Info about Miasma Chronicles:

Official game description:
AVAILABLE NOW FROM 505 GAMES
============================
CHECK OUT "THE BLOODLINE" FROM OUR FRIENDS AT HOOK!
===================================================
FROM THE CREATORS OF MIASMA CHRONICLES
======================================
About the Game
==============
In the not-too-distant future. America has been torn apart by a savage force known only as the ‘Miasma’.  
Meet Elvis, a young man brought to the mining town of Sedentary as a baby. Left by his mother in the care of a robotic older ‘brother’ and given a mysterious glove with which he can control the Miasma.  
Join the brothers on a quest across a post-apocalyptic wasteland to find the answers they crave. Answers which may change the course of human history forever.  
**• Realtime exploration gameplay meets tactical, turn-based combat with RPG elements.**  
**• Explore rich beautiful environments meeting outlandish characters.**  
**• Upgradable weapons and abilities give your heroes the edge in combat.**  
**• An involving fantasy story through which you learn the truth behind the Miasma.**  
From the creators of Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, comes a beautifully crafted tactical adventure you won’t forget.

Release date: 23 May, 2023

Categories: Tactical Combat, Character Progression, Exploration, Stealth Gameplay, Single-player Story, Weapon Customization, Character Customization


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Highly enjoyable and fun game (weight 0.59): Players overwhelmingly enjoyed the game, finding it entertaining, fun, and a pleasant experience. Many highlighted its overall quality and engaging nature, making it a worthwhile play.
- Excellent tactical combat system (weight 0.58): The turn-based tactical combat system received significant praise for its depth, strategic options, and satisfying execution. Players particularly enjoyed the unique stealth and ambush mechanics, as well as the Miasma powers, which add fresh elements to the genre.
- Stunning graphics and art direction (weight 0.46): The game's visuals, art style, and world design were consistently lauded as stunning and beautiful. Players appreciated the detailed environments, high production value, and the effective portrayal of the post-apocalyptic setting.
- Engaging and well-written story (weight 0.28): The story was well-received for being engaging, immersive, and well-structured with interesting plot twists. Characters were also noted as well-written and contributing positively to the narrative.
- Improved successor to Mutant Year Zero (weight 0.24): Many players who enjoyed 'Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden' found this game to be a worthy and improved successor. It retains the core appeal of its predecessor while enhancing various aspects like graphics and mechanics.
- Compelling world and characters (weight 0.14): The game's world-building and characters were praised for being interesting, unique, and endearing. Diggs, the robot companion, was particularly singled out as a charismatic and likable character.
- High-quality voice acting and sound (weight 0.11): The voice acting was highlighted as surprisingly solid and professional, adding personality and depth to the characters and the world. The overall sound design also contributed to the immersive experience.
- Immersive atmosphere and setting (weight 0.05): The game successfully creates a strong and captivating atmosphere through its setting, ambient sounds, and soundtrack, enhancing player immersion.
- Great enemy variety and design (weight 0.05): Players appreciated the diverse range of enemies, noting their varied designs, unique abilities, and interesting mechanics, which contributed to engaging combat encounters.

Common complaints:
- Repetitive & Unbalanced Combat (weight 0.95): Combat is frequently described as repetitive, boring, and lacking strategic depth. Players found it frustrating due to unbalanced difficulty spikes, unfair enemy advantages, and a reliance on specific, often tedious, tactics. The overall gameplay experience is often seen as clunky and uninspired.
- Poor, Rushed Story & Ending (weight 0.81): Players frequently criticized the game's narrative, citing a rushed, abrupt, and unsatisfying ending. The story is often described as clichéd, uninspired, and poorly written, with plot holes and a lack of depth. Character arcs, especially the protagonist's, are seen as underdeveloped or nonsensical.
- Buggy & Unoptimized Performance (weight 0.79): A significant number of players reported numerous bugs and glitches, ranging from minor visual issues to game-breaking problems that caused crashes, prevented progression, or required frequent restarts. Optimization issues, including frame rate drops and stuttering, were also commonly mentioned.
- Short Game, Low Value (weight 0.61): Many players felt the game was too short for its price, often comparing its scope to a DLC rather than a full game. The lack of post-completion content or New Game+ features also contributed to a perception of low replay value.
- Unlikable & Annoying Characters (weight 0.55): The main character, Elvis, and other companions are widely disliked, described as annoying, generic, and inconsistent in their personalities and motivations. Players felt little connection to the cast, which negatively impacted immersion and enjoyment.
- Over-reliance on Tedious Stealth (weight 0.26): The game's heavy reliance on stealth mechanics is a point of contention. While sometimes effective, stealth is often described as tedious, monotonous, and forced, with limited tools and an overemphasis on pre-combat assassinations. This design choice can make normal encounters feel overly difficult.
- Limited Progression & Customization (weight 0.25): Players expressed disappointment with the limited variety and impact of weapons, mods, and skills. Skill trees are seen as shallow, offering few meaningful choices or build diversity, and many skills are considered useless. This lack of progression depth contributes to repetitive gameplay.
- High & Unfair Difficulty (weight 0.22): The game's difficulty is a frequent complaint, with many finding it too hard, especially in the early game or on higher settings. Players noted unfair enemy advantages, poor balancing, and a lack of intuitive controls or clear mechanics, leading to frustration.
- Clunky UI & Controls (weight 0.18): The user interface and controls are often criticized for being unintuitive, clunky, and poorly adapted for PC players. This leads to frustration, especially for those familiar with standard tactical RPG conventions.
- Inferior to Predecessor (weight 0.09): Many players felt the game was too similar to its predecessor, Mutant Year Zero, but inferior in most aspects. This led to a perception of the game being unoriginal, a step backward, or a 'cheap copy' rather than an innovative new title.
- Limited Companion System (weight 0.06): The companion system is seen as limited, with players often feeling forced to use specific characters due to party size restrictions or a lack of utility in others. This limits strategic choice and character bonding.

