Chrono Odyssey’s energetic opening sequence throws my dual-wielding Berserker proper within the thick of battle. With a full set of drugs and abilities, I struggle in opposition to invading Void forces whereas making an attempt to retrieve a wierd gadget generally known as a Chronotector.
It’s a bit overwhelming, however tutorial messages assist me hit the bottom working, explaining the fundamentals of attacking, therapeutic, and driving my mount as I push on. Upon reaching my goal, a ruthless Void champion makes brief work of my allies earlier than a mysterious stranger saves me from inevitable demise, sending me again to the previous.
Waking up in rags with no skills and a pair of rusty chain blades implies that my Berserker is just not fairly as succesful a slayer as she was a couple of minutes in the past. I rapidly be taught this after defeating two lone monsters and exiting the close by seashore camp.
Exterior the partitions, pleasant troopers battle quite a few Void opponents and, struggling to disregard their animations working at a visibly decrease body fee, I let my instincts get the most effective of me, charging in to assist. However preventing a number of foes is, it seems, way more difficult. My allies’ contribution proves questionable at greatest, so I spend the following 10-Quarter-hour repeatedly dying to what are doubtless lower-rank creatures within the invading military.
Chrono Odyssey’s fight lands in soulslike territory, letting even its fundamental enemies get the most effective of you should you’re not cautious. The shortage of a stage quantity obscures how highly effective they’re, so it’s solely after I begin using persistence and dodging assaults that I start to see reasonable success in battles that different MMORPGs would have made trivial.
Swapping to my battle axe provides me a preventing likelihood, because it permits me to dam incoming assaults, minimizing the quantity of injury I take. But studying the enemy’s animations continues to show difficult whilst my character ranges up and my kill depend grows.
That’s partly because of the media beta check’s uneven efficiency, however particular person assaults may very well be higher telegraphed. Getting hit even as soon as feels punishing, particularly when contemplating the lengthy cooldown of therapeutic gadgets early on.
When not ceaselessly visiting the respawn display, Chrono Odyssey’s punchy, fashionable fight makes touchdown assaults and utilizing skills really feel impactful and satisfying. A number of the latter profit from visible thrives that carry you nearer to feeling like a badass hero, at the very least earlier than a mob kicks some sense again into you.
After exploring a small chunk of the primary area and finishing a few pretty customary MMO-style quests (discuss to this individual, accumulate these gadgets, kill that one monster), I encounter my first hurdle. The principle quest leads me to a Chrono Gate, which is basically a dungeon containing a single boss encounter.
There, I meet one other Void champion, the Thousandfold Piercer. Out of my 10-or-so makes an attempt, I virtually managed to kill him a single time earlier than deciding that taking the sport’s recommendation and discovering methods to get stronger was a wiser strategy.
Thus, I set off to discover the encircling areas, with little or no to carry my hand or level me in a route. Since quick journey requires interacting with Sure Stones discovered within the surroundings, until you’ve reached an inn and requested for a room, I ran again to the close by city and picked up as many quests as I may.
One takes me to the final items dealer, who sells quite a lot of gathering instruments required to start leveling up professions. One other, labeled as a bounty, has me monitoring down a selected foe in part of the map I simply uncovered.
To push again the fog of struggle, it’s good to work together with one of many many Eyes of Perception strewn throughout the map. These are massive constructions which might be functionally Murderer’s Creed towers minus the climbing.
The places of most goals conveniently seem on the map when monitoring their related quests, though there are exceptions, like one specific occasion through which a quest giver’s instructions have been my solely information to discovering a lacking cat.
Chrono Odyssey’s character fashions and fight animations make good use of Unreal Engine 5 – particularly in cutscenes, the place its alien Void structure infuses a critical dose of risk into the first antagonists. Its character creator is equally spectacular, providing a bevy of choices when customizing your avatar whereas not shying away from letting you create eerily enticing abominations.
Sadly, the media beta check construct struggled from a technical perspective. As I explored, I usually encountered blurry textures that had seemingly forgotten to load in alongside checkered shadows, even when enjoying on Epic settings. Lighting transitions usually felt too sudden, so it was onerous to remain immersed as I traversed forests, crossed lakes, and battled on the fringe of steep hills.
Hitting a gentle 60 FPS proved an excessive amount of for my PC (Intel i7-13700K, 32 GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 3080@1440p) even when enjoying on low settings. Every other mixture noticed the body fee hovering between 25 and 55, principally staying throughout the 40-50 FPS ballpark, which in a recreation that prioritizes fast reactions and studying the enemy’s intentions isn’t preferrred.
Its world additionally felt unusually empty, with packs of enemies generally too simple to keep away from and only a few parts organically calling out to my interior explorer. One spotlight of my brief time with Chrono Odyssey got here within the form of a dynamic quest, which randomly triggered as I used to be seeking to collect ore and wooden to lift my weapon and armor crafting abilities.
