Chronos: Before the Ashes | PS4 Review

December 27, 2020 Zack Parkerson

It seems I’ve become the resident Soulslike expert here at The Gaming Outsider, and I’m happy to fulfill my duties whenever the need arises. Chronos: Before the Ashes is a formerly VR-exclusive title from Gunfire Games, who had quite a hit on their hands recently with Remnant: From the Ashes. The two games share a universe, so it only makes financial sense for the developer to bring the prequel to a wider audience.

A Familiar Coat of Paint

The trappings here are going to be familiar to any player who’s trounced down Soulslike lane before. Lock-on melee encounters where every strike matters, a stamina gauge to govern dodges, and a game world that refuses to hold you hand. These are all fairly standard genre fare, though I’m certain it stood out in VR.

As it stands, Chronos: Before the Ashes is a competent enough game in the genre. Your protagonist moves a little slowly and sluggishly, which I’ve chosen to chock up to the game’s original VR intent, but it still makes for combat where damage doesn’t often feel like your fault. The slow, wonky animations also makes parrying (my favorite skill to master in these games) all but useless. Nevertheless, the enemy variety and boss battles kept my interest throughout the game’s 8-12 hours.

A Key for Every Lock

Where I think Chronos does stand out is in its most unexpected of influences: survival-horror games. I speak to this influence exclusively for their puzzle-solving aspects. You’ll get familiar with finding the correct key or cog to open up doors, and I actually grew pretty fond of these little puzzles. They were a fun throwback to game design of yesteryear, and while they won’t be for everyone, it helped the game stand out to me.

The other way in which Chronos stands apart is in its unique death mechanics. Whenever you die, your character ages by a single year. There are lore reasons to explain this, but the impact is really more on the gameplay. In your younger years, strength and dexterity are easily upgraded, but as you grow older, these attributes require more skills points. Conversely, arcane magics get more easily upgraded as your character ages and wisens. It’s a fun twist that I expected to be scarcely used, but since the only way to recover your stock of healing items is death, the game almost forces you to grow old. It’s a smart hook.

Since this game is presumably mostly targeting the Remnant: From the Ashes crowd, it’s important to state the two games’ connections. A lot of the backstory for the lore in Remnant gets fleshed out here, and there’s interesting things to learn. As the connections grew, as did my interest in the lore generally. Now I’m all-in on this bizarre universe and the Root, so kudos to Gunfire for choosing to intertwine these games so tightly.

The Darkest Dungeon

While there’s a lot to like in Chronos: Before the Ashes, the slow combat animations really did hinder many moments. You eventually grow accustomed to it, but it never feels great. As these games live and die by their combat, it gets to be pretty disappointing when you can’t reliably use your dodge or parry because they feel far too sluggish. The puzzles and bosses (outside of one of the most frustrating final bosses in recent memory) help alleviate this, but they can only do so much. Luckily, the lore, characters, and story do also shine through. I only wish more time was spent tightening up the combat, so it could be easily recommended to anyone. As it stands, with this genre as flooded as it is, fans looking for more Ashes lore are probably the only gamers that need apply.

To hear me discuss Chronos: Before the Ashes more, be sure to listen to Episode 323 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 24:13 time stamp.

This review is based on a PS4 copy of Chronos: Before the Ashes provided by Evolve PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Google Stadia, and Microsoft Windows.