Miasma Chronicles

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.