I heard a person shouting from the very fringe of a waterfall and, after effortlessly swimming to his rock, which was conveniently protruding of the waterfall’s very edge, I supplied to assist. I swiftly swam again, discovered a chunk of rope at his close by camp, and interacted with a pole to supply him a way of crossing to security. That measly waterfall proved no match for a confused time traveler who had but to safe correct pants
One equally jarring black display later, the person revealed his title, Giotto, earlier than asking me to retrieve his garments. Since I arrange a campfire for him, I took a detour, finishing a couple of different quests and gathering further crafting supplies.
The latter course of takes a bit too lengthy with the starter gear, however the presence of a number of tiers of sickles does counsel that it may get higher additional down the road. Nonetheless, the place gathering in different MMORPGs can have a really therapeutic impact, that wasn’t fairly the case right here.
Chrono Odyssey’s characters hold conversations brief, whilst the principle narrative throws high-level ideas at you in hopes that phrases like “Chronotector” and “Void” draw you into its worldbuilding. I admittedly noticed little or no of its story, however the preliminary phase fell virtually fully flat for me. I can also’t say I felt any connection to the troopers asking me to kill fiends who’d murdered their comrades, the lady whose cat went lacking, or the opposite NPCs who wanted assist.
The crafting programs actually contribute to enhancing your character’s fight skills and possibilities of survival, however the workmanlike menus may use a little bit of a touch-up that makes them extra thrilling to take a look at.
Returning a number of ranges later to the Thousandfold Piercer, outfitted with higher armor and weapons in addition to consumables that regenerated extra well being, the struggle remained difficult. Fortunately, I had additionally picked up a passive means from one among my weapon mastery bushes that triggered a defend when my well being dropped to a low-enough proportion, giving me simply sufficient time to greatest this enemy.
An enormous a part of fight is swapping between your two outfitted weapons – every with its personal passive and energetic abilities unlocked by utilizing weapons and gaining mastery factors. You may equip 4 energetic skills per weapon, holding fight dynamic.
The Berserker’s chain blades may strike enemies inside a brief vary, whereas the battle axe required me to stand up shut, lest I threat losing my charged slams. Continuously shifting place and utilizing totally different abilities retains fight partaking, however coupled with dodging, blocking, and making an attempt to learn my enemies’ intentions, it additionally felt overwhelming, particularly when the unstable framerate added one other problem to the combo.
As a reward for overcoming the primary large hurdle, I gained he means to make use of the Chornotector as not only a technique of discovering my method throughout one particular most important story quest, but in addition summon the fallen foe to assist me (?). The brief window for the media beta check ended earlier than I may put this means to make use of, however it’s one factor that makes me considerably interested in how Chrono Odyssey’s development evolves in a while.
What I performed was a small chunk of an in-development construct, so efficiency points and bugs have been to be anticipated, however my time with Chrono Odyssey leaves me conflicted. Its quest construction and crafting are the one issues that really feel like they belong in an MMO, whereas every thing else feels at house in a single-player, soulslike action-RPG. Though the 2 sides may harmonize in a while, I didn’t get to expertise something of the type.
I’m additionally not totally satisfied this type of fight really works that properly in an MMORPG, however I additionally didn’t get to play with a celebration and kit up sufficient or get a way of after I was correctly outfitted for the realm I used to be exploring. Higher gear did make sure encounters simpler, however I all the time needed to keep on my toes – at the very least whereas enjoying solo – regardless if I used to be preventing the massive dangerous within the dungeon or a random wolf out within the woods. This fixed friction may show exhausting in the long term.
Improved efficiency and higher telegraphed assaults may flip Chrono Odyssey right into a recreation that’s price trying out should you’re a soulslike fanatic in search of a extra multiplayer-leaning expertise. Every of its six deliberate lessons can equip two of three distinct weapon varieties, which all have their very own abilities to unlock and use, boding properly for replayability.
On the similar time, every thing else outdoors of fight and character creation, from the story’s cosmic ambitions to its characters and their dedication to rapidly ending conversations, did not get me invested.
Exploring a brand new zone in Azeroth or Tyria for the primary time all the time comes with a level of curiosity and whimsy due to a convergence of things – visuals, quests, music, and common ambiance – that was totally lacking from Chrono Odyssey’s first areas.
Its preoccupation with punishing me for pushing on reasonably than giving me causes to see extra of its world was disappointing, even after I adjusted my strategy to exploration, using extra care and specializing in gearing up.
Some further steerage throughout its opening hours may show useful, however should you’re desperate to climate the storm and see how Chrono Odyssey performs for your self, you may join on Steam for its upcoming closed beta check, which options the Berserker, Ranger, and Swordsman lessons and is scheduled to start on June 20, 2025.
For the newest gaming information, observe GameWatcher on BlueSky, try our movies on YouTube, or give us a like on Fb. We generally embody affiliate hyperlinks in our posts, which grants us a small fee, thanks.
