Chorus

Originally played on Steam. Phrased to avoid spoilers. Short version: Smooth combat, well balanced skill progression, no bloat of side quests. A engaging story in a game that is perfect for introducing someone to this genre/style of gameplay. Out of all the games I was looking forward to in 2021 it was the only game that not only didn't disappoint me but exceeded my expectations. I can say with confidence Chorus has the only space combat I have ever loved. Long version: Every genre needs a title that's a good introduction to the skills needed to play it well. it doesn't necessarily have to be easy but it does need to start close to the basics. This game does that for 3d space combat. For FPS's I point to Mass Effect or Fallout, for brawling adventure Arkham Asylum, for fantasy rpg I toss Dragon Age. Up until this point I could not recommend anything for 3D space combat; theirs plenty of games in the genre but their all predisposed to the their more hardcore fan-base. Every 3D SC I've tried throws you into the deep end in some way this one expects you to be a newbie but doesn't force you to act like one if you're not. Skill progression is perfectly smooth: they start you off in a slightly slower easy to maneuver ship & then use that as a base to slowly take you through story based quests that teach you all the basic maneuvers & combat skills. All of these feel like organic story so if it's not irritating if your already an expert. By the time you get your new ship you're ready for the challenge. The game continues to add challenge & speed at a steady rate. Story in every quest: no bloat to tack on a few extra hours, everything you do adds something to your experience even if it's in a small way. Theirs some random encounters This game is mid-shelf but thanks to it's space setting (fewer assets to worry about) and fantastic use of story elements it's got the feel of a higher budget title.

I enjoyed my time with the game. The combat is fast and entertaining and as you progress through the story you unlock more abilities (think space magic) to enhance what you can do which enriches the combat further and gives it a bit more depth. The visuals are good, especially for a smaller title like this and performance was great as well with no micro stutters or shader compilation issues. The story is somewhat of a mixed bag, the premise itself is interesting, but some of the narrative points are a bit confusing/underdeveloped and you don't have much in terms of interesting NPCs, most are rather bland/stock. I was never bothered by it either though and it kept me entertained enough to play through the story and do all the side quests, just don't expect a masterpiece in that regard. Music is pretty subdued in the game, the main menu theme is cool, but in game there isn't much that stands out, both in terms of music or sound design in general, nothing offensively bad either though. All in all I'd say it was worth my time to play through it once (18 hours) and I can recommend the game if you are in the mood for an arcady space fighter game that has fun combat.

I originally owned this on Epic and bought it here as soon as I saw it, which should let you know my feelings about this game. It's a wonderful throwback to games like Star Fox and Freelancer, with fast paced easy to pick up combat and a range of weapons and abilities that let you really feel like you're becoming this powerful starfighter weapon. Swapping weapons to take advantage of weaknesss to blitz the enemy. The story is interesting and has the usual fare of corniness these space games often demand. While it doesn't have the full free form experience of Freelancer, it certainly has varied environments with a reasonably diverse collection of side activities and characters. ..and then there are those environments themselves, there are numerous 'whoa' moments with gorgeous vast space vistas and because of the freeform lite style of play you'll get your time to really enjoy them. Considering how few and far between quality space combat games are, if you're craving that space combat itch, this is a solid banger and one of my favourite games from the last few years.

On linux at least, the game crashed, no matter what Wine Proton version I chose or command line arguments under Heroic. This persistent crash was right at the start of the final boss level. Up until that time, through all main and side quests, no crashes. Audio was crackly throughout. Never had these issues in linux before. Crash popup message was... Title: The UE4-SpacePrototype Game has crashed and will close Message: LowLevelFatalError [File:Unknown] [Line: 3971] Retry was NOT sucessful.

Game is fun. More so than the demo suggests. The demo isn't of the very beginning so it provides an incorrectly formulated taste with no understanding of the controls, story, etc. I waited till it was very cheap just in case. The ending is another story. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE FRUSTRATED, I highly suggest when you get to it, to hold a controller and watch a successful walkthrough video of the whole last mission while fake controlling what you see happening. Pay attention to it. This sounds funny but it works. Then go and do closely the same in the game - changing it a little as needed for you. Finished it in one go after this without a single problem. Before this, I couldn't do even a single thing but fail. Saved me a LOT of frustration. Frustraed at the ending would see me give this game two stars. But, as I did it in one go after watching a walkthrough video, I know it can be "easily" done. Its still a lengthy mission of silly so it takes a while. The only real last issue I have is not being able to save everywhere at any moment. You can do this except when its denied. You can literally sit there often when its denied so this is my problem with saving. Its not something you will really know until you go to save, only to find you must play more or quit and have to do a short amount again. That shouldn't have been a thing. A fairly major issue is that the scenery is very noisy so ships often get lost. They have no lock on and the directional indicators are trash. I normally used sight to help find them. Its not perfect but it helps. This directional problem also caused me to at times get lost and have problems finding where to go (and rare times this is a major problem). Mostly get used to this but its a pain. Any other issues are minor. Some people do not like the slide mechanic + puzzles. You actually DO NOT have to even use this game mechanic (the only one not actually required to be used in the game). I never liked it and did all puzzles without it.