different types of enemies, and their attack styles. Just like in Dark Souls you will approach every enemy reluctantly the first time. You never know how they will attack or with how much power. Some of them might even take you out with one shot, and when you lose a year of your life every time you die you'll take that seriously. The bosses look really cool as well, and mix up their attacks as their health bars decrease. none of them really disappointed, and loved figuring out their attack patterns. Some of them will really where you out. Luckily though there is usually a checkpoint really close by. There are also shortcuts you will unlock to make your trips around the map more simple. You will find tons of weapons and shields hiding around the map as well. Weapons like Maces, Swords, Axes, Hammers, Spears all with really different move sets. Like in Dark Souls you have a strong and light attack. Like in Dark Souls you also use your shields to block or parry. There are different shields that help with these two options. Something I noticed a little different then most these type games attacking really didn't zap your energy bar like most. It really went down more with running, and with large enemy shots to your shield. That could change with age, but I'm not sure since I beat it at the age of 23. 

   So is this one for you? I always like to talk about that. I always like to talk about Achievements and trophies as well. I think if you enjoy Dark Souls you will really enjoy this one. I know that turns off a lot of people who hate difficult games. You don't have to feel that way with this one though. It has different difficulty levels unlike most Souls like games. On easy It's not all that difficult either. I think most can enjoy this even if they are kind of bad at games. On easy it really feels about as hard as Fable 3. You will die some, but not over and over until you are frustrated. So if you love hacking and slashing monsters, magic, and RPGs you should really try this one out. So for my Achievement/Trophy hunters this one is a pretty simple 700 points or 80% trophies. There are a few for beating it on different difficulty levels so those may be a struggle but most can be done on easy. So if you like collecting these trophies and padding your gamer score  Chronos is a good option. If you know what your doing you can beat it in just over a few hours. I recommend taking your time and figuring it all out though without walkthroughs. The puzzles and challenge is such a good time don't spoil that by firing up Youtube to learn everything watching some one else do it. 

The aging element is original and a lot of fun.

Cool enemy and boss variety.

Beautiful and great mix of environments.

Fun puzzles, adding even more of a challenge.

Smooth and fluid combat

Loved the story , but ending left me wanting a little more. 

Wish there was a little more to it like more weapons and shields.

Would liked a little more customization. 

Overall Verdict:

I really enjoyed my time with this one. I enjoyed the challenge, the puzzles, the music, the environments, just everything really came together to be what is in my opinion the best Souls-Like to date.

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