Miasma Chronicles

One of the hidden gems among turn-based RPGs. I had a great time with its exploration, story, RPG mechanics, stealth, and tactical combat. The difficulty curve could have been better, but it didn’t ruin the experience.

The game starts a bit slow and fighting can be a bit difficult, but once you work out the quirks and how it's best to handle battles then it can be quite enjoyable. There are some bugs, but nothing that stopped me from finishing the game. You just work around them. Save regularly then you can always reload if there are any issues. I found stealth is important to thin the herd before you take on the tougher characters, but you can only start that later in the game when some stealth weapons come into play.
Overall I enjoyed the game, I never expect games to be perfect so maybe I am just not as fussed as other people. I bought this on sale and got 57 hrs out of it, so for me it was worth the money. Does it have re-play value like X-Com, probably not as its a little more linear.
Anyway, if its on sale I would say buy it and push through the first few hours until you get the third character, then it gets easier.

Set in a post-apocalyptic America ravaged by a strange substance called Miasma, the game follows Elvis, a young man with a mysterious glove that can control this force, and his robot "brother" Diggs. They travel through ruined cities and bizarre biomes to uncover secrets about the Miasma and Elvis’ origins.

The tone blends dystopian survival with quirky character moments and classic road-movie vibes. Fans of XCOM-style gameplay will feel at home. There's overwatch, stealth kills, environmental cover, and skill-based ambush setups. It encourages strategy, especially on higher difficulties. Gorgeous environments (especially in Unreal Engine 5), eerie towns, mutated creatures, and scattered lore give the world strong visual and narrative identity. Characters unlock various passive and active abilities. There's decent flexibility to build Elvis, Diggs, and other party members toward your playstyle (e.g., stealth-heavy or explosive brawling).

Outside of combat, the world can feel empty. Between fights, you'll mostly collect loot and talk to NPCs with minimal engagement. While the premise is compelling, the dialogue is hit-or-miss. Characters often speak in awkward exposition or cringey slang. Emotional beats sometimes fall flat.

Miasma Chronicles is a solid and stylish turn-based tactics game. While its story and writing may not captivate everyone, the combat, atmosphere, and world design offer a worthwhile experience for fans of the genre. Miasma Chronicles is a fascinating experience that aims for a narrow target and hits it, for the most part. Making a serious, tactical RPG a vehicle for compelling storytelling is a tough proposition because the broad appeal of the latter is often at odds with the brutal vibes of the former. But with its tailored difficulty options, stealth options outside of combat, and, of course, the solid weight of the storytelling itself, Miasma Chronicles succeeds in its mission.

8/10
DISASTER | BAD | MEDIOCRE | OKAY | GOOD | GREAT |AMAZING| MASTERPIECE

Reviewed on: Win11 Home 64-bit, Intel i5-11600K, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB TUF, 32GB DDR4-3600 RAM, 2 x Kingston NV1 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD, Internet Broadband 1000/1000 Mbit

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I don't understand the hate for this game, its got the same great combat that Road To Eden had and amazing visuals and world design. only thing i can see that holds in down is the corny writing and dialogue. I had so much fun plating trha game just as i did playing road to eden. road to eden just had better characters. mabye its just me but i cant get enough of these types of tacitcs games. especially games from bearded ladies the people who developed this game and road to eden.
Its sad though, they put so much effort into this game only for it to fail. its too good to not have an one play it. I hope they keep making games and just improve on the writing.

8/10

I enjoyed this every bit as much as Mutant Year Zero, up until the arena battle. I get it -- devs wanted to throw in a challenge -- but a non-skippable, multi-wave combat that you cannot save during is just not fun with a game as heavily influenced by the RNG as this one. I still give it a thumbs up, as I enjoyed everything up to this point, but I'm going to leave this one unfinished to play games I enjoy more.

Great story
Mix genre
Cool companions
Humans , stop comparing every turn based to XCOM
This is a good game!
Gj developers!
I would buy a part 2.

Highly recommend. I always liked the idea of X-Com, but just couldn't really get into it. Played Mutant Year Zero a while back on Game Pass, and was thrilled to see this came out- despite me being a year late to the party.

Gameplay is fun, weapons and abilities are nice, and the ability to free roam/explore makes this a solid 10/10 for me. Looking forward to the next follow up.