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.

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.

This game is currently in the Humble Choice for June 2024, and this is part of my coverage of the bundle. If you are interested in the game and it's before July 2nd, 2024, consider picking up the game as part of the current monthly bundle.
X-COM with stealth.
The entire time I played Miasma Chronicles I thought “This feels like Mutant Year Zero.” and it’s obvious why. This is made by the same developer, likely the same engine. This time you’re a loner who has a robot who is trying to figure out the secret of the Miasma and a special arm your mom left you. The story sounds good enough to work, but I was more interested in the combat. The combat heavily focuses on stealth and getting into position to execute surprise attacks on enemies and take them apart. If you played Mutant Year Zero you might know what I’m talking about.
While I did skip a couple of cutscenes, a lot of the story felt like stuff I had heard before, missing parents, giving strange items to their kid, and the kid having to learn how to use them. It’s all a bit cliche. There’s a post-apocalyptic world where the focus is on a First Family of sorts that rules the land. The gameplay was fun, but I also remember thinking the same on Mutant Year Zero and that wore off after a while. This is a twenty-hour story, but I wonder if it can keep up the early momentum.
Pick this up if you liked Mutant Year Zero, or want another X-COM title. Combined with Warhammer Battlesector, this is a good combination, but Miasma Chronicles does feel like the weaker of the pair. Still, it’s trying something different and not a lot of strategy games try to include stealth like Miasma Chronicles does.
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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.

I'll keep it short.
- Good tactical RPG with some solid mechanics, if at time marginally marred by a couple of questionable choices when it comes to balance and fine tuning.
- Solid production value, with pretty graphics and a nice (if not stellar) variety of visual assets, enemy types and so on.
- Forgettable writing with a bunch of not-particularly-likable characters (to put it mildly).
The story ends in something resembling a cliffhanger (which I doubt will ever see a follow up, since I don't think it sold particularly well) just when it feels it's just about to get interesting, but on a mechanical level I had blast with it (most of the time) and I don't regret the hours I spent playing.
Overall I enjoyed my playthrough and I'd say that if bought on sale it's a very solid way to spend 20-30 hours.

Its no AAA game, but I suppose its......ok given the price?
Storyline is interesting enough. Though the mcguffin du jour - the miasma - isn't explained. And the ending is somewhat meh.
This review comes more from the mild (petty) annoyances I found in the game:
- A couple of times folks say "oh you need to go to XYZ in the north" only for XYZ to be further south on the map...
- At one point while talking with robots, I meet the boss bots therapist, who wants me to understand my place as a petty human, yet upon meeting the boss he immediately wants humans euthanized. Literally 10 seconds apart.
- You have a maximum of 5 companions, yet can only have 3 at any given time, despite the fact that the remaining two still engage in party banter. I even had an arena announcer welcome "three fighters" when the introduction and closing cinematics of the arena clearly shows four entering and leaving.
- The cover system is....not good? The shooting mechanic likes to zoom in to almost a third person over the shoulder shot, And if an enemy is behind hard cover 20% hit chance, Yet third person view shows them in fully in the clear. By virtue of standing next to hard cover they get the bonus, Yet, I can only see some guys head as he crouches behind soft cover and he is 50% hit chance.
- At one point after a particular disaster we're told "lets regroup at D list NPCs house! They'll help us!" At which point you navigate all the way back to the NPCs house, only to have a discussion amongst the party about what to do next and head off without speaking to the NPC we came to visit.
Grab it if you have nothing else to play.

Very cool tactical crpg!

Kinda simple in some aspects but strong in tactical terms without flaws (cover etc.) or unexpected moves by AI. Better a simplier combat system that works than a more complicated one that doesn't.

Beautiful to look at with a distinct ambience, good sounds and music, so overall very entertaining 34 hours it took me to complete the game.