Available at the beginning of this month, The Chant is a mix between Action, Adventure, Horror game with a spiritual sauce. Mike Skupa, the creative director, was inspired for The Chant by films by Stuart Gordon Lovecraft, From Beyond, or even the “giallo” “terror” of Italian cinema in the 1970s. After performing several times this retreat, in order to explore its different facets, we can say that The Chant pleased us on many points, even if it has some shortcomings. See instead.
The Chant was produced by Brass Token, an independent studio based in Vancouver, Canada. Although this title is their very first production under the Brass Token “label”, the team is not really new to the industry. Indeed, among these developers, there are industry veterans, some who participated in the development of Sleeping Dogs, or The Bully. For the record, the production of The Chant began in 2017 with only four people, then evolved, becoming a team of nineteen developers.
The studio’s vision is simple, to explore new possibilities of telling stories through inventive mechanics, but also to become “the first” independent developer telling Narrative Action-Adventure games (or Action Story Driven).
A gripping adventure
Take a spiritual retreat on an isolated island, relax and free your mind from old traumas, this is the proposal conveyed by the “retreat” of Prismic Science.
Jessica Briars, alias Jess, our protagonist, having experienced a heavy drama, accepts the proposal of her childhood friend Kim: that of joining the Prismic Science retreat. Kim is also a member herself. Jess therefore joins her on the Island of Glory, it is there that she meets the other members of the group (Hannah, Sonny, Maya, and the “chef/guru” Tyler), and even if Jess is Skeptical, she gradually begins to make her mark.
Later, as the group performs a traditional ritual, this time with Jess, the circle is unexpectedly broken, and a strange phenomenon occurs: the opening of a portal to Darkness, and our dimension. We are talking about a quite unhealthy dimension here, it contains spiritual creatures and monsters with great powers, one of them being to feed on negativity in all its forms. The retirement supposed to be peaceful then becomes a nightmare…
By using a process of psychology via “hallucinations”, as well as various inspirations (cult of the 70s,…), the developers manage to immerse us in a very particular disturbing atmosphere. Moreover, if scriptwriting speaking, we can note easy uses of shortcuts, a phenomenon that risks hindering some, we find that the adventure is quite engaging, we discover a “liability of the ‘island’, or even various documents/videos scattered here and there. The whole bringing a Lore really well worked. In addition, and this is a pleasant surprise, the dubbing is entirely in French, and of high quality, which further reinforces the immersion.
A healthy mind in a healthy body
Isolated island, anguish, anxiety, survival, mental, elements notified through the script history of The Chant, but also at the very heart of its gameplay, making everything very consistent with its initial proposal.
We evolve in different places on the island of Glory (lighthouse, forest, …) with in its center, the HQ of the retreat. We progress through “marked” paths offering both puzzles and confrontations, but also the search for collectibles, crafting materials or even “medicinal” resources/plants.
Yes, the search for plants as well as materials are vital elements for the survival of Jess, and of her attributes: “mental”, “health”, and “spirituality”, these three specificities being governed by special gauges. Thus, when the young woman is seized with a panic attack, her mind is completely at half mast.
Which means that she can no longer use “makeshift weapons”, and can therefore suffer damage, or be stunned for a few moments. To perk it up, simply ingest lavender, or use spirituality, via meditation to regain it. On the other hand, by doing this, your spirituality is partially exhausted. The key is therefore simple to follow: pay attention to the three gauges present, knowing that dark and unlit places bring down the mind; and always have lavender, spirits, and ginger on hand to restore a portion of each gauge. A really interesting feature, and changing habits a bit, but we would have liked to have less “power” over this management, to be more “in the red” so to speak in order to have a lot more fear.
Of course, we cannot rely only on medicinal plants to survive against the hordes of “monstrous” creatures present, via a very successful, original and neat bestiary, by the way. As indicated a little upstream, by taking the time to search for materials, it is possible to craft “weapons of fortune”. Take sage and string, make a bunch/stick and you’re done, it’s ideal for getting rid of swarms for example, but in return, there is a notion of durability. So it’s up to you to manage all your crafting and your strikes.
Dynamic confrontations with the benefits of nature
Without going on a very complex system, the grip being quite fast, the clashes are still dynamic and deserve to have good reflexes. We can thus perform alternating combos between heavy and light strikes, yes, yes even with the sage stick we were talking about earlier, or with incandescent whips. We then seek to take advantage of the few elementary weaknesses available – a little more possibilities on that side would have been welcome – and then to dodge enemy strikes, or repel enemies. But these are not the only weapons available, and with limited durability as a reminder. Jess, although new to spirituality, can even use “special faculties” linked to prisms. To name just one, in order not to spoil the discovery, you can slow down the enemies, but beware of the associated gauge!
And again, we haven’t told you about a few other subtleties of combat or the little “RPG” touch of the software, with here the availability of three talent trees. The latter being governed by a triple system of experience. With for example the increase of the spirit by the reading, or the ingestion of lavender. Without going into too much detail to leave you with surprises, this touch is really welcome.
Uneven in some ways, but with a bestiary that commands attention
Now let’s talk about the technical and graphic palette of The Chant. We mentioned it much earlier, the atmosphere is really excellent from start to finish. Be careful all the same, although The Chant is stamped as a “horror” game, it should not be taken in the sense of a crazy scare, or of the usual ingredients of fear strictly speaking (jumpscares,…), but rather a more subtle side, also providing a feeling of insecurity, and of having anxiety. You can add to that French dubbing, good sound effects, beautiful colors, lights, lighting, but also electro-rock tracks composed by award-winning artist Paul Ruskay.
Only small downside, the disparity between the places/textures, some being below the others, therefore lacking uniformity, while however, next to that, we benefit from pretty panoramas, colors and more care/detail . Ditto, we would have liked to see a little more facial expressions on the faces of the characters.
Tested on Xbox Series X
So yes, if it is not to be qualified at the top of the table of games with a large “trouillometer”, that there are still some gaps, or that we would have liked to see more fleshing out on certain points, The Chant subtly succeeds in establishing a certain climate, this by its successful atmosphere, both visual (bestiary, colors,…), as well as sound, or even its worked Lore. It must also be said that we are very receptive to this kind of atmosphere, and the various more “original” touches, like the replacement of classic Survival-Horror weapons by the benefits of nature. A “beautiful” discovery!