Miasma Chronicles

The extensive possibilities for customizing the difficulty and fighting style make the production interesting for both veterans and newcomers to the genre, who will be able to find the right degree of challenge to accompany Elvis and Diggs on their journey to save the world.

Miasma Chronicles is one hell of a ride from start to finish. Although the package comes with a compelling story, my number one enjoyment was to find new ways to finish a fight faster since I treated these as puzzles with complex solutions. If you love turn-based games, Miasma Chronicles is a must-play.

After reviewing Miasma Chronicles, we can say that it will keep you hooked for a long period of time, especially if you enjoy turn-based games and apocalyptic themes. And not only that, since the title of Bearded Ladies tells us a story, a journey, the development of a protagonist to discover who he is and what he seeks to achieve in a world corrupted by Miasma. Undoubtedly we are facing a game that, despite having some performance problems and not being sufficiently optimized (even on high-end PCs), has a lot of potential. A dark artistic section that perfectly reflects the message of the game. An atmosphere and a sound section that complies with what it tries to reflect throughout each encounter. And a story that knows how to weave around a broken world and with the only hope that Elvis' glove controls the Miasma so that humanity can start from scratch. If you like strategy, the combination of real-time exploration with a tactical turn-based combat system, and apocalyptic and fantastic settings, Miasma Chronicles is undoubtedly your game, one that you will have to spend hours to get to know perfectly and see its full potential.

In the post-apocalyptic world of Miasma Chronicles, players embark on a gripping journey with Elvis, a young man possessing a unique glove that can control the devastating Miasma. Developed by The Bearded Ladies, known for Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, this turn-based tactical game offers a captivating story and memorable characters, though it follows a mostly linear narrative. While the exploration aspect may feel repetitive, the game truly shines in its intense combat, featuring Elvis's glove and strategic elements inspired by games like X-COM. With customization options, evolving characters, and no need for grinding, Miasma Chronicles delivers an accessible and engaging experience for players seeking a balance of gameplay and narrative.

The Bearded Ladies signs a winning return to the Tactical-RPG genre after the potential trial run Mutant Year Zero. Miasma Chronicles retains the same formula in gameplay, namely a title combining RPG, Xcom-style strategy and even infiltration to make the task easier in combat. The scenario, the characters, the graphics and the sound form an organic universe largely at the level to make the game one of the beautiful surprises of the year 2023. There remain a few imperfections (camera, difficulty, etc.) to be corrected so that the Swedish studio establishes itself as the leader of the genre for the rest of its adventures.

Miasma Chronicles knows how to seduce players by highlighting its strengths while hiding its few gray area (still... they do exist). Miasma Chronicles is a real kick-ass new IP.

Everything is earned here, from your gear to the answers to your questions, and the experience is all the better for it. For every battle you fail, a new one appears, yet there is minimal frustration due to the way you can learn from your mistakes. You’ll explore a haunting yet beautiful world, subtly changing as your actions affect the environment, and uncover a well-written story that kept my attention throughout. Miasma Chronicles is a dark journey that is well worth embarking on.

Miasma Chronicles is a very good mix of RPG and strategy. Some UI improvements, a better IA and better fonts are where The Bearded Ladies needs to grow.

If you liked Mutant Year Zero, you'll definitely enjoy Miasma Chronicles even more. If you like classic isometric Fallout games, you'll probably like Miasma too. The developers took a big leap forward and improved most of what was the weakness of their older game.

Miasma Chronicles is not light years away from Mutant Year Zero in either setting or gameplay. It is, however, a more refined and self-assured game, with an even better narrative and characters. The world-building and story are worth the price of admission, backed up by solid and creative tactical combat mechanics.

Despite its sometimes-awkward writing, Miasma Chronicles manages to tell an interesting story full of twists and turns in a world that’s incredibly interesting and well thought out.

Miasma Chronicles skillfully merges intense turn-based tactical combat, stealth mechanics, and rewarding exploration, dresses them up in a compelling world and narrative, and makes the result accessible to a broad audience.

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.

Miasma Chronicles has interesting ideas and great ambition but it could do with a bit more attention to detail.

A game that treasures its tactical engine to stage reasoned and challenging combat, along with an all-too-forgettable plot and characters and a pleasant setting to explore, albeit in its post-apocalyptic banality. Those who appreciate games of this type (and perhaps have already enjoyed Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden) should seriously consider Miasma Chronicles, provided they keep in mind the presence of some difficulty spikes that can make some passages a bit frustrating.

The story is mediocre and the game has some technical issues, but Miasma Chronicles is a great tactical RPG. The developers of Mutant Year Zero have proved that they still know their craft.

Miasma Chronicles brings some solid evolution to the turn-based strategy genre. While making itself approachable to newcomers and fans alike. The gameplay is really good, but the story is, for the most part, forgettable.

