Miasma Chronicles by developer The Bearded Ladies and publisher 505 Games—PC (Steam) review written by Robert with a copy provided by the publisher.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Hi folks! T1ckles from Chalgyr's Game Room here to chat about a solid little "tactical RPG" that we were lucky enough to get our hands one, but before we do, please remember to like, comment, and subscribe for more!
I'd like to start this off with a resounding "thank you" to both The Bearded Ladies and 505 Games for providing a key for Miasma Chronicles. While I won't be getting into details about the mid- and late-game, there will be spoilers for the introductory level so please consider this your spoiler warning.
Taking on the role of Elvis, you're a young man who ,with the help of his trusty robot companion, Diggs, are trying to find a way to open a Miasma rift in an effort to save, "Moma." Though gorgeous and, to some degree, possessing of some quality voice-acting, one of the biggest issues I have with Miasma Chronicles is the use of the term, "Moma." Whenever any character, Elvis included, says "Moma," it sounds a bit like it's a darker picture into fetishes that I myself am not comfortable with- it's pleading-sounding and just weird and REALLY off-putting.
While I didn't run into any crashes or game-breaking bugs, I did have an inconsistent framerate throughout the entire game. It's most notable right as you load into a new environment, or if you're transitioning between in-game cutscenes and gameplay itself.
The rig I'm using is powered by a Ryzen 9 5900x, Radeon 7900 XTS, 64GB RAM, Samsung NVMe M2 drive, and am only running at 1440p- I shouldn't really be seeing slippage/hitching, but it's certainly there and can be seen throughout this video. Noticeable stutter is there.
Audio quality (rather than the actual spoken dialog) is excellent; Diggs sounds slightly synthesized and hollow (as he's a robot, that makes sense). It was thankful to Elvis' smooth delivery, that I was able to make it through the cringiest dialog (I know it's personal preference, I just struggle as someone in their 40's to call my mom, "momama"- it's just gross. Fortunately the quality of the acting is exceptional and certainly helped me get past the weirdly cringe-worthy dialog.
The background music wasn't bad, but about 3-3.5 hours into the game I actually turned the music down. Not because it was bad, but rather because I felt most-immersed into the post-apocalyptic playground that Miasma Chronicles can be, when just listening to the juvenile banter between characters. In retro, looking back I'm a bit startled at not recognizing it sooner, but I half-wonder if The Bearded Ladies used Bioware's Dragon Age franchise as inspiration- Take, for example, the Miasma gates and the Rifts in Dragon Age: Inquisition. The heavy, if a bit immature at times, party-based banter and relationships feel like they'd be right at home in an early Bioware title.
That's not a bad thing- Bioware is who they are today because of those formulas and there's no shame in adapting what works into your own creations. While I consider them inspirations at best, it's pure conjecture on my part. I personally see some parallels between Miasma Chronicles and the greats that came before it. This leads into the general feel of Miasma Chronicles. Outside of the cringe-y dialog and frame-dropping optimization issues, Miasma Chronicles isn't a bad title- very, very far from it. It's simply more of the same; change out a couple character models and you might not be able to tell the difference between playing it and Corruption 2029. While I'm a fan of the gameplay mechanics and worldbuilding that Bearded Ladies have done with each of the different releases, I can definitely see how others may feel a bit tired/burnt out with the lack of major feature diversity between Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden or Corruption 2029.
However, I do think it important to note that while each release hasn't been ground breaking or earth-shattering, what it does bring to the table, it does very, very well. Miasma Chronicles, like its two predecessors, were excellently balanced and the environment art is absolutely top-notch. What I wouldn't give to be able to get a full-control camera utility to take some virtual photography shots...
In all, if you, like me, are sitting around waiting for the next XCOM or Xenonauts 2 to drop, Miasma Chronicles is an absolute treat to play and will leave you with plenty to do in the meantime! I happily give Miasma Chronicles on PC an 8 out of 10!
Thank you again to both The Bearded Ladies and 505 Games for providing us with the software key and an opportunity to review Miasma Chronicles!
Score: 8 / 10
