Shacknews’ Lucas White charted a path through the damaged world of Miasma Chronicles, the post-apocalyptic tactical adventure from Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden creators The Bearded Ladies and global publisher 505 Games.
Available on PC through Steam and Epic Games Store as well as PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, Miasma Chronicles is the latest release from the tactics masters at The Bearded Ladies whose previous title Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden struck a deep chord with fans of engaging, strategic turn-based combat. Now established and confident in this genre, The Bearded Ladies have charted their own path through an original IP and pushed their approach to game design further, creating a terrifyingly beautiful world ravaged by Miasma, a mysterious entity that just might be able to be tamed with the right gear. Passed down a gauntlet that may be the key to controlling the Miasma by his now missing mother, Elvis and his robot brother Diggs attempt to uncover the secrets of their broken world on an adventure full of strange characters and dramatic stories.
Miasma Chronicles uniquely features a stealth-encouraged way to kick off tactical RPG encounters. White explained, “During this phase, you can place your teammates individually and kickstart the fight with an ambush, as long as you can avoid getting caught. This sounds neat, but the best part is when you get silent weapons, allowing you to start picking off enemies before the combat officially begins. This adds a puzzle-like layer to fights if you’re willing to engage, giving tons of extra utility to your sneakier characters besides sniper rifle distance shots.”
He goes on to discuss the game’s unique setting and lore, an area that many other reviewers have found interesting. “Our current mess of tech billionaires, densely consolidated corporations, and anti-journalist sentiments is stranger than fiction. We’ve somehow decided CEOs are the smartest grownups in the room and we need them to save us from a climate crisis, escalating global conflict, and increasingly chaotic politics. How far can progress get before it turns into technological snake oil? And when the really bad stuff actually starts to happen, what can we expect the ruling class to do about it? Miasma Chronicles asks these questions and then presents a world that has seen some possible answers. Those answers ain’t pretty.”
The intersection of delivering an interesting science fiction tale with tactical gameplay for all sorts of players thanks to generous difficulty options, makes Miasma Chronicles a title worth sinking into and several reviewers are finding similar facets to be interesting.
White concludes the review with “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.”
Read the full review here. More information about Miasma Chronicles can be found on the official website or through the official 505 Games and The Bearded Ladies websites. Stay up to date on Twitter by following @505_Games, @MiasmaChron, or @TheBeardedLC.
