Miasma Chronicles Review

I’ve been a big fan of XCOM style, tactical turn-based games since 2012 when my first son was born. It not only introduced me to one handed gaming but to the genre itself. XCOM, Fire Emblem, and the Civilization franchise have all become favourites of mine. The genre even got me playing a Gears of War game (damn right – ed)! So, when I saw Miasma Chronicles in the list of games to be reviewed, I couldn’t resist and jumped straight in.

I’ll to be honest; Miasma Chronicles didn’t get off to the greatest of starts. The way the game started, it felt like a sequel the way it approached the story and it felt like I should already know the backstory of the main character Elvis, why he has a glove, and why he’s trying to reach his Mama on the other side of this thing called the Miasma.

The same could also be said about his ‘brother’ Diggs, who’s a robot. Diggs’s personality is borderline stereotypical as well which set a few alarm bells ringing. Reading into his codex Diggs was setup to protect Elvis by his mother to keep him safe, something like this should’ve been explained at the start rather than having to go hunting in the character codex.

The cutscenes are very hit and mix as well, with characters faces looking very awkward when talking. Elvis’s voice also sounds off, a lot of the time he sounds dull or just tired, which is a shame as the world they created looks great.

Before starting there 4 difficulties to choose from which varies from Narrative to ‘Alpha Editor’ choosing Alpha Editor will prevent you from changing the difficulty mid-game so make sure you enjoy excruciating pain before selecting that difficulty! You can also choose between Full & Light Tactical mode, with choosing full making your weapons less predictable.

What makes Miasma Chronicles is that between missions you do have license to free roam the maps, which is essential for picking up resources like med kits and grenades. You’ll also find locked doors which will have more rare items and new weapons for you to use. Unfortunately, this is blighted by some invisible walls which can be very frustrating at times. Another bug bear of mine is that you can only pan the camera horizontally, which can be frustrating at times as one of the characters will point out something across the map, but you can’t properly see it.

Onto the combat then, it really is hit and miss, unless you’re the AI of course – they seem to have unparalleled accuracy. Like all tactical turn-based games you have cover to try and put a shield between yourself and the enemy. However, when behind full cover there should only be a 20% chance to be hit, despite this the enemy has no issue finding its target. They can also shoot from much longer distances which puts you at a disadvantage.

Judging by what I’ve written so far, you’d be forgiven if you thought it was all doom and gloom for Miasma Chronicles, but you’d be wrong. Regular listeners to the Xbox Tavern Podcast may remember earlier in the year when I started The Witcher 3, I wasn’t impressed with what had been previously described as one of the best games of all time. I just didn’t see it, way too many fetch quests, speak to this person then that person whilst navigating what I can only describe as ‘boring’ combat. I didn’t finish it, don’t even think I got halfway through the game, however I can’t say the same about Miasma Chronicles. It just keeps pulling me back for more. Earlier I mentioned the issues with combat, well, you can get around this. If you fancy yourself to be a connoisseur of subterfuge, thanks to the open(ish) nature of each area, you can ambush and take out enemies one by one. This is where the third character who joins your party later in the game comes in handy. Jade is equipped with a sniper(ish) rifle and can silently take out you enemies without alerting the rest of their squad in the area. Once you’ve levelled Elvis up, he can learn an ability called Glove Shock, which acts a great partner to Jade’s Sniper if she can’t take the enemy out in one hit. Going into fights gung-ho can be overwhelming with the number of enemies in one area, so being able to drastically reduce the enemies’ squads before engaging in firefights can be a life and resource saver. However, if you’re like Million Man Ian and you like it fast and hard it can be done, just remember to bring a med pack or ten.

Another aspect of the game I’m enjoying is that the difficulty spikes aren’t huge. A lot of people who are put off by games like XCOM is that one minute you’ve won a battle convincingly, the next, without warning, your whole squad is dead. Miasma Chronicles manages this well, if you find yourself trying to complete a side quest and you venture into an unexplored area, the game will tell you the recommended level, so you don’t find yourself running into a gunfight you won’t survive.

The UI is nicely laid out as well, it’s easy to navigate so you won’t get lost having to press a button 27 times to get to the page you need. This goes for the skill trees as well; they’re laid out well and it’s easy to see which skill you want to unlock next. There’s only 16, both passive and active skills to unlock as well, so you won’t be scratching your head at which one you want to use. The skills you unlock will also help you play the way you want to. You can also easily reset your skills as well so if you wanted to try a different approach to battles, you can.

Conclusion

Despite its flaws Miasma Chronicles is a good but not quite great game that sucks you back in for more and will be a decent pickup for anyone who enjoys tactical turn-based games.