The Chant, a very special review of survival horror

Fear, anxiety, restlessness, healthy terror: feelings and emotions that the human brain is never really satisfied with. The proof of this is the abundance of horror broadcasts confined to the video game industry: spades games that can transport users through narrow corridors, dark rooms, other dimensions, who knows how many and what horrors. The Divine we are talking about today is being tried again. But it does this by mixing the cards on the table well.

All the options we’ve mentioned, in fact, are now almost entirely falling into the repertoire of clichés – especially if developers abuse them without committing to minimal creativity or originality. But The Chant is different: If the comparison is accepted, it tries the same operation that is typical of Midsommar in the movie industry. The monsters are there, but of great interest, and this is also in the game, devoted to the spiritual dimension of individuals. In short, the search for inner balance can lead to gateways that must remain closed.

follows Review by The Chant. We’ve researched and reviewed the PlayStation 5 thoroughly, and we’re sure it will easily interest you.

Story: between souls and prisms

There Narration by The Chant it starts suddenly. We are on an unknown island, right on the dominant cape, and a strange ritual continues: This is evident from the large central structure, which looks like a purely dimensional portal, and the presence of figures dressed in white. I’m wearing weird masks. Something is wrong: in the middle of the process—perhaps aiming to awaken a strange presence or power—one of the women there is pregnant, running away. The ritual cannot continue, the cycle is broken: the woman’s desperate flight does not meet with a positive existence, while strange forces begin to unleash on the island.

Then we move on to the present in our era: we learn that, hero her name is Jess Briars, she continues to experience a “hangover” from a traumatic event that occurred a few years ago. Encouraged by an old friend named Kim – apparently the latter went through the same trauma as the first, but we can’t tell you more – Jess sets out for the faraway island of Glory Island to rest for a few days. , forgotten by the world, where those present are devoted to spiritual seclusion led by guru Tyler.

Kim has been living on the Isle of Glory for several years with others who have had an equally turbulent or traumatic past. But it seems that there is nothing to worry about, prismatic science It promises a remarkable improvement in inner balance as well as a complete recovery of one’s psychic dimension. In short, what better place to heal the unseen wounds of the mind and body? However, nothing is coming back to Jess from the start. The behavior of those present is very similar to a cult; Many places in the Commune, the communal village, are inaccessible; Strange events begin to occur until the occult forces are truly unleashed on the entire island.

Chant is not an open world: its own environments It is reduced to specific areas where the player must face existing enemies, find important objects, or explore the environment to continue the narrative. Despite the limitations in size – the areas are really scarce – including the forested roads, the “residential area” (known as Il Ritiro), the cannery and the mining area. But context is well-managed in almost all its elements, and the fast pace – coupled with good narration and dialogue management, all in Italian and dubbing – takes care of the rest.

As a story, as a disturbing “tale”, The Chant does its job very well, since in fact the encounter between new age and horror is a way that is not practiced in video games today and is, in any case, much less well-known than the others. the general public.. However, if you just want to be scared, this is not the right title. Compare vs. any Dawn or The Quarry has much more distinctive gameplay, but it sacrifices plenty of moments when you move forward or jump out of your chair when your heart is in your throat. This is not necessarily bad.

Gameplay: Mind, Body, Spirit

inside that structure, The Chant is strictly a third-person adventure: it aims first and foremost to tell a story, according to a series of stylistic features borrowed from the most famous so-called “dynamic adventures” of recent years; In addition to the aforementioned Dawn, we are talking about at least The Dark Pictures Anthology, among others. For example, the system connected with the “preferences” of the protagonist can affect the relations between him and other characters, as well as push the plot towards certain branches (but nothing significantly promotes replayability); However, the mechanics of QTEs are completely absent from “quick time events” that require the player to execute a given command at the right time.

The Brass Token product is actually much more than that, Gameplay precise and marked, full of possibilities. What we are about to show did not surprise us, especially in terms of innovations – in our opinion, the main value of production is expression – nor in terms of the robustness of mechanics; however, the game system never claims to be anything surprising and gets along with dignity in what it’s supposed to do. The three main parameters that the hero must always keep an eye on are Mind, Body and Spirit. The idea is to keep them in balance, but it is possible to sacrifice one to strengthen the others: for example, meditation (command X on the controller) reduces Spirit in favor of Mind. It doesn’t make much sense to watch Jess all of a sudden, in the dark, in the woods, in Zen mode, but it works.

Every parameter in between Mind, Body and Spirit affects the surrounding world in a given world. Supernatural events and monster attacks will strain not only the girl’s body (which must withstand blows and it’s game over if the Body’s values ​​reach zero), but also her mind. It is better to avoid staying too long in the dark or near creatures from other worlds: sanity will sink and it will lead to panic attacks. There are consumables to restore values, there are three special herbs that grow a little all over the island but not too many, so we advise you to set them aside in case of extreme need.

exploration in the dark

Chant Island is dangerous. Prismatic science woke up, simplified a little, demons from other worlds. Second, it can appear in various forms, invade game environments with natural obstacles (such as giant plants), or acquire physical consistency through cultists and other creatures. Jess doesn’t have to face them all to move on, but if necessary, she can use certain consumables to craft useful weapons that use sage, the most insignificant creature’s first weak spot. It is therefore possible and useful to play them with improvised natural-based clubs for good reason; other times you’ll have to run away instead.

L’discovery it is essential that the surrounding world, however contained, continues in the main story; In order to overcome the limitations of the environment, the developers rightly thought of placing a number of buildings on the island even in places that should definitely not be. Many doors are logically closed, so you’ll need to find the key or any combination of items in your inventory – a certain ritual symbol, for example, to provide a special way of access. Sometimes the impression is that The Chant wanted a few more arrows in front of a larger-than-expected broadcast; Based on the metaphor, maybe it would be appropriate to just choose some mechanics and insist on them 100% instead of wandering around too much. However, clear from some situations that make a little less sense than others, it’s better to repeat from a product that generally works and is fun.