There are only a handful of activities out there that seem like they would be impossible to fail. Meditation used to be pretty high up on that list for me, but after this game, it seems it could go drastically wrong… at least, if you are in the wrong place with the right equipment and prism energy.

Prime Matter has just published Brass Token’s latest survival horror game, The Chant. Although it is a bit short, this title has a journey that will definitely be remembered. The psychedelic aspect and the unique dual-reality experience are something that stood out for this title. Then, once you reach the final boss, it holds a design that would leave an impression on anybody who faces it. But the question boils down to simply this; is the game worth playing?

Story

Take on the role of Jess, a woman who has traveled to an island to participate in a sort-of relaxation retreat after her friend Kim convinced her to come. During your first meditation session with the group, something goes wrong and it looks like Kim has become possessed by something. In response to Kim’s outbursts and aggressive attitude, the other members scramble to help but Kim runs off and Jess passes out. The moment you wake up, a memorable night of intense and unbelievable experiences begins!

The story itself isn’t really anything unique, but rather what you would expect from a cult-based horror game where the ritual goes wrong. It is a good enough story and the details are there, but I was able to predict most of what was going to happen next and I was right pretty often. While the story is good for what it is, it seems more of the attention and effort that makes this game worthwhile comes from the gameplay.

Gameplay

Starting the game, you are shown the basic movement and status options through a guided tour from the dock you arrived on to the camp where the retreat takes place. Here you get to scout the area a bit with the basic task of collecting a few ingredients for a tea. This doubles as your introduction to raw, forage materials that regain some of your different status bars.

You have three status options to take care of; Your mentality, your heart, and your spirit. If your mentality or your heart meter reaches zero, that counts as a death. The heart only goes down when you actually take a hit from an enemy, but your mentality will go down for a number of reasons including, walking around in the dark, simply being inside of a Gloom area, a direct mental attack by an enemy, and a few other attack options a few enemies have.

In order to maintain your statuses, you will need to collect the raw forage materials that fit each stat - but you can only hold 2 of each status forage goods, so if you find more then be sure to top yourself off while you have the chance. You can also meditate while in a safe area. Meditating will slowly transfer your spirit status to your mental status, helping you calm your mind.

To prevent them from dropping at all, you will need to prepare to defend yourself. This game allows you to craft your weapons as you really only have 3 weapons and 3 supports. You have a standard sage for regular attacks, a burning thorn bush for stronger attacks outside of a Gloom area, and an occult bush for stronger attacks inside of a Gloom area. For support options, you have essential oils, salt, and fire throws. Both the salt and essential oils will cause the enemy to flinch, stopping them in their tracks for a moment, but the fire throw will do straight damage.

When you are fighting enemies, they each have their own move set. What they all have in common is the invincibility glow. While fighting, if your enemy starts to glow, even just in specific spots of their body, then that means they can’t take any damage at that time. However, you can salt or essential oil them while they glow and it will cause them to flinch and become vincible. A neat thing they added to this game is movement, fighting style, and even a dodge style that is fitting to someone who doesn’t have proper combat training. Your fighting style looks like it would if someone was randomly forced to fight and just started swinging, but the dodge style actually has you successfully sidestep once and if you do it again you will fall down. The falling down is actually incredibly useful and has helped me dodge plenty of swiping and fast stabbing attacks from enemies.

As you progress through the game, you will get more Prism shards from the other members of the retreat. As you gain new prisms of different colors, you will be able to go inside the Gloom that matches that color. You will also be granted a new ability to use, typically in combat situations. Using an ability costs a chunk of your spirit energy status, so use them wisely and accordingly.

When it comes to the areas and enemies themselves, you will find two different realms overlapping. In the regular world, you will come across Cultists and sometimes a specific enemy that can traverse all planes - your personal demon sort of enemy. If you see an area that looks hazy, it will also have one of the six color tones to it and in there you will find the rest of the enemies in this game. This hazy area is known as the Gloom and in there you get the most psychedelic aspects of the game, plus there is a full bestiary of creatures that lurk within here.

Your journey will have you travel through Gloom and the real world constantly. The process will have you solving puzzles, finding unique pieces to form a unique key for doors, and more. Prioritizing your supplies, your statuses, and even what enemies you face or run from will all be factors in how well your playthrough goes.

Audio and Visual

The art style for this game is enough to make the game appear well-made but not quite realistic. Honestly, they went with the right level of detail as you can really get a feel for the environments and I wouldn’t want the characters to be any more realistic than they are given how things play out in the game. The same can be said for the creatures because they already have an intimidating presence as they are!

The sound design for this game is definitely worth noting though. The music style, voice work, and sound effects all seemed to be top-notch and with proper emphasis behind them. Whether it is a calm moment or an intense one, the music was always fitting to what was going on and would change accordingly. There was one spot where I noticed a sound effect playing that shouldn’t have been at that point, so there may be a few issues I missed as well, so while it is all very well done, there is a chance the sound effect is misplaced - but the music and voice work is always on point at least!

Replayability

There are different difficulties to play the game on and a few achievements that contradict each other, so if you want to get all of the achievements then you will need to play through more than once. Other than that, the story and gameplay are all pretty linear throughout the game.

What It Could Have Done Better

This game felt like it was intentionally made to be a short title and even ends on a cliffhanger, hinting at a second game. It would have felt more fleshed out if it had a 7-8 hour run time to complete and still ended up with a cliffhanger, but beating it in just over 5 hours and seeing there is more to come left me wondering why it didn’t simply include another level or two.

There were the occasional small issues and bugs still able to be found throughout the game. Mostly of graphical and sound design problems, but I ran into or noticed a new one every chapter or so. Nothing major or that breaks the immersion, luckily.

Verdict

The Chant is a uniquely memorable psychedelic horror title. Giving players a dual reality to explore while handing them merely tools to craft together their own weapons was a great taste of survival horror that almost any fan of the genre can enjoy. While I do wish it was longer, I guess I’ll have to look forward to a sequel title. This is a game I would recommend to anybody who enjoys strange experiences and fighting for their life while surviving an unlikely journey.

The Chant is available now on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.