Chrono Sword

Chrono Sword is an action adventure game with RPG elements, enriched with solutions typical for the soulslike genre. The game was developed by an independent team 21c.Ducks. Its development was possible thanks to, among others, a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.

Plot

Chrono Sword takes us on a journey to a dark fantasy world. The main character of the game is a girl named Aenor, who can travel in time. During a secret mission in the past, the protagonist meets a young warrior - Glendyn - who is to become her mentor. In this way our protagonist changes the course of events, and after returning to the present she discovers that all her loved ones are gone. Aenor has no choice but to embark on a journey through time and space, during which she will not only have to change her own fate and regain her old world, but also influence the history of the whole fallen land.

Mechanics

In Chrono Sword the action was shown in isometric view. The game offers us a vast, dark world. The visited locations are full of secrets, the exploration of which requires us not only to carefully sweep every place and look into every corner, but also to move alternately between the present and the future.

An important part of the game is fighting with enemies. In addition to regular adversaries, who are not a big danger for us and are dangerous only in groups, on our way there are powerful bosses with greater strength and resistance to damage (and often impressive size). The real-time battles are dynamic, and you'll need to keep an eye on your enemies to block attacks, dodge, make lightning-fast counter-attacks, learn their movement patterns and discover weaknesses or gaps in their defences. It's also worth looking carefully around the environment, as the developers allow us to perform so-called contextual actions in many places. For example, you can push an opponent who is against a wall to stun him, while a weakened enemy can be kicked towards the others, which will disorientate them for a moment.

As you progress, you develop your heroine by acquiring better weapons (she can use swords, axes, hammers, spears, melee shields, bows, crossbows, and magic wands to attack enemies from a distance), runes (which give Aenor various powers), and other useful items such as artifacts (which give her various combat skills), bloodstones (which increase her life bar), and various gems (which improve her weapons).

Game length

According to the developers, experienced players who are familiar with soulslike games will spend at least 10 hours in Chrono Sword. Others, however, must reserve 20 to 30 hours to complete this game.

Technical aspects

Chrono Sword rather dark, pixel-art graphics look decent, thanks in part to the dynamic lighting and interesting designs of the locations and enemies.