The test of The Chant game, published by Prime Matter and developed by Brass Token, was carried out on Xbox Series X.
Published on November 28, 2022 at 11:18 PM. Last modification on December 5, 2022 at 07:26
The estimated time for reading this test is 8 min. 
0 commentAvailable for purchase on:
The Song
The Chant is a video game developed by the Canadian studio Brass Token, founded in 2017 by Mike Skupa who previously worked on games Hulk (2003), bully (2006) and sleeping dogs (2012), as game designer and design director.
The Chant is a horror action-adventure game in the third person, which takes its inspiration from the 70s with a tasty mix between the worlds of silent Hill and those imagined by HP Lovecraft, where balance between body and mind is one of the keys to staying alive. Explanations, with The Chant reviewavailable on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC since November 3, 2022.
Welcome to the Prismarctic Spiritual Retreat!
The Song
The Song
The Song
The story of The Chant
Still traumatized by the disappearance of her sister a few years ago, Jessica Briars known as Jess, joins her childhood friend Kim, on the island of Glory, to live a time of spiritual retreat within a small community. new age dictated by the laws of a mysterious prism, consisting of Kim, Hannah, Sonny, Maya and Tyler, the village chief, all seeming kind and welcoming at first glance.
Don’t break the circle…
During an initiation session, the group sings a ritual song around crystals. But Kim throws a tantrum and breaks the circle, despite Tyler’s insistent warnings. The negative energy released by the participants then opens a portal to a parallel dimension… a bit like in Stranger Things… where parasitic creatures from the Darkness appear on the island. These supernatural creatures stalk their prey using their psychological weaknesses.
Fantasy Island
Jess then leaves to travel the island to lift the veil on the present and past mysteries surrounding this group which is more and more like a sect. Around her, the members of the group try to survive despite the madness that invades them each in turn…
The story of the game will lead you to explore the island which is made up of different places steeped in history: the camp, the cannery, the mines, the Flea Island, the cliffs, the dome. The story is interesting to follow, especially if you take the time to read the various elements left by the former inhabitants of the island: simple notes, letters, photos, videos and paintings. The similarity with the series Lost: The Disappeared jumps to the eye between the forest island, Prismic Science (Dharma Project), and the abandoned places of the 70s.
Know that the game consists of a prologue and six chapters focusing in turn on a character of the group, with three possible endings, which depend on your answers during dialogues with the members of the group. On the other hand, I did not have the feeling that my choices had had direct consequences with the unfolding of the story.
Game System
The Chant plays exactly like a Resident Evilwith areas to unlock and mechanisms to set up, puzzles to solve, inventory, objects to combine, keys to find, plants to heal (ginger), etc.
But where The Chant stands out from other games of the same style is that its heroine is perpetually vulnerable; she has to be careful about her well-being, that there are no guns, and that Jess has an upgrade tree.
If health is a critical characteristic that can lead to the death of your character and the return to the last save point, the spirit gauge is used for two purposes and it will be necessary to balance its choices during the game: first, to unleash certain supernatural abilities through the color prisms she collects as she progresses through the game; and second, to exchange some spirituality in mind.
We know it since the introduction of the game, the mental state of Jess is fragile on the one hand by his past trauma, but on the other hand by phobias like the swarms of bees and the darkness. If her mental gauge runs out, Jess then goes into a panic attack in which she will be unable to defend herself and fight. The screen then switches to black and white, until Jess stops panicking. If some enemies attack this gauge directly until they kill it, you should know that Jess managed to regain mental strength, on the one hand through plants, but also through a technique of inner concentration.
In this psychedelic nightmare, you can try to avoid direct confrontations, dodge or fight against plant-based enemies (some look like clackers from The Last of Us) or animal, more and more numerous and different throughout the game.
First, you can craft three melee weapons: a sage staff, a glowing whip, and a witch staff, with herbs gathered along the way, such as sage used in many cultures to clear residual energies. These weapons, which have a limited duration, will have more or less effects depending on the type of enemies to face, which gives a strategic dimension to the fight. As Alicia in A Plague Talesyou will be able to use throwables like salt and oils to stun your enemies.
The tree of improvements is represented by a mandala with skills to be unlocked as you go (strength, mental, health, spirituality, etc.), thanks in particular to prismatic crystals that you will find on the island. If it starts from a good intention, I for my part, did not feel any noticeable improvement on my character.
Graphics
No need to find a map, there is none. The Chant invites players to explore the island on their own, and the universe created by the studio is believable with distinct areas of the island. If overall the game seems dated compared to the competition, especially because of the character animation, we feel that the studio has made a big effort on the cutscenes and the character modeling, a bit like in Until Dawn.
Soundtrack
Obviously, The Chant must be played with the helmet fixed on the head. The musical sound environment fits perfectly with the atmosphere of the island and is full of little noises that accompany Jess’s anguish and that make us feel uncomfortable.
Lifetime
I finished the game in two weeks at the rate of one hour of play per evening. It’s short for sure, but it gives you the opportunity to leave for success “summer solstice” which invites players to finish the game in less than 4 hours.
My review of The Chant on Microsoft Xbox Series X
The strengths of The Chant
The weak points of The ChantThe Chant game trailer
Test The Chant: a spiritual survival horror in the heart of Darkness