Chronos: Before the Ashes Review Summary

Appealing and consistent visual design: The game boasts a visually appealing aesthetic with detailed environments, impressive lighting, and a consistent art style. The graphics are often described as beautiful and fitting for the game's fairytale-ish narrative.

Enjoyable and entertaining experience: The game is generally enjoyable, fun, and addictive, providing a concise and entertaining experience. Reviewers appreciated its charm, interesting ideas, and moments where it shines, making it a worthwhile way to spend time.

Well-designed, rewarding puzzle integration: The game features well-designed and rewarding puzzles that require critical thinking and observation. These puzzles are integrated into the environment, offering a refreshing change of pace and a sense of accomplishment when solved.

Balanced and accessible gameplay: The game offers a balanced and accessible experience with manageable difficulty, fluid gameplay, and intuitive mechanics. It provides a fair challenge without being overly punishing, making it easy for players to get into and enjoy.

Varied realms, unique boss mechanics: The game includes varied realms with distinct visual styles and interesting bosses with unique attack patterns. Bosses have exploitable weaknesses, rewarding strategic play.

Clunky, slow, unresponsive combat: The combat system is frequently described as clunky, slow, and unresponsive, with issues in controls, hitboxes, and enemy reactions. Many reviewers found the combat frustrating and unsatisfying, citing poor lock-on, limited weapon variety, and exploitable mechanics.

Inferior to Souls/Remnant games: The game is often compared unfavorably to other Soulslike games and the Remnant series, with reviewers noting its simplicity, lack of depth, and clunky combat compared to these titles. Some felt it didn't live up to the Soulslike label or the standards set by Remnant: From the Ashes.

Unobtainable achievements due to bugs: Several achievements are unobtainable due to unimplemented features or bugs, preventing players from achieving 100% completion. This issue has persisted since the game's release, frustrating completionists.

Limited character customization/progression: The game offers very limited options for character customization and progression, with few choices beyond gender selection and a lack of meaningful impact on gameplay. Reviewers expressed disappointment with the superficial character building system and limited weapon variety.

Aging mechanic is ineffective gimmick: The aging mechanic, where the character ages with each death, is considered a gimmick that doesn't significantly impact gameplay. Reviewers found the stat changes and abilities gained through aging to be minor and largely ineffective.

Focus on exploration and puzzles: The game emphasizes exploration, environmental puzzle-solving, and item management, drawing comparisons to Zelda-like dungeons and Resident Evil-style item combination. While puzzles are frequent, many reviewers found them relatively simple to solve.

Aging mechanic impacts gameplay: A core mechanic involves character aging upon death, influencing stats and unlocking traits every ten years. This system adds depth to combat strategies, as aging affects stat upgrade costs and can shift the player's style, though some felt it wasn't fully utilized.

Strategic, timing-based combat: Combat emphasizes timed attacks, dodges, blocks, and parries. Stamina management is key, primarily for blocking, as attacking and dodging often don't consume stamina. Some players found opportunities to stun-lock enemies, potentially exploiting the combat system.

Simple attribute-based leveling system: The game features a simple level-up system where players allocate points to Strength, Agility, Arcane, and Vitality. The cost to upgrade stats changes depending on the character's age, with Arcane becoming cheaper and other stats more expensive as the character ages.

Limited healing, deadly enemies: Health restoration is limited, relying on scarce healing items or leveling up. Enemies are deadly, making careful play essential. Health refills upon death, adding a risk/reward element to combat.

Motion sickness from camera: Some players have reported experiencing motion sickness due to camera control issues. This is a specific issue that detracts from the game's immersion.

Problematic camera and lock-on: Several players have reported issues with the camera, particularly with rotation and the lock-on system. The camera can also get stuck behind objects, obstructing the player's view and hindering gameplay.

Enemy and boss fight bugs: Some players have encountered bugs with enemies and bosses, including instances where bosses ignore i-frames during specific phases. These bugs can negatively impact the combat experience.

Skybox visible through textures: Some players have reported seeing the skybox through the textures of the map in certain locations. This is a specific visual bug that detracts from the game's immersion.

Ultra-wide resolution support: The game supports ultra-wide resolutions, which is a positive feature for players with ultra-wide monitors.

Wait for a significant sale: Many reviewers suggest waiting for a significant sale before purchasing, with some recommending a price point below $10. They feel the full price is too high for the content offered. Some reviewers even suggest watching a playthrough instead of buying the game at full price.

Not recommended due to flaws: Many reviewers do not recommend the game due to various issues, including technical problems, design flaws, and a generic feel. Some describe it as unbalanced and poorly designed, while others simply state there are better games available.

Mixed, average scores overall: The game receives mixed scores, with many reviewers giving it a 6/10 or 7/10. This indicates that while the game has some redeeming qualities, it ultimately falls short of being a truly great experience.

Good for Remnant fans: The game is frequently recommended for fans of the Remnant series, as it expands on the lore and provides a 'missing link' in the story. However, it's generally not recommended as a starting point for newcomers to the franchise.

Unique time-manipulation mechanics: The game incorporates time-manipulation mechanics and challenging puzzles into its action RPG gameplay. This unique combination helps to keep players engaged with the world and its mechanics.

Expands Remnant universe lore: The game's story expands the Remnant universe, blending fantasy and sci-fi elements. Lore is delivered through environmental details and journals, with a plot involving a dragon, a mysterious labyrinth, and a secret government program. The story may be complex and vague, lacking traditional resolution.

Prequel VR title re-released: Chronos: Before the Ashes is a prequel to Remnant: From the Ashes, originally developed as a VR title. Its origins as a VR game may explain certain design choices and its re-release was spurred by the success of Remnant.

Customizable settings, limited remapping: The game offers a range of graphics and sound settings for customization. Input settings allow rebinding keyboard keys, but controller binds cannot be remapped.

Impossible achievements present: The game has unobtainable achievements related to 'new game plus' content that does not exist. This is likely due to a mistake by the developers when adding achievements.

Limited weapon and armor variety: The game has a limited selection of weapons (8) and shields (3), and lacks variety in armor sets. This restricts player customization and progression options.