Gameplay feedback:
- XCOM-style tactical combat (weight 0.51): The game features XCOM-style turn-based tactical combat, often combined with stealth and ambush mechanics. Players can utilize cover, overwatch, and character abilities. The combat system is generally well-executed and enjoyable, encouraging strategic planning and environmental interaction.
- Emphasis on stealth mechanics (weight 0.28): Stealth is a core gameplay mechanic, allowing players to thin out enemy groups before engaging in full combat. Players can use silenced weapons and abilities for silent takedowns and ambushes. While effective, especially in the early to mid-game, some players found the stealth system inconsistent or less viable in later stages.
- Variable difficulty curve (weight 0.22): Player opinions on difficulty vary widely, from finding the game too easy (especially on lower settings or with effective stealth) to experiencing an insane difficulty curve on higher settings. The game's balance seems to shift, becoming easier after certain progression points or more challenging in specific encounters.
- Limited party size (weight 0.12): The party is limited to three characters, with two often being mandatory, restricting team composition variety. This small squad size, combined with large enemy groups, can make stealth tedious or force a specific playstyle, especially as the game progresses.
- Limited silent weapon options (weight 0.1): The availability of silent takedown options is limited, primarily to two silenced weapons and one specific character ability. This restriction can make stealth less flexible or repetitive, as only low-tier or isolated enemies can be reliably eliminated silently.
- Underutilized Miasma powers (weight 0.1): Miasma powers introduce an interesting strategic layer, offering unique abilities. However, their high resource cost and limited replenishment often restrict their frequent use, leading some players to rarely utilize them in general combat strategies.
- Challenging enemy AI (weight 0.08): Enemy AI and difficulty scaling can be frustrating, particularly on higher settings where enemies may appear to 'cheat' with increased stats or extra moves. Some encounters require significant pre-combat stealth to be manageable, as direct engagements can be overwhelming.
- Limited weapon variety (weight 0.08): Weapon variety is somewhat limited, with only four main categories and new weapons often offering only minor statistical improvements or cosmetic changes. This can lead to a feeling of lack of progression in terms of weapon diversity.
- Underwhelming skill trees (weight 0.08): The skill tree system is perceived as underwhelming, with many abilities overlapping or offering minor impacts on combat style. Character progression through skill trees can feel repetitive, and some talents only become effective late in the game.
- Cooldowns persist between fights (weight 0.08): A significant point of contention is that skill cooldowns and health do not fully reset between combat encounters on higher difficulties. This forces players to manage resources carefully across multiple engagements, adding a layer of challenge but also potential frustration.
- Early level cap (weight 0.07): The game's length varies, with main story and side quests typically taking 15-20 hours. However, many players report reaching the level cap of 25 well before the end of the game, which can diminish the sense of progression in later stages.
- Linear map exploration (weight 0.07): The game features exploration of interconnected, linear maps. Players can search for items, secrets, and upgrades, adding a layer of adventure and resource gathering outside of combat.
- Linear character progression (weight 0.06): Character progression is generally linear and tied to story advancement and exploration. While easy to pick up, some players found the character growth repetitive, with exploration being a key source of progression.

