During gamescom 2022, I had the chance to play a game I was waiting for: The Chant, developed by Brass Token and published by Prime Matter and Plaion (formerly Koch Media).
History
You are part of a group (a sect actually, but a cleaner group) who decided to go on a spiritual retreat on an island. But during a ritual with a precise chant, you release forces of which you had no idea. The horror creeps in slowly locking you into your own psychedelic delirium, making you confront your nightmares as well as the history of this island. But what can a human do against the cosmos?
My opinion: the scenario is really breathtaking and twisted at will. In the part that I had in my hands, I loved the side "fighting his demons" with creatures who shout our mistakes and other "truths" at us during fights, or pursuits. Scary and disturbing, that's exactly what it takes.
Graphics & atmosphere
The game is quite successful visually speaking, both on the different creatures (even if, when they are killed, I find the animation sometimes a little too cheap) and on the terrain effects from which rises a strange mist which reinforces the disturbing aspect of the title. In terms of the atmosphere that emanates from it, the sounds, and the impression that comes out of certain buildings, it's not reassuring for a hair. As for the visions, they are more than disturbing... the player will clearly not feel safe for a good part of the game. Very good point in my opinion!
Gameplay
The game oscillates between several phases: resource management, combat against creatures, solving puzzles... but all of this will give a rather particular dimension as the balance to be maintained is precarious, which will be reinforced according to the level of difficulty. which you will choose. Your character has several bars that correspond to your mind, your body, and the last one to your time(?). During the attacks of certain creatures, your mind will be severely damaged, to the point of causing panic attacks, which will make your character completely useless in combat. Only way, take consumables or meditate in a safe place, which will raise two of your gauges, but will lower that of time.
In addition, in this place you will also have many creatures to fight when going back and forth to solve more or less complicated puzzles, such as finding two parts of a structure to combine them on the right door, find a key hidden with a simple photo as a clue, etc. And unfortunately, you won't be able to beat every creature with the meager resources you find. Because each weapon will have to be crafted, and it will break after a certain number of uses, the skills you obtain will become a weapon as much as a more than welcome defense in this psychic hell. Fight or flight will be the eternal question...but should all fights be avoided? Surely not, because sometimes eliminating certain enemies will cleanse the area of its insanity and bring you a little more calm.
Summary
Full house for me who loved this demo of chapter 3. We have the fight against occult forces, old-fashioned puzzles, history, narration well as it should and a good dose of horrific stress. The game can certainly be improved on a few small points, but, for the moment, it is highly possible that several aspects will be remodeled before its release on November 3 on Steam, Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.
