Game Review: ‘Miasma Chronicles’

May 27, 2023

Written by Daniel S. Liuzzi

The Bearded Ladies and 505 Games are back with another tactical RPG set in the wasteland of a dystopian United States in Miasma Chronicles. With the look and feel of their previous tactical RPG Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, will this latest creation surpass or be glitchy as Mutant Year Zero? Let’s take a look at Miasma Chronicles.

 

 

Miasma Chronicles takes place in the future where after experiencing a golden age in the United States where all needs are met and technology made living better and solved energy issues, but all came crashing down after a mysterious anomaly simply known as the Miasma, made the world a wasteland. We are introduced to Elvis, a young man, along with her robotic brother Diggs, who embark into the wasteland that was once America with a squad of unlikely heroes to solve the mystery of defeating the Miasma and the monsters that seemed to have recently been born from it.

 

Now onto the game itself. Miasma Chronicles‘ controls are pretty simple for both the exploratory and combat modes with some added mechanics that fans of Mutant Year Zero have not seen. The game is completely voice-acted, which helps bring its gritty world to light, I’m just curious and calling into question why a giant mutant frog thing says, “Hurt me, Daddy!” randomly during combat.

The art of the Miasma Chronicles really brings the world to life, well a dead world, but it shows the mystery, bleak, and beauty of the world the game takes place in.

 

When it comes to gameplay, exploration is rewarding as you can find weapons left over from the “First Family” (an organized crime group acting as the leadership of what remains of the US.) and the currency that’s used in this world, plastic. You can also find lore scattered throughout the world that hints at what life was like before, and during, the collapse.

Combat in the game is pretty straightforward, it’s turn-based, and using the environment (explosive barrels, cover, and vantage points) to your advantage can help you have an edge over enemies. The game also uses stealth to help you set up your team in ambush positions where you then can take out enemies in one shot or severely damage them. The game also has a pretty decent difficulty scaling system as well as a tactical adjustment system that you can give your team an advantage over the enemies, great if you just want to play the game and enjoy the story OR want to challenge yourself.

 

 

 

 

Now onto some of the negatives with the game. At the time of writing this, I’ve not experienced any major glitches though I’ve heard that the PS5 version has some major bugs (I’m playing on Xbox). I’ve noticed some continuity issues when it came to some dialogue. In the town Elvis and Diggs call home, you can hear townsfolk talking about different subjects, mainly food, and the common topic are people reminiscing about how there USED to be chicken to eat, meaning that there are no chickens around anymore. All said and good but I can’t take that seriously when there are literally chickens wandering all over town! The story itself seems kind of generic where the world is partially ended but an unlikely hero is going to fix it. I also feel that the pacing is a bit too slow as I played the game for almost three hours and I’m still unlocking/learning gameplay mechanics as if it’s still a tutorial.

 

Overall, I think Miasma Chronicles is pretty decent but part of me feels like I’m waiting for the other shoe to fall. I feel that my past disappointment with how buggy Mutant Year Zero was and its severely unplayable DLC left a bad taste in my mouth, I’m a bit shy to go all in on this one. From what I’ve seen and played so far, Miasma Chronicles is as I said a decent game. I want to see where the story goes, hopefully, it will offer up something decent for how average the story itself is. I found the combat to be more fun in this than in MY0, and the exploration is rewarding.

If you’re a fan of Mutant Year Zero, you’ll like Miasma Chronicles if you’re willing to overlook some odd dialogue, generic post-apocalyptic story, and continuity issues as mentioned above. On my scale of 1-10, I give Miasma Chronicles an optimistic 7.

 

Miasma Chronicles is out now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

 

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