A few weeks ago I was browsing through my Steam library, debating what to play, filtering down my list to those with a turn based tag and sorting them by release date to try and contribute something useful to the readers. After peeling out a few that had already been covered on Turn Based Lovers I was left with a single option.
Chrono Ark
Normally with a review I would give you a summary of thoughts at the end. This time I am going to put them up front. Chrono Ark is my favourite turn based game of 2024 so far. We do still have a few months left but I can’t see it dropping off the podium. While not flawless, it has consumed a few weeks of my life and I need to exert my psychosis over it by writing this review.
So what actually is Chrono Ark? It’s a roguelite deckbuilder… with a JRPG twist. That means alongside card battles, you are going to be dealing with a cast of colourful characters and a surprisingly deep story. It was released in May of this year on Steam after 4 years in early access and has actually been a smash hit! In fact, if you were to look at the most successful Roguelite deckbuilders of the past 5 years, this actually cracks the top 10.
Suppose you happen to be reading this and wondering how it can be so successful when you have heard noone talking about it. It appears the game’s success was localised mostly to the eastern side of the world and didn’t make such a big impact in the west. So, let’s jump into why I think it might be worth your time.
The Story
The opening cutscene will set a rather grim tone that is not so immediately apparent if you skip it. Humanity has suffered a global catastrophe, the earth rapidly becoming uninhabitable. Talented scientists from around the world come together to create the Ark Project, a virtual world where humanity can live while their bodies remain in a state of cryostasis, awaiting the Earth to become a livable place again. Yet this supposed place of safe harbour became a prison for those trapped inside it.
You are introduced as Lucy, the Child of Prophecy, who will activate the central clock tower and undo the evil that has affected the Ark. To do that, you will need to enlist the aid of investigators, other people living aboard this Ark who have trained their skills to fight back against the enemies that stand in your way.
I am not going to get into spoilers because you should go in relatively blind, but this game achieves the rare feat of being a roguelite deckbuilder with a strong story aspect. In most games of this genre, you die and simply start over. Here, it is baked into the story by being part of the ‘Chrono’ aspect. It’s not a game over, simply another time loop on your quest to save the Ark.
What most impressed me is how the game uses this to both create twists in the plot and change the overall goals. The initial levels can get repetitive and the plot is occasionally pushed forward by some deus ex machina but I have to commend Chrono Ark for its vision and willingness to dive into some philosophical questions around this temporary haven as well as getting rather dark with its non linear storytelling.
The Cast
I mentioned a cast of colour characters, so let’s talk about them. There are a whopping 20 characters to choose from alongside Lucy herself, and in standard JRPG fashion, they are all hyper-stylised with shonen-esque powers. Some people are going to be put off by this, alongside the chibi art style in the overworld, but I swiftly got used to it and do enjoy the variety of designs.
Initially, you will set forth with only 2 investigators of your choice, and over the course of the journey, you will recruit 2 more to form a total party of 4. Many of these will be initially locked, enabling you to focus on learning a few decks before expanding out as you reach new milestones and get new characters. Each investigator starts with their own basic deck, which can be fleshed out more by levelling them up and finding limited skill books along the way.
If you were to look at any individual investigator, you might find the deck options a little lacking, as each one only has around 10 unique skills to complement some generic skills that anyone can learn. When you combine 4 of those mini decks as well as Lucy’s skills however you end up with a sizable amount of deck variation.
Some characters have very notable synergies with others, but broadly, there is a lot of room to experiment and build a strategy you like. Just be aware that card acquisition opportunities for each character are often in shorter supply than your standard deck builder, so you will have to use some level of improvisation rather than grinding out that perfect deck.
What I do absolutely love about these characters is that all 20 have very distinct feeling mechanics and usually at least 2 different build routes, including some that allow role-switching. It’s not uncommon in games for attackers to have different styles but even the healers in this game have noticeable differences.
One utilises a damaging whip which inflicts short term pain for a bigger heal later while another generates barriers that heal as long as they aren’t broken. All characters (maybe not Phoenix) feel viable, and it feels great when the synergistic skills start flowing.
It’s not all positive, though; Chrono Ark also includes a Persona-style friendship system, where you can give certain gifts to each investigator to learn more about their backstory and get insights into their character. This in itself is not a problem; however, the items that will raise friendship feel rather arbitrary for some characters, and grinding them out can be a pain.
I know JRPG players love a grind, but I would advise people to save their time and just look up a guide to expedite this section of the game, especially as friendship maxing is required for the best ending.
The Map
Teammates acquired. Time to venture forth and retrieve the time shards. Chrono Ark forgoes the standard system that you might see in games like FTL or Slay the Spire. Instead of a system where you pick between maybe 2 or 3 options, each of the 5 areas you will go through on a standard run will have a semi-open map which may feature some pathways locked by enemies as well as a number of interactable nodes.
