Developer: Brass Token
Publisher: Plaion
Release Date: 3rd November 2022
Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation & Steam
Reviewed on: Xbox Series S
▫️ Code provided by the publisher ▫️
The Chant is the first original IP from boutique developer Brass Token. You play as Jess, a young woman who visits an island retreat to recover from a terrible trauma. My idea of a nice retreat would be yoga and some low fat yoghurt but instead Jess is thrown into a world of rituals, interdimensional demons and a man with a beard who could look like Jesus if you squinted and turned the lights off. Not ideal, poor lass. The Chant is a horror action adventure with a healthy dose of story. To survive Jess will need to find ways to fight the horrors of the Gloom and try to reverse some very poor decisions made by culty beard man.
The world’s worst retreat is situated on an island in the middle of nowhere. It would probably be a pleasant place if it wasn’t for the demonic terrors. The island is a semi-open affair that you need to explore and scavenge. You’ll need to keep a beady eye out for items that will help your survival, such as plants and oils. Lavender, ginger and spirit caps will heal your mind, body and spirit respectively. The Chant is a little different in that it’s not just a single health meter you’ll need to watch. Creatures not only cause you physical damage but they can affect your mental state and send you cuckoo. If you take too much damage to your mind, Jess will have a panic attack and will be unable to fight until she’s pulled herself together.
The Chant has a lot of unique systems. For example you can sacrifice your spirit meter to top up your mind meter. This will help prevent you from losing it at just the wrong moment but you’ll have less spirit to perform abilities such as slowing down time and conjuring attack-based powers. There are no guns and knives on the island so you’ll need to find additional items to craft various weapons such as Witch Sticks, Sage Sticks and Fire Lashes, all of which have benefits depending on what you’re trying to fight and where. Resources are extremely rare. I could never shake the feeling that my ability to stay alive was hanging by a thread because I only had enough for minimal weapons, and every plant I found was immediately used up. As soon as I gained items I was forced to use them. Rather than feeling as though this was creating a Resident Evil style resource management tension, it gave me the feeling that I was on a rail and that the game was deliberately making survival harder rather than letting me carefully manage and choose. It’s very easy to get turned around while exploring the island. Some areas look the same no matter which way you proceed. It’s very maze-like. The one time I did build up a glut of supplies I ended up using it all going round and round and round and round and round a particular location looking for the way forward and instead only finding respawning enemies.
Combat consists of hitting things with sticks. Literally. You can do light attacks and heavy attacks and you can dodge. In fact I’m rather in love with the dodge. There’s a normal dodge and a desperate dodge where you stumble and are vulnerable until you get up again. It’s a clever little move that saved me more than hurt me but it’s a real gamble. There is also a counter to psychic attacks but I found that very clumsy to use.
I’m not a frames per second expert/obsessive but things felt a little under par. I had mild motion sickness throughout the whole game. I can’t give the probable tech reason for that or claim it’s down to the framerate but in my opinion the game needs some optimisation for a smoother and more comfortable experience. Just for transparency, I played through on the Xbox Series S, but my little white box has coped with much bigger games with no issues (this is not the place for a “potato” debate). Let’s be very clear. The Chant is a AA title, not AAA, and was created by a small team of developers. I wouldn’t expect the performance or graphics of a much larger game. As far as I’m aware optimisation is something they are working on and I get the impression the game will be well-supported moving forwards. In the meantime the current performance is certainly no deal-breaker; just in need of a good old-fashioned tweak certainly on the Series S.
Graphics are nice, if a little murky at times, but there are some good character models and best of all some great enemies designs. The game is held together well with a great story. Jess is a likable character with an intriguing backstory. Although she is a little quick to accept the bizarre and terrifying events around her she’s fun to spend time with and well voiced. The story itself has an interesting seventies cult underbelly vibe that I really digged, man. The narrative is well paced and held my interest all the way to the end.
The Chant is a decent horror action adventure. It’s got a good story and some interesting characters. While it isn’t scary as such I did fall victim to a couple of jump scares which caused me to launch the dog off my lap and lose ten minutes off my life. So Bravo, Brass Token, for that. As mentioned earlier, this is their first original IP and I think the team has a bright future. I would very much like to see more narrative-focused games from them. The game isn’t perfect but there’s a glimmer of something there that makes me want to see more from them in the future.
-S.J. Hollis
