The Chant Overview (PS5): Is It Value Enjoying?

Halloween has come and gone, and developer Brass Token needs to maintain the spooky season going with their November launch of The Chant. After seeing a short preview final month, we’ve run by the supernatural journey recreation, and have our ideas under. Time to see if the do-it-yourself angle of Brass Token paid off in our The Chant PS5 assessment.

The Chant takes place ostensibly throughout current occasions, and the participant assumes management of Jess, a working lady who makes a speciality of biomedicine, but suffers from PTSD as a consequence of some traumatic occasion in her previous that concerned her sister and (now ex) greatest buddy Kim.

That buddy has prolonged an olive department and invited Jess to an island retreat known as Prismatic Science, which takes place on the secluded Glory Island. After all, since this can be a horror recreation, all the pieces goes sideways on the primary evening, and earlier than she is aware of what’s occurring Jess should battle for her survival whereas barefoot and barely geared up with something.

The tempo of the story is surprisingly fast initially. It looks like Jess hardly will get settled earlier than issues go haywire. Enigmatic chief Tyler shortly devolves right into a ineffective, whiny man-child, whereas different members of the cult-like retreat react in their very own methods. Everybody has their very own baggage that they hope to expunge throughout this retreat, one thing which Jess will get to actually run by as she acquires crystals, which grant her entry to a dimension often known as the Gloom. The supernatural points of this journey present up very early, and Jess is a bit of too accepting of what she is seeing, given her background as a scientist.

The enemies that Jess encounters are otherworldly. Those who reside throughout the alternate dimension often known as the Gloom are some type of unholy amalgamation that mixes flora with humanoid creatures, together with floating jellyfish-like creatures and different aggressive vegetation. These enemies solely present up throughout the Gloom, whereas different cult members sporting animal skulls can often be discovered all through the island.

As Jess is just not a fighter by nature, she solely has a couple of weapons accessible to craft, reminiscent of a sage stick or a bundle of sticks which are lit up on the tip, alongside numerous oils that she will both throw at enemies or lay down as traps. Most enemies can actually be prevented, and there’s even a trophy for getting by your complete recreation with out killing a single cult member.

It’s a very good factor not all enemies must be killed, as a result of fight in The Chant is just not its sturdy swimsuit. As talked about, Jess is just not a fighter, and as such her swings are sluggish and her dodge is sort of ineffective. Double-tapping the circle button triggers what’s known as a determined dodge, the place she falls again and crawls away from hazard. It often turns out to be useful however largely is an exaggerated animation that you simply usually remorse by accident triggering.

All fight is short-range, and there’s no option to inform the present well being standing of an enemy till they’re defeated. That is tremendous for regular enemies, however later boss characters make it troublesome to inform how shut you’re to defeating them, which might be irritating. You may solely carry three of every sort of weapon or throwable, and the weapons degrade after a dozen or so profitable hits. Holding L2 slows issues down and means that you can craft extra weapons or throwables, supplied you’ve acquired the requisite assets, and pointing at any merchandise robotically equips it, which is a pleasant contact however undoubtedly takes some getting used to.

You’ll additionally want a while to get used to managing what’s primarily three separate well being bars – Thoughts, Physique, and Spirit. If any of those meters are depleted, Jess suffers numerous results: Thoughts triggers a panic assault, whereby she can not assault anymore and should search a safer location, Physique outright kills her, and depleting Spirit means Jess can not meditate to get well her Thoughts well being. That final bit is vital, as holding the cross button outdoors of fight permits for Jess to get well some thoughts vitality, and if she’s close to sure tables that sport massive crystals then she will fully heal her thoughts virtually freed from cost. It’s not as difficult because it sounds, and getting a grip on sustaining three standing bars isn’t too powerful when you notice that solely the Physique stat actually forces you to start out over from the newest checkpoint. Jess may carry as much as two therapeutic gadgets in every of those three stat classes to get well, one thing which might be upgraded.

There are some mild RPG parts in The Chant, and Jess earns XP for many actions within the recreation. Studying a chunk of lore or watching a reel-to-reel tape on one of many recreation’s many conveniently-placed projectors earns Thoughts expertise, whereas defeating bodily enemies awards Physique expertise, and defeating Gloom enemies nets Spirit factors.

At numerous occasions all through the story, there are additionally branching dialog selections, which award thrice the variety of factors in comparison with different actions. That is all tracked by way of the Stats possibility on the pause display, which might turn out to be useful in case you’re chasing down one of many recreation’s endings.

The Unreal Engine 4 hums alongside within the background, and whereas The Chant appears to be like tremendous, it’s pretty common so far as the graphics are involved. Brass Token did appear to pay particular consideration to pores and skin texture, as a result of as Jess and others get soiled, blood, filth and different substances cake onto their our bodies, gathering in crevices and wrinkles. It’s an fascinating impact, although as a result of the remainder of the character fashions aren’t very life like it could possibly look sort of cartoonish at occasions. Maybe owing to the typical graphics, The Chant has no points operating at 60 frames per second on the PS5 it doesn’t matter what’s occurring.

Regardless of being a lower-budget title, The Chant does benefit from among the PS5’s options. The DualSense adaptive set off performance is used to assault – in case you pull the R2 set off a bit of, Jess will carry out a lightweight assault, whereas pulling it past the resistance level will end in a heavy assault. It is a neat mechanic, although in apply I used to be utilizing heavy assaults on a regular basis as a result of most enemies don’t react shortly sufficient to Jess’ assaults to interrupt her. The LED additionally adjustments colours relying upon the place Jess finds herself, typically matching the colour of the Gloom that she’s inside.

The Chant (PS5) screenshots

The Chant doesn’t overstay its welcome, and will likely be accomplished by most gamers in round eight hours on the Regular issue setting. There are three totally different endings, every dependent upon a single variable – how a lot expertise you’ve gathered within the Thoughts, Physique, or Spirit classes. Whichever has the very best quantity on the finish of the sport dictates which ending you’ll see, and a few are undoubtedly worse than others.

Sadly, aside from beginning a brand new recreation, there is no such thing as a option to replay a piece for that one piece of lore you missed or to decide on a distinct branching dialog selection. A few of these extra trendy post-game choices would have helped incentivize folks to replay the sport.

The Chant is a tremendous first providing from Brass Token. It could be a bit tough across the edges, however general, that is the proper factor to play for these lengthy, darkish nights coming this season. With a brief playtime and three totally different endings to unlock, this must be enjoyable for others to observe as nicely. It will not be the scariest recreation to launch this 12 months, however The Chant has a freaky design to its creatures that can unsettle some late at evening. Steadiness your chakra and take part The Chant in case you’re on the lookout for an honest non secular journey.

7.5