Each map will certainly feature a shop and a treasure room, but all other points will give you a choice between 1 of 2 options. I would have loved to see a bit more variety in these sections because after a few runs, you will have seen the majority of the locations you can visit, and very few are added over the course of the story.
The slightly open nature of the map does add a slightly deeper level of strategy, allowing players to visit locations in the order they wish, but I can’t help but feel it adds a bit of extra padding to an already fairly long run time. You can expect a full game of Chrono Ark to set you back 2+ hours, assuming you make it all the way to the final boss.
The Combat
Here we come to the main blocker where I can see a lot of people bouncing off the title. The combat is rather overwhelming to start off with, and the tutorial just throws information at you, assuming it will all stick. None of this is helped by a UI that needs to display everything that is occurring for all 4 party members and skill descriptions that suffer from slightly confusing translations. I mean, just take a look at the screenshot below. Information overload.
It’s not quite as complex as it looks but it takes some getting used too. Along the left you have your available cards and mana resources as well as character health along the bottom. Simple. Then Chrono Ark starts layering in seemingly random systems which end up giving a rather chaotic feeling.
- Some cards have a red number? Well, that’s because each time a character plays a skill, it increases the cost of their subsequent skills, encouraging you to not solely rely on one character.
- But why are there two health bars? Until you get hit again, the green is the amount you can heal without penalty for the amount of healing. It also has the Darkest Dungeon system, where you can survive on no health but then have a chance to die from subsequent attacks, making healing a consistently tense juggling act.
- Oh god, are there more abilities along the bottom? So, each character can also pin one ability that they essentially have in hand at all times… at an increased cost—flexibility with a detriment.
I haven’t even covered exchanges and the standby option, alongside every character having unique mechanics and a myriad of buffs/debuffs it is an incredibly imposing wall of systems. If you can push past the initial learning phase to get a feel for how they all work together then the game starts to fall into place. I can’t deny it’s a big ask though.
The average enemies you encounter in an area will quickly be relegated to cannon fodder, however the boss fights to progress to the next are going to be checks on both your party skills and your reading comprehension. Each area has multiple possible bosses, and each one comes with its own unique mechanics.
The fact every character and boss feels so unique is a testament to the game’s character design, but it further adds to the overwhelming feel of the combat, and it’s going to take you a few runs until you get into the rhythm of fighting each. A special nod needs to be given to the penultimate fight which is the hypest fight I have ever seen in a deck builder, if a little frustrating at times.
Lucy also needs her own small section, she is part of your party but acts as the commander. Rather than being a specific fighter, investing in her allows you to increase both your max mana or allow the selection of special skills to your deck that allow you to draw more cards or provide more flexibility from your existing cards.
It’s a fantastic system that asks you to carefully weigh up investment in your fighters against the utility of helping them get the right draws and boosting their effectiveness. Resources needed to level up must be carefully rationed, so choose wisely, as you will never be able to max out both draws and party members.
The Other Stuff
Sadly, there is a distinct lack of voice acting throughout the game, which can make some of the lore dumps feel a bit long-winded if your mind is fresh off chaining 20 skills together in quick succession. Combine this with the fact that most characters boil down to a single character trait, and I ended up feeling more attached to the character’s skills I particularly liked rather than the characters themselves.
All the extra sound design that didn’t go towards character voices must have instead been put into the soundtrack, which features an eclectic mix of metal, EDM/dubstep, jazz, and even flamenco-inspired tracks. Filled with absolute bangers, almost every boss has their own tune that perfectly suits the fight and hypes the player up, especially for the final bosses. I am often not a huge game soundtrack guy, but several of these could easily fit into my playlist.
Finally I want to shout out the cutscenes. Almost every character has at least a couple of moves that come with a very short animation attached which goes some way to making fights feel dynamic. There are some particular notable boss cutscenes as well which had me grinning all the way through. It’s clear a lot of passion went into them and in a genre that doesn’t tend to go quite as hard on the visuals.
Final Words
You already know my opinion. A game has to be doing something seriously right for me to finish it, grind out the alternate ending, AND THEN continue to grind for the true ending. This is one of my favourite games of 2024.
Having said that, Chrono Ark is still one of those games I absolutely wouldn’t blame anyone for dropping, in many ways it can be confusing and repetitive. To my mind though, it’s one of those rare titles that manages to try something different and stick the landing. If you like deckbuilders and want something that innovates a bit in the genre, then you owe it to yourself to give this one a shot and see why it was so successful. Now, if you excuse me, I have to keep grinding for the true ending.