Miasma Chronicles takes the turn-based strategy formula and throws on additional layers of stealth to enforce guerilla-warfare strategies. It largely succeeds in this goal, ensuring players take in their surroundings while taking out as many enemies as they can. When combat starts, you use various abilities and character strengths to survive. This gameplay immerses you well, making you want to plan out your next strategy as soon as possible. There are some flaws in the gameplay, such as abilities and environmental objects not working as intended. It’s also too easy to accidentally commit to a mistake while looking over the battlefield. But there are more strengths than weaknesses that allow Miasma Chronicles to deliver a fun strategic experience.

An atmospherically dense, but narratively weak tactical game that can't hold a candle to its outstanding predecessor, Mutant Year Zero.

Miasma Chronicles is a step up from the poor Corruption 2029. The game can offer you an interesting setting and characters with some cool tactical systems, but at the same time there is straight up broken gameplay elements and lots of bugs, at least on the console versions.

Miasma Chronicles is a demanding but well-balanced tactical RPG that should scratch the itch of XCOM fans or anyone seeking a modest challenge. It's disappointing that the narrative elements don't hold up on their end, because they easily detract from an otherwise satisfying game.

An intriguing post-apocalyptic adventure, Miasma Chronicles is set in a fascinating world, populated by some weird characters. Its combats could be a challenge, with some good tactical ideas, but at the end there are not so many choices to avoid the game over.

Miasma Chronicles brings all of the right ingredients to the table; it’s raw and gritty yet earnest and charming, built around an engaging narrative and an endearing host of characters. The issue is, it’s undercooked. Stuttering animations, a gappy tutorial, and untapped RPG potential make for an occasionally grueling, albeit still very enjoyable game.

Miasma Chronicles is a solid tactical-RPG that offers good-quality combat encounters, alongside a story that is enthralling to follow, and all set in a world you want to explore.

Miasma Chronicles is another solid release from Bearded Ladies, who are quite comfortable with their fusion of turn-based tactics with a narrative element. The studio has already become an expert at playing defense, and has a case for venturing further on offense. Miasma Chronicles is a good starting step for newcomers and an interesting offering for veterans, even if it doesn't innovate, but it doesn't try either.

Miasma Chronicles is an XCOMlike that will delight those who enjoyed Mutant Zero Dawn. Lots of exploration, some role-playing and the familiar combat with a twist.

Miasma Chronicles could have been a great tactics game, because it has anything, it needs for that. But the game throws a wrench in the works with its bad balanced normal difficulty level, that should be too difficult for most gamers, while it's too easy below that level.

Miasma Chronicles is a promising strategy game with satisfying but challenging combat, a generous skill tree with sci-fi elements and intriguing lore. The characters and writing are somewhat cheesy which you'll either love or hate and the story doesn't set any new ground in the crowded post-apocalyptic space, but it's still a fun romp.

While there are missteps in the narrative, Miasma Chronicles is a solid enough game that can scratch both the RPG and tactical turn-based combat itch, with some solid ideas that aim to tweak the genre in ways that keep the combat fresh.

One can't help feeling that it is a worse version of its predecessor. The game contains a few new features, but some of them make it slightly worse. It's still fun though, with a cool world to explore and an interesting combat system that will keep you entertained most of the time. [Issue#329]

While I’m enjoying Miasma Chronicles, I don’t think it’s one I’m going to stick with. There are too many moments where the deck feels stacked against me in combat, and there aren’t many ways to get on par with the difficulty curve, let alone get ahead of it. The developers get very close to something great here, but there’s something off in their formula and it’s just not clicking in a way that feels satisfying.

Miasma Chronicles is a perfectly passable game, one with an admittedly long campaign that fairly justifies the modestly-high retail price. The problem is that the campaign in question feels far longer than it ought, because most aspects of its narrative and dialogue fail entirely to bring the player closer to the characters they're playing as, a critical failing for any game calling itself an RPG. Decent performances from the voice cast almost manages to redeem the game's storytelling failings, but never fully. The combat is often excessively repetitive, and the killcam system often seems more interested in capturing footage of the foliage presumably for a nature documentary, than focusing on the far more interesting bleeding and screaming enemy flailing around on the ground. Hopefully Miasma Chronicles does eventually get a sequel, because it does manage to lay down a lot of potentially interesting groundwork, albeit without ever managing to fully capitalize on it.

The game's world of desperate survival is much more effectively painted through its mechanics. [Issue#386, p.112]

Miasma Chronicles tries to tell an epic story but fails. It does some things better than its predecessors, and some worse. There are slight technical issues. The combat system is fun, thankfully, as is the exploration which will be your two main activities anyway. The world is well crafted, but the protagonists are extremely annoying.

But that doesn't mean that Bearded Ladies' latest doesn't deserve a look, if this kind of game is usually to your taste. Especially if - for you - percentages are simply part of the turn-based tactics experience, if you like to plan your turns meticulously, and you love to save and load your games a lot, while exploring every nook and cranny of a game world, Miasma Chronicles might be your Eldorado.

In the end, the combat designers of Miasma Chronicles may well have let loose the frogs of war. It’s just a shame the writers croaked it.