The Chant Review

Intro

I’m always excited when there is a new horror release coming up. So, it is an absolute pleasure I’ve been able to have some proper hands-on time with The Chant, a new and original first IP from the developers at Brass Token.

Based in Vancouver, Canada, Brass Token is a very small development team of around 20 staff and includes some core members of the Bully (Canis Canem Edit) and Sleeping Dogs teams.

Development on The Chant began in 2017 as a team of four and slowly grew from there. They are aiming to explore new ways of telling stories using inventive game mechanics, and i’m loving the progress.

70s Giallo horror is a big influence here, along with some of the developer’s favorite movies including The Thing and From Beyond. Not to forget a fascination with concept of the third eye opening the veil to another dimension. They also pull on their own personal fears of insects and Tryptophobia.

You will have to piece together the weird history of Glory Island as you craft, fight, flee and try to survive psychedelic horrors within The Chant.

Gameplay trailer: HERE & teaser trailer: HERE.

The Story

You play as Jess, as she is on a personal journey of healing after a very traumatic event in her past. She visits the Prismic Science Spiritual Retreat on Glory Island to do so, but it isn’t long at all before her would be peaceful weekend becomes a psychedelic nightmare.

As Jess, you can interact with the other members around the retreat to try and learn more about the Island. You can even find notes/files or videos that can be viewed in an observation room in-game that can help you piece together more of the story.

The Gloom is the threat that engulfs this peaceful island retreat and taps into characters personal fears. You learn more about the story and characters with a pretty cool game mechanic, but we’ll get to that later on.

The story is an interesting one, and it kept me on the hunt for more information contained within notes. With a crazy unrealistic situation that you would not experience in real life, it still manages to convey some real-world issues among relatable characters.

The game manages to teach you more about the world and its characters in an engaging way, that made me want to keep pushing forward to learn more. Not forgetting the scares, you will encounter whilst exploring the retreat and some tense, atmospheric moments that really add to the overall experience in a good way.

The big mystery on the island really helps add to the atmosphere as you never know what to expect or where it might be heading next. The Chant’s story certainly left an impression on me, as it is one that I can see myself following, either in the form of DLC or a full-blown sequel.

The Gameplay

Mind, body and spirit is the core concept here and it’s works very well. These are essential to Jess’s well-being and survival, which can be restored with various consumables found around the retreat.

Your “Mind” stat needs to be somewhat full throughout or you’ll become vulnerable and unable to defend yourself. The only way out, should you find yourself in this situation, is to flee.

Your “Body” stat simply relates to your health and of course, running empty results in death.

Your “Spirit” stat is a very useful one that allows you to perform 6 various (and rather cool) different prism attacks. It can also be used to restore a partial or full amount of Mind, dependent on how much you have.

When it comes down to the combat, it solely focuses on melee. I actually think this works well alongside the ability to throw items and lay traps for enemies. You have three different melee weapons in your arsenal that have their own attributes. Whether that be a large area of effect or an ability to mix an attack with one of two types of oil for extra damage. Just like consumables, you can find resources around the retreat and craft whichever items you want, giving you the ability to choose how to deal with each encounter.

Accompanying the crafting system is your skill tree. Allowing you to upgrade your Mind, Body and Spirit stats, so long as you keep your eye peeled for the Prismic Crystals needed to do so. The skill tree encourages balance, as you need to have unlocked two connected stats previously to access another that might appeal to you. All things like more health, being able to hold more consumables etc.

The Chant contains three different endings for the player to experience and are directly related to the way you choose to play. For instance, if you cater more towards the Mind stat, you’ll get the “Mind ending and so on and so forth.

I haven’t seen another game (that I know of nor remember) do this, so it’s actually rather cool to see a skill tree linked to a game’s endings.

I finished with my highest stat being “Mind” and want to go back to experience the other endings.

The Gloom can be seen as you approach a beautiful and colourful misty cloud. Don’t get too infatuated however, as horrors lie within the gloom. This also links me back to my earlier point about telling stories through game mechanics.

Brass Token have aimed to do something different here with their storytelling. As you enter a character’s personal gloom cloud (each colour represents a character) you can hear their thoughts and feelings about other characters.

It’s really cool to see and not only gives you a better understanding of the characters and story, but also adds to an already unsettling atmosphere.

Within The Gloom you’ll come across some disgusting, weird and grotesque monsters and a wide variety at that. You have your basic enemies (as does any game), but it feels like they have really tried to mix up enemy types to keep it fresh from start to finish.

I won’t spoil anything, but there is also a semi-persistent enemy (think Resident Evil 2’s Mr. X) that will just keep coming and coming. This one gave me the creeps way more than it should have, and only added to my unsettling nerves.

Overall, the combat and the systems in place are great fun and work well, throw in some grotesque creatures based on the developer’s own fears and you’ve got a recipe for a great action-horror title.

Final Thoughts

Brass Token have tried to deliver something a bit different with The Chant and in my opinion, they have managed to succeed at it.

From storytelling through game mechanics and in-game videos, the mysterious atmosphere and personal touches like portraying their own personal fears through monsters just all blends together for a great horror experience.

You won’t find the most unsettling experience here, but there are some stand-out moments that made me change my underwear and one of these moments even gave me a Dead Space-esque feel when it hit me.

The “normal and everyday” issues the characters deal with helped me care about what was going on despite the setting being totally bizarre in that respect.

The Chant also looks surprisingly good visually and well-polished for the most part and runs absolutely fine. The contrast in colours is beautiful and the island setting itself is gorgeous. Even down to the menu/loading screen art, it all just looks sublime, and is very aesthetically pleasing.

My only issue is with the facial animations. For the most part they are fine, but they just feel a little bit off in places, but it’s nothing game breaking that will deter you from playing at all.

I didn’t run into any problems during my time with it, which is a great feat for such a small development team. It all just worked which is always welcomed in today’s world of broken and buggy launches.

At a price point of only £35, it’s hard for me not to recommend. If you’re into exploration, action and horror then you definitely need to give this one a try.

I completed The Chant in around 6-7 hours, but each playtime will differ, and I think you might even get 10+ hours if you’re trying to see everything this game has to offer.

Brass Token will be a developer you will want to keep your eyes on in the future, as I sense it’s a promising one, with great things ahead.

The Chant is available November 3rd, 2022 on Xbox Series X|S, PS5 and PC.