Prepare for an adventure like none other. In this real-time meets turn-based tactical game, your skills will be tested. Do you have what it takes to embark on a quest across the apocalyptic wasteland while the force, known only as Miasma, grows stronger? Can you save humanity before it is too late?
Story
In Miasma Chronicles you will embark on a journey to save humanity. Two brothers, Elvis and his robot brother Diggs, are tasked with finding a way through the Miasma. Their goal is to find the hero everyone has been looking for. The one that gave Elvis the mysterious glove that can control the Miasma itself.
Along the way you will run into a very colorful cast of characters. Some you might only meet once, while others might join your party and help you along the way. You must help the people that are left and find out what the Miasma is.
Audio
The audio in Miasma Chronicles is fantastic. All of the characters are full of life and emotion. Whether you are out exploring or just walking through town, there are always characters around you living in the world and having conversations about the game’s current events. It can be the people in the town worried about an attack or the monsters out in the wilderness cursing you for killing their brothers. Every conversation is an enjoyment to listen to. You will often find yourself stopping to listen to what people say.
Amongst all the loot you can find throughout the world, there are many audio logs full of lore. Every audio log is fully voiced by what seems to be different people. These logs might tell you of the events that happened during the appearance of the Miasma, or they might give you hints for something you will need to know later. Either way, it’s worthwhile to listen to each log as you find them.
Gameplay
There are two modes in Miasma Chronicles. The primary mode is real-time exploration. The second mode is turn-based tactical combat. The two modes work seamlessly together throughout the whole game.
In the real-time exploration mode, you will be free to explore the world. You can roam around each location without limits. You can explore the town to meet all the interesting people there. Outside the town, you will want to explore to find as much loot as possible. The loot ranges from lore and consumables to upgrades and even new weapons. All of these are very valuable to help you progress throughout the game. You might be burning through those consumables pretty fast, depending on your difficulty level. So it will be essential to keep an eye out for them lying around.
Often while exploring a location, you will run into enemy characters. At this point, you will want to switch to the stealth version of real-time exploration. This will allow you to sneak around the enemy if you choose not to engage. Sometimes you don’t have a choice and have to fight. You can split the party up into individual characters to position them around the battlefield before starting the fight. When split up, the characters can hide behind cover. This makes them undetectable to enemies while you set up the rest of the party.
Once you have everyone in position, then the turn-based tactical mode can be activated. If you have any stealth-based attacks, you could pick off some enemies that are out of sight of the others without alerting anyone. If this happens, the fight will end, allowing you to reposition again before engaging. If you don’t kill an enemy in one shot, or one of his allies sees him get shot, then full combat will be activated, and all other enemies will be alerted.
This is where the real fun begins. Miasma Chronicles really shines once full combat mode begins. All of the player’s characters go first. Then the enemy will take its turn. Most weapons will not kill an enemy in a single hit. This will force you to look at every possible option before making a move.
Do you want to split your forces? Or would it be better to focus all your firepower on a single target? Can you get in to flank the target without risking them flanking you on their turn? Every choice matters.
Once you gain enough experience points to level up, you will want to figure out what abilities you want to spend your skill points on for your characters. The skill tree is broken up into 4 quadrants for each character. No need to stress about making the right decision on your first go, though. Miasma Chronicles actually encourages players to experiment. Every skill point can be recalled and used for a different ability to change your play style. It’s a nice feature that allows for more tactical freedom in the game.
Miasma Chronicles has several game settings. There are varying degrees of difficulty. There is even a light or heavy tactical option in the settings. It is important for games to have a wide range of settings so that any level of player can enjoy the game. And this is a game worth enjoying.
Visuals
Everything in Miasma Chronicles looks superb. The developer’s previous game Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, was also really good-looking, so I had high expectations. They definitely did not hold back on this game when it comes to the visuals.
All of the characters are highly detailed. Every weapon looks realistic and changes when you add or remove attachments. All of the enemy classes look unique and interesting. Even the Miasma feels alive as particles of it fly around the different locations.
Every location is unique and enjoyable to explore. It all has a post-apocalyptic look to it, but not the generic look we are all used to. You can see the effects the Miasma has had on each location differently. It makes it worth exploring just to see what happened.
Hopes
I never ran into any technical problems or things I could not stand while playing the game both on my Steam Deck and PC. The only thing that I could hope for is more content. The developers are active right now, helping anyone who ran into problems while playing.
After they are all done with that, hopefully, the developers have more contact planned for this wonderful game. Whether it be additional abilities and weapons or more characters and extra story content. I look forward to seeing what else they can add.
Conclusion
I had a lot of fun playing Miasma Chronicles. It was top on my wishlist since the moment I saw it announced. I thoroughly enjoyed their first game Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden. I am happy to report that I enjoyed this game even more. The unforgiving combat was, of course, my favorite part of the game. Being that I am a turn-based lover.
However, the story was also just as good. All of the characters were memorable and enjoyable. The story was exciting and kept me interested the whole way through. I couldn’t wait to see what happened next.
I think one of the biggest things for me was the environment. The game just felt so alive. Everywhere I went, people or monsters were carrying on a conversation. The Miasma was always twirling and twisting. Threatening anything and everything around it. The interactions with the characters and the environment felt so real and genuine.
I won’t be surprised if Miasma Chronicles continues to hold one of my top spots at the end of the year. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about the game. If you loved the developer’s first game, you will love this one even more. If you are into turn-based games, which is probably why you are here, then stop waiting and go get this game. You aren’t going to regret it.
The developer, The Breaded Ladies, graciously provided a copy of this game.
