The Chant

So, this game has some jank. The combat is frustrating, and the story is just okay. But the monster designs are cool, it made me jump a couple times, and I enjoyed it throughout. The pacing is good, and made me want to keep playing. Get it on sale if you're interested (I got it for $3, and had fun with it for 9 hours). There's also a free DLC that addresses some of these criticisms, so kudos to the devs for that.

Clever games curator review: 8/10 A horror / adventure game that leans on storyline and complex set pieces rather than jump scares for the horror. At times it sort of feels like a modern take on the Resident Evil series from the PSX era, but without the emphasis on avoiding combat. Gameplay consists equally of the following components: Getting lost in somewhat maze like naturalistic scenes, looking for both the quest items that advance the storyline and also the supplies for building your weapons and special attacks. These are needed for the fairly frequent combat, and especially these special attacks are key to keeping the combat from becoming oppressive. There’s also a decent amount of running after characters while they engage you in spoken dialog, and even more storyline being told by picking up copiously strewn about notes written by both present day characters and also those long dead.
The game has several strengths. I think the storyline, while not especially surprising, is fairly interesting and well written if you enjoy stories about multi generational cults that surprise (not a real spoiler) have stumbled upon real magic/occult powers. Also the environments that you play in are pretty fun, and lean heavily into abandoned / decayed structures ravaged by time and also some occult happenings. While varied, by the end they do start to all run together a bit though. While the game is fairly linear in that you have to proceed through each chapter in order, they do a decent job of making the levels feel like you’re actually exploring a space rather than just running down a cleverly disguised corridor. Indeed it is possible to get lost, though only for 10s of seconds at a time. Indeed I think in terms of actual gameplay, the best part of this game is the exploration. EG seeing various pickups that you really want but can’t reach directly and have to get to by going around obstacles etc.
The game has two weaknesses that matter enough to be worth complaining about. First is the combat. There is some skill, which comes down to knowing when to wail on enemies versus dodge, and also how to apportion your various special attacks to weaken the enemies that would otherwise be overly difficult. That said it’s kind of a melee brawler stuffed awkwardly into the middle of an exploration / story heavy game, and I never was pleased to see that combat was coming up. I personally set the game to the easiest difficulty level and still died some of the time. Thank goodness like many modern games you have the option of changing the difficulty level at any time, so feel free to start on normal, but I think easiest is probably the best unless you are into God of War type games.
The other flaw is that the game is thoroughly stuck in the uncanny valley, graphically. This is especially true of some of the character animation and texturing, and somewhat true of the environments that you run through. I think they could have gone for either more realistic, OR more stylized and had a better result. Where it stands it’s a bit disquieting but honestly I got used to it after the first 10 or 15 minutes and if you aren’t picky you probably will too.
In the end there is no single aspect of this game that stands out and makes it a classic. At the same time there is no single flaw that ruins the experience. It is simply a well made game that should appeal to fans of the genre and might convince a few people who like to dabble in the genre as well. I thoroughly enjoyed the 10 hours that I put in, but upon discovering that there was a free DLC for even more content I decided that I was done and was happy to move on instead. Indeed I probably kept on playing for at least a couple hours longer than I would have otherwise simply because I wanted to see the story through.

The Chant is an indie horror game with a unique cosmic horror vibe, set on a creepy spiritual retreat. The atmosphere and monster designs are its biggest strengths, pulling you into a trippy, unsettling world. The story is campy but fun if you enjoy Lovecraftian themes, and the free DLC is a nice bonus.
That said, the combat feels clunky, resource management can be frustrating, and the save system punishes exploration. I also ran into a bug at the end boss where I got stuck and could not move, which took away from the experience a bit. Still, I had fun with it overall—it’s a solid game for horror fans if you grab it on sale and don’t mind a bit of indie jank.

Over all 7.9/10 Combat is simple but fun to master. The Talent system is one of the coolest systems out there, very unique. Make sure to backtrack!! Look around they hide stuff from you, but its not a hard search so have fun. Graphics are fairly ok, feels like premium indie quality. The Story is fine quality. If you play a lot of spooky games you will feel right at home here. and the DLC is free( DLC- The combat is much harder with a shake up on powers ) Over all 7.9/10 game. Awesome game to get this on sale.

Played for about 3 hours. Pretty good so far.
Decent survival horror based on "New Age" type mysticism combined with Lovecraft style horror, which isn't something I've ever seen before. A breath of fresh air for a survival horror genre that's been stagnating.
More "Silent Hill" than "Resident Evil". It reminds me a little of playing D2 back on the dreamcast.

I got this game as part of a bundle a bit back and am glad I took the time to play. Its a bit short but for the price its more than worth it (My play time includes doing multiple playthroughs for achievements as well as the free expansion).
The creature designs are all fun and fairly varied the biggest limitation being the combat is limited to melee with 3 weapon types and some consumables as well as the various powers you get through out the story.
Overall I had fun with the game and enjoyed the lore/world they set up and would gladly play a sequel should one appear in the future.

Great story and acting in the game. Monsters are trippy like some type of bad drug trip hallucination style creatures. The island is a straight up cultist vibe, with a lot of yoga and spiritual meditation type of influence. This is also a search around the island looking for clues and key items type game, so that can be frustrated if you are missing that one windmill handle and don't know where to find it without the help of Google or YouTube tutorials. The combat can be a bit wonky, especially dodging and falling down to get up and scramble out of the way before getting smashed by a giant bug or toad. All in all, I'm still early into the game, but am super curious to see what happens next after one of the camp members goes crazy for minerals. Definitely recommend giving this a go especially if you like movie style games with clue hunting.