Performance notes:
- Mixed Performance & Optimization (weight 0.22): Player feedback on performance is mixed. While some report stable gameplay and good FPS, others experience frequent frame drops, stutters, and significant lag, especially in specific areas or during combat. Optimization is generally considered passable to mediocre, with performance sometimes degrading further into the game.
- Minor Bugs Reported (weight 0.19): Most players report a relatively bug-free experience, with many stating they encountered no significant issues. However, a few minor bugs were noted, such as occasional AI glitches, rare changes in enemy positions after saving, and incorrect ability range highlights.
- Occasional Game Crashes (weight 0.16): Crashes are reported by some players, though often described as infrequent or occurring after long play sessions. Some users found solutions like undervolting the CPU, while others experienced crashes with a UE4 error.
- Demanding PC Performance (weight 0.16): The game is generally demanding on PC hardware, requiring a decent rig or adjustments to graphical settings for optimal performance. While some high-end systems run it well, others with average PCs had to lower settings significantly to achieve smooth gameplay.
- Good Handheld Performance (weight 0.04): The game generally performs well on handheld devices like Steam Deck and ROG Ally, offering a good experience. However, Steam Deck users might need to use FSR or lower settings, and it can be a battery hog.
- Mixed Graphics Quality (weight 0.03): Opinions on graphics are divided. Some find the graphics high quality, while others describe them as unremarkable, specifically pointing out poor character facial expressions.
- No DLSS Support (weight 0.01): The game lacks DLSS support, offering only FSR, which some players found resulted in a blurred visual experience.
- Improved by Patches (weight 0.01): Recent patches have significantly improved the game's overall situation, though some further adjustments are still desired.
- FMF2 Launch Issue (weight 0.01): One user had to launch a different executable to enable FMF2, which prevented playtime and achievements from being tracked.
- Proton Compatibility Required (weight 0.01): Some users on Linux-based systems needed to force compatibility to Proton Experimental for the game to launch successfully.
- Fan Noise & Blurry Screen (weight 0.01): One player reported their fan spinning loudly and the screen appearing blurry, indicating a potential hardware strain or display issue.
- Fast Shader Compilation (weight 0.01): The game does not require extensive time for shader compilation upon launch, which is a positive for player experience.
- Ultrawide Display Support (weight 0.01): The game fully supports 21:9 ultrawide displays, with all UI elements, cutscenes, and combat displaying correctly.
- Rich Particle Effects (weight 0.01): The game features many moving and swirling particles and lightning effects, contributing to its visual style.
- Fully Voiced Over (weight 0.01): All dialogue and narrative elements in the game are fully voiced over.

Recommendations:
- Recommended, especially on sale (weight 0.55): Many players recommend the game, especially when purchased at a discount. While some feel it's worth full price, the consensus leans towards waiting for a sale to maximize value. The game is generally seen as a worthwhile experience for its price point, particularly for fans of the genre.
- Great for XCOM/Mutant Year Zero fans (weight 0.25): A significant number of reviews highlight the game's strong resemblance and appeal to fans of 'Mutant Year Zero' and 'XCOM'. Players who enjoyed these titles are highly likely to enjoy 'Miasma Chronicles', often viewing it as a worthy successor or similar experience.
- Solid turn-based tactics (weight 0.17): The game is widely recommended for players who enjoy turn-based tactical games, particularly those with stealth elements or a more relaxed strategic experience. It's seen as a solid entry in the genre, offering a good challenge and engaging gameplay for strategy enthusiasts.
- Desire for future content/sequel (weight 0.09): Players express a strong desire for future content, including DLC or a sequel. This indicates a positive overall experience and a wish for the developers to continue building upon the game's foundation, suggesting potential for further improvement and expansion.
- Adjust difficulty for best experience (weight 0.03): Players suggest adjusting the difficulty settings for the best experience. Some recommend playing on higher difficulties for a challenge, while others advise starting on standard or light tactical modes to get comfortable with the mechanics.
- Mixed TRPG genre standing (weight 0.02): There's a mixed sentiment regarding the game's standing within the TRPG genre. Some consider it among the best, while others believe there are superior alternatives, or even suggest the developers focus on different game types.

Other player notes:
- Story quality is mixed (weight 0.29): Player opinions on the story are mixed, with some finding it interesting and enjoyable, especially early on, while others criticize its predictability, clichés, and a perceived decline in quality towards the end. The length is also a point of contention, with some finding it too short and others deeming it appropriate.
- Miasma and Elvis's quest (weight 0.16): The core premise revolves around a post-apocalyptic America ravaged by a mysterious substance called Miasma. The protagonist, Elvis, accompanied by his robot brother Diggs, searches for his mother, who is linked to the Miasma's origin, using a special glove to control it.
- Moderate game length (weight 0.11): The game's length is generally considered to be around 20-30 hours for completion, including most side quests. Some players find this length appropriate, while others, especially for a turn-based tactical game, consider it relatively short.
- Side quests lack depth (weight 0.05): Side quests are present but are often criticized for lacking depth and being linear. While they offer additional context and exploration opportunities, some players feel they are not substantial enough and that the maximum level is reached too early.
- Flexible save system (weight 0.03): The game features a convenient 'save anytime' option, which is appreciated by players. However, some advise frequent saving due to occasional freezes, suggesting minor technical stability issues.

