I need to get this out of the way quickly -- no, this is not as good as Chrono Trigger. It is very obviously inspired by CT. CT was a for-the-ages dynamite blend of gameplay, visuals, music, exposition, and exploration. It's those last two where CSH falls short. CSH follows the exploits of a disgraced agent as she tries to prevent a hostile takeover of the human race by those would exploit alien tech. For lovers of pixel-art (guilty!), this is a treat for the eyes. Gameplay is handled by strategic stacking (not quite comboing) of various abilities that you unlock throughout your adventure. Skills are acquired in that tried-and-true FF4/CT way: simply by levelling up. Abilities are used once and then go inactive, requiring a "rest" (defense) round to reactivate. Characters can also acquire programs unlocked by Armor, while Accessories and Weapons provide the usual bonus attributes. Towards the end of the game, if you know what you're doing, your party becomes comically overpowered as you blitz through the last few areas of the game. There are a handful of secrets scattered throughout for those who take the time to explore. Music is handled by Hyperduck Soundworks, and I really enjoy them. They also did Dust: An Elysian Tail, another game whose music I really enjoyed. As for the exploration/exposition, it's... not entirely there. CSH happens at a breakneck pace, and it feels as if there's this entire book of lore that I should have read before playing this game. Characters are flung at you for recruitment, but then I don't really get to know too much about them; closer to Pokemon or Suikoden than to SNES-era FF or CT. In a way, this feels like 2/3 of a full game. I enjoyed it, for sure, but I wish they spent more time on exposition. I didn't find myself fully connecting with the characters or the plot. If I could give halvesies, this would be a 3.5, but I can't. Enjoyable, good-not-great JRPG-style game. Would get another game from this dev group.
