I hate to foretell a proposal with “it’ll be good later” but unfortunately, the first hour of Chorus (despite the title stylization, the brochures don’t write it like Chorvs, cowards) is not good. Beyond that lackluster start, however, is a surprisingly tight arcade space fighter wrapped in a wonderfully pompous package of space magic.
Not all first impressions are bad. Arriving at the main menu, I was greeted by a large score of orchestras, the choirs quickly pushing to their best. It’s a bit of a parrot, but an honest attempt to God to grab your shoulder and carry you around the room makes for the loud noises of the spaceship. It felt as if the composer, Pedro Camacho, was asking earnestly, “Is this interesting?!”, with his swollen horns and string arrangement, and it immediately flashed a smile on its face. my lips. It’s not copying at all, and at least a hint of sincerity would be one of the game’s redeeming qualities.
However, atonement first requires a mistake, and while we are learning about what our protagonist Nara has done, the game is guilty of giving this backstory to the game. us through clear presentation. It’s hardly interesting. Nara is one of the best warriors in an interstellar cult known as the Circle, led by a terrifying-looking man known as the Great Prophet, who all believe in something called “messages.” segment”. They’ve essentially tapped into that classic video game site, the “gap”, described here as the “collective consciousness of all living things” that… sure. That’s where space magic comes from, that’s all you really need to know. Which means besides being a deadly pilot, Nara is also a space witch. Who wouldn’t join a cult because of that? But this origin would be much better learned through a moving story than delivered dryly in a clumsy cutscene.
Worse yet, we only experience the story’s provocative incident, in which Nara uses her space magic to kill a planet and then free the cult from guilt, in a descriptive way. , making it impossible for us to avoid something so core to the character. The preloaded intro only gets weirder as the game gets into the right, starting years later with Nara hiding from the cult at the edge of space. Her story hints are included, but it feels superfluous when we just explained to us.
You set out to help a mining community that Nara has befriended, keeping them in the dark about her past. She helps them with things like rescuing and fighting pirates, and it seems everyone is too polite to ask about the strange marks on her head. Out in this distant space, who hasn’t met someone with a biblical tattoo on their face? The ship you start flying is very noisy and slow but can still easily catch the enemy. It’s not poorly controlled but it’s too simple to be interesting. Point your ship at the bad guys and shoot. Even with the dialogue options and optional quests sprinkled in, it’s not off to a good start. Then – and who can see this coming – the return of the cult! As The Circle continues to conquer space, Nara is forced to choose her old ways and confront them. Here finally, the game starts to get interesting.
Once you’ve taken your seat in the Forsaken’s cockpit, the Chorus finally hits its stride.
For starters, hit ships are considerably more difficult to fight. Hitting faster and harder, I suddenly felt so superior by their nimbler technique. Then we get the introduction of something really cool that the presentation doesn’t mind, even though it’s probably for the best. With no hope of fighting the cult in their dingy ships, Nara decides to go to “an old friend” for help. This friend turns out to be a young man named Forsaken, a sentient ship built by the cult to kill people. Nara favorably nicknamed him “Forsa” so in my head his last name is Horizon Five. Left in a dusty cave for years, he is understandably displeased with Nara, but the two need each other, even if their motives are opposed: Nara wants to find a normal life calm down and get over his guilt, and Forsaken wants to, uh, kill and then kill some more. Forsaken doesn’t care about anyone, so he’s happy to fight the cult for Nara as long as he can commit some murder. What a good guy.
Once you’ve taken your seat in the Forsaken’s cockpit, Chorus finally hits its stride, introducing drift abilities and combat magic, as well as a significantly faster ship. Drifting will be familiar to those who’ve played the likes of House Of The Dying Sun, which essentially lets you get lost by keeping momentum going in one direction while you steer your ship in another. Along with the ability to teleport behind enemies (this ability is called Ritual, which adds a taste of sci-fi fantasy), Chorus quickly finds harmony in combat, combining powers this to not only fight your enemies but also to avoid their attacks and attacks. like lightning. It feels good. I’m still not sure if the first hour spent on a noisy spaceship makes sense, but the rewards are certainly great. The game clearly depicts why Nara and her spaceship friend are such a big deal, and why the cult both wants them and fears them. As long as you can consistently string these abilities together, you’re unstoppable.
The game is just the perfect guideline of keeping it simple enough to keep it a fun arcade experience, yet layers on just enough complexity to keep you actively engaged in every battle. There are many types of enemies, but the real fun is when the game throws a large battlecruiser at you and you have to fly over it, Death Star run 2.0 style. The world also opens up and you can move between the different hubs with a bunch of side quests that can affect events in the main story. None of it will blow you away, but it all works neatly. I had a random encounter with someone who had a broken spaceship and needed help fixing their engine. No fighting, just a metaphorical push to get them on their way. The beautiful little human moments last a long time in games like these.
Chorus is also suitable weird. You break into ancient temples to harness the force of battle and gain more exciting space magic than ever before. Instead of fighting pirates, you’re destroying “psychic totems” and hunting for mascots while performing small prayers in your space. Not to mention you are also running away from a certain cosmic force called “The No-Face”. It’s all a bit silly, but delivered so earnestly that I can’t help but fall in love. It looks a bit dull on the surface but with a flourish in effects and details, welcome hints of weirdness in an otherwise standard sci-fi universe. It reminds me a lot of the era in the early 2000s, where most casual games tried very hard to achieve out-of-the-box but fun results. Things like Battle Engine Aquilla, Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter or Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay. Games of this scale are often pressured to compete with the big AAA trend-setters, so it’s really fun to play something that’s intentionally quirky. Chorus only exists because a bunch of people really, really wanted to make a space fighting game about a spooky cult and I’m glad someone let them.
It probably won’t set the world on fire. A dull first hour certainly won’t help. Interesting, the story is a pretty good one. However, combine a top-notch world and tunes with smooth air battles and you’ve got a powerful package. Chorus will sing for you, even if it takes you a while to find the right note.
