Miasma Chronicles

Compared to Mutant Year Zero, the story and depth of characters is bit flat. The world is intriguing, the characters have some wit, and the tactical fighting, focused on more silent ambushes is a good challenge. A fun 20 so hours, but buy it on a sale.
***Update after 20+ hours: cannot put the controller down. The challenge of stealth/silent attack, and changing the combo of your skills, weapons, and consumables based on the enemy is addicting. Still not super bought in the the characters, but I want DLC, and I want more games from this team and developers!

Miasma Chronicles is an underrated gem of Tactical RPG genre. It deserves much better reception than it initially got. Its very similiar to Mutant Year Zero, which was a previous game from these devs. It merges elements of stealth, tactics and RPG in interesting ways.
I actually think Miasma Chronicles is a better game than Mutant Year Zero, which makes the fact that its so underrated even more disappointing. Devs expanded all mechanics present in their previous game and managed to craft an interesting post-apocalyptic world. Characters and story are rather simple but likeable with enjoyably cheesy voice acting and fun twists along the way.
Graphically Miasma Chronicles is quite a looker, for a game using isometric perspective. Environments are richly detailed and well designed, with many tactical options available. Particle effects are especially stunning! Performance wise its quite demanding and requires a decent rig or lowering of graphical settings.
I was playing on Extreme difficulty and found gameplay to be pretty challenging. Every encounter required I "thin the herd" using stealth, before engaging in open combat. Fortunately, stealth has extra depth due to introduction of sound lures, used to separate enemies from groups. Stealth is well balanced as the number of silent weapons is very limited and you'll be only able to kill low tier enemies in stealth.
When detected by enemies, combat switches to regular XCOM-style affair. Fortunately, its has more depth as each character is highly customizable via itemization and skill trees. I quite liked the skills available and the fact you could freely respec each character at any time. It made me micro-manage my squad depending on the type of enemies I was fighting.
I had no expectations for Miasma Chronicles, but I'm happy to say that its a great tactical RPG and manages to stand out in the sea of XCOM clones. Its strange it was so under-marketed, considering the pedigree of the developers and high quality of the final product. I really hope it manages to find its audience and we get to see the sequel, as the story goes in interesting directions, but feels like just the beginning of a bigger saga.

Good game. Gameplay is very much like Mutant Year Zero. Lots of action and a lot of planning (and reloading) required for me.
I don't like wearing earphones so I mostly just read the dialogue so cannot speak to the music.
There were a couple of real plot twists that were well done.
Will buy their next game when it comes out - which for me is the best recommendation of all.

OK, but needed another 20 minutes in the oven. 3 out of 5 stars. If you liked Mutant Year Zero, you’ll like this. They obviously hit a budget wall and released before it was fully baked. Vote with your wallet and wait for a sale to buy. Show the executive that deciding to publish early without further play testing and improvements is ultimately not cost effective. I’m sure the developers told them it needed a few more weeks. Play Mutant Year Zero first if unsure if you like this type of game’s play-style as that game if fully baked.
It has quirks but haven’t had any game breaking bugs at about 75% of the game. Weak PC port of controls to KB+mouse. It’s like the mouse sensitivity is set at minimum with no way to change it. You can max your Windows desktop pointer speed to help. Keys mapped to gamepad buttons without much thought and minimal options to change them. Interacting with a game object could be “E” or “Space” or “R” or “Y”… Or choose to play with a gamepad if you have the option and can tolerate slow point and click with a joystick for pointer icon movement. Character movement is thankfully OK with WASD or joystick. Another gameplay jank example is your team can often be forced to move to the focus character unreasonably. The game has a huge stealth gameplay importance. You may enter “ambush” mode only to find out your team is positioned wrong. Gun accuracy is range dependent, but it varies inconsistently (+/- 2 or 3%) for the same weapon. Sniper rifle is only 100% at max range and that accuracy can vary by only a movement square or two. Exit ambush mode to reposition and sometimes your other team members will move to you, breaking stealth. Deal with the too early botched ambush fight or reload from a save. A few other similar irritations. Not game breaking. How much are you willing to pay for often irritating functionality that could have been fixed?
A great feature is the ability to change your skill point allocation and weapon modifications as needed when out of combat. You’re not locked into weapons attachment choices nor skills. You can change them before every battle. And you will need to as there is a good amount of enemy variety in weaknesses and capabilities. Go into most fights unprepared and you will suffer heavy losses.
Half price was my threshold and I am happy with the game at that value point.

I struggle with this recommendation. This game isn't great, but is just okay. It certainly relies on you getting certain mechanics to work right. Once you do, several parts become fairly easy. The story is also just okay, but maybe it just didn't hit me right. Overall fairly standard. If you like xcom and are looking for something to sort of scratch that itch, then give this one a try. Just don't look to be wowed.

Easily recommended for fans of squad tactics and turn-based RPGs. Combine Fallout, Control, and XCOM and you would have something like this game. I could also recommend Mutant Year Zero and Wasteland 3.
+Visuals, cutscenes, environments
+Variety of options for game, difficulty, keybinds
+Fully voiced
+Atmosphere, exploration
+Tactical battles
+Variety of skills/options on level up
+Save anywhere
+Characters, story
+Miasma powers
+Variety of weapons, upgrades
-Some clunkiness
-Constant hold to run, no toggle
-Can't name saves
-No mini/map
-Many items/pickups easily missable
-Awkward battle camera rotation
-Very short range on most weapons
-Bounce weapons don't work from elevation

So, I stumbled into Miasma Chronicles, and let me tell ya, it's like a wild rerun of Mutant Year Zero – I half expected Dux and Bormin to pop up with their feathers and snouts. The story's got that Zone "complexity", but I swear journey of brothers is a déjà vu remix. Gameplay? It's Mutant Year Zero's lost twin, complete with the same XCOM combat (after stealth kill edge enemies) and scavenger hunt vibe.
Graphics are snazzy, capturing the post-apocalyptic vibe. Soundtrack's like a rad mixtape, and yeah, there are a few glitches, but nothing you can't handle. Miasma Chronicles seems like Chronicle One is Mutant Year Zero's long-lost twin, while Part Two (67% of the game) is gearing up for another spin in the merry-go-round of Zone madness.