Emotions:
- Satisfaction (weight 0.32): Players expressed satisfaction due to the game's high overall quality, encompassing engaging stories, well-developed characters, and immersive world-building. The tactical turn-based combat system, including stealth mechanics and strategic depth, was consistently highlighted as enjoyable and challenging. Additionally, improved graphics, stable performance, and quality-of-life features contributed to a positive experience.
- Disappointment (weight 0.24): Disappointment stemmed primarily from the game's narrative shortcomings, such as an uninspired plot, bland characters, and a short, abrupt, or unsatisfying ending. Players also cited poor optimization, repetitive missions, limited progression systems (talent trees, weapon selection), and a general feeling of the game being unpolished or not living up to the standards of its predecessor, Mutant Year Zero.
- Frustration (weight 0.19): Frustration was largely caused by technical issues like frequent crashes, bugs (including game-breaking ones), and poor optimization. Players also found the difficulty curve unbalanced, with unfair hit chances and punishing combat. Other sources of frustration included unintuitive controls, repetitive gameplay, and annoying character dialogues or plot points.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.04): Players enjoyed the game for its engaging story and characters, combined with solid gameplay mechanics, particularly the stealth and turn-based combat. The immersive world-building, appealing visuals, and overall atmosphere also contributed significantly to a positive and fun experience.
- Excitement (weight 0.04): Excitement was generated by the game's immersive world, engaging story, and strategic combat, which players found addictive and challenging. The stunning art style, character dynamics, and unexpected plot twists also contributed to a thrilling experience, often leading to a desire for sequels or expansions.
- Anger (weight 0.03): Anger was primarily directed at game-breaking bugs, perceived developer laziness, and poor design choices, such as unfair combat mechanics or frustrating character behaviors. Some players also felt scammed by the game's price in relation to its content or quality.
- Joy (weight 0.02): Joy was a result of the game's overall fun and enjoyable experience, often highlighted by engaging combat, exploration, and improvements over previous titles. The game's humor and consistent quality also contributed to this positive emotion.
- Annoyance (weight 0.02): Annoyance arose from frequent bugs, particularly those affecting critical moments like boss fights, and issues with voice acting or character personalities. Repetitive combat, unnecessary mechanics, and frustrating resource management (e.g., expensive consumables, long cooldowns) also contributed to player irritation.
- Neutrality (weight 0.01): Neutrality was expressed when players found the gameplay, story, or companions to be average, without strong positive or negative feelings. Aspects like difficulty balance and the relevance of player decisions also contributed to a sense of indifference.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom was caused by repetitive combat encounters, a generic or clichéd story, and the game becoming routine over time. Players felt the gameplay lacked variety and innovation, leading to a monotonous experience.
- Engagement (weight 0.01): Players felt engaged by the challenging combat that demanded tactical thinking, as well as the compelling story, characters, and world-building. The dialogues and exploration also contributed to a captivating experience.
- Confusion (weight 0.01): Confusion stemmed from technical issues like random crashes, a complex or unintuitive control scheme, and narrative elements such as strange story twists or unclear setting details. Some players also found specific voice acting choices perplexing.
- Hope (weight 0.01): Hope was expressed for the game's future, including potential improvements, more companions, and customization options. Players also hoped for sequels that would build upon the world design and address previous shortcomings, particularly in story and RPG elements.
- Amusement (weight 0.01): Amusement was derived from the game's humor, absurd plot developments, and charismatic characters, particularly robots. The game's premise and companion dynamics also provided moments of lighthearted enjoyment.
- Appreciation (weight 0.01): Players appreciated the game's world design, visuals, and unique universe. The skill system, storytelling, strategic depth, and character development were also recognized as strong points.
- Surprise (weight 0): Surprise arose from the game's unexpected quality, engaging story, and its ability to captivate players who were not typically fans of the genre. Some were also surprised by the game being overlooked by others.
- Relief (weight 0): Relief was felt due to the game's overall smooth experience, specifically the lack of bugs and glitches. Players also appreciated not having to deal with frustrating mechanics like base management or permanent character death found in other games.
- Disgust (weight 0): Disgust was expressed towards broken and buggy gameplay, as well as a poor plot and narration. Players found the story and character development to be particularly unappealing.
- Dislike (weight 0): Dislike was directed at specific story segments and certain companions, as well as the combat system, indicating particular elements that players found unenjoyable.
- Sadness (weight 0): Sadness was expressed regarding the game's perceived failure and issues with the combat system, indicating a sense of disappointment over unfulfilled potential.}