Chaos Chronicles

Chaos Chronicles is a game of German studio Coreplay, known mainly for the creation of Jagged Alliance: Back in Action. Chaos Chronicles goes back to the roots of cRPG games - because it uses the most important elements of classic computer "roleplays".

The plot is set in a fantastic world where people, elves and dwarves coexist. However, for more than 200 years these races, driven out by armies of undead under the command of evil magicians, have been forced to live on small sea islands.

A few years before the action of the game, the Order of the Holy Flame sent to the continent a squad of knights, who managed to deflect and maintain the important port city of Rethgard. Success poured hope into the hearts of free peoples and encouraged adventurers to take part in rebuilding the kingdom of ancestors. One of these daredevils is the character of the player, who together with his companions sets off to lands captured by the servants of evil.

In terms of gameplay, Chaos Chronicles resembles classic cRPG games. The player's five-player team develops their skills along with their experience, which makes them more effective in combat and beyond. Playable races are people, elves, dwarves, hallings, gnomes, half-elphs and half-orca. Available character classes are warriors, priests, villains, barbarians, wizards, hunters and paladins. Many ruins, forests, caves and undergrounds are waiting for exploration. During the clashes taking place in rounds, our team faces hordes of undeads, orcs, goblins and other filthy creatures from fantasy novels.

The fight is played on a hexagonal network. This ensures the depth of the clashes by maximizing the way you set up and orient your character. In Chaos Chronicles, there is never any doubt as to whether a character is facing us with his back, side, or standing in front of us. Since many mechanical solutions - such as flanking or stealth attacks - are based on these distinctions, they are one of the main elements of the combat system.

Chaos Chronicles uses a mechanism of grouping opponents before defining their initiative. This is very important for the course of the clashes, because it eliminates the problem of moving at the same time between different types of beings. Group behaviour of monsters is mainly based on sticking together and attacking, if possible, a single target. This makes Artificial Intelligence more predictable for players. Interestingly, different beings have different ways of behaviour. For example, goblins try to tear unconscious enemies apart, while ploughing ignores the wounded and focuses on eliminating the remaining characters from the fight.

At the heart of Chaos Chronicles gameplay is the intense exploration of the world. For this reason, the authors of the game put great emphasis on the travel system. Although there is usually a clearly marked and generally safe path from point A to point B, the game encourages players to deviate from the track. It is connected with the possibility of finding many interesting places, unusual objects and getting to know the history of the world by discovering old books or scrolls. It also makes us never sure that we have found all the secret places. In addition, the search for information about different locations allows for better preparation for threats lurking in their area.

Like any game based on exploring the world, Chaos Chronicles is full of the motif of breaking up camps and resting after travel drifting. This aspect of the game is not only functional (remembering spells and renewing their use, hunting and collecting food, healing wounds, identifying objects), but also fictional. Breaking up the camp site in the wrong place or at the wrong time can result in an unexpected attack by the enemies, and postponing the rest in time too much, causing the weakened team to fight in a battle that could easily win in full force. Exploration of the world takes place in real time and only the beginning of the fight makes us move to turn-based mode.

The graphics are at a high level, although the style refers to good old "erpegs". The camera is set in isometric projection, typical for classic cRPG games. Locations have been created with great attention to detail. Buildings and furniture have a clear stigma of time - objects of everyday use are scattered around the abandoned chambers, sheaves of light penetrate dusty air, and cloudy steps of wooden stairs look as if they were to crumble at any time under the pressure of a careless foot.

A five-person team can consist of characters led by a single player or several characters playing together via the Internet.

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Last updated on August 14, 2015