Gameplay Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXDvzAF7o0o

Chronos: Before the Ashes is a third-person souls-like adventure game, and a prequel to Remnant: From the Ashes, which takes place in a labyrinth that can only be entered once a year. Your task is to kill the dragon, who supposedly destroyed your world, and fight any enemies that are in your path. It was a VR-only back in 2016, now it’s a fully-fledged game. I haven’t played Remnant yet, but I do love playing souls-like games.

✔️ Interesting and straightforward story.
✔️ Simple, yet fun gameplay
✔️ The ageing system is very creative
✔️ Impressive and very detailed world.
✔️ Great visuals, similar to Remnant: From the Ashes.
✔️ Good soundtrack.

❌ Not very challenging.
❌ Offers very little replay value.
❌ Doesn't always offer a sense of direction, you will get lost a few times.

The game takes place a month before the event of Remnant: From the Ashes, and you are just an unlucky person who is destined to fight and slay the dragon inside a labyrinth. In order to fight the dragon, you have to find and kill three guardians in three distinct locations. You can only enter the labyrinth once a year, so if you fail your mission and die, you will respawn a year later. You will get weaker and less agile over time, but you will become wiser and more experienced in magic.

Like in any souls-like game, you can explore the surrounding areas and look for logs, notes and scrolls to find out more about the story and lore of the world. You’ll meet a few interesting NPCs along the way, some will provide you with weapons/types of equipment, while one of them can be hostile towards you if you don’t play your cards right. In short , the story was straight forward and above average, but it did its job and kept me engaged till the end.

Souls-like
This is a souls-like adventure game, so you’ll probably be familiar with how the gameplay works. You will start with a sword/axe and shield, and you'll get different weapons as you progress, but you won’t be able to unequip the shield. There are about eight different weapons (sword, axe, spear, etc) in the game, with their own set of combos and fighting animations, and three types of shields (with different blocking strength and parrying speed).

Weapons can be upgradeable by using dragon shards, which are common items that are dropped from slain enemies. Early in the game, you’ll find a dragon heart (and more as you progress), which is used to regain your health mid-battle. You’ll also level up by killing enemies and bosses, and every time you do so you’ll earn points to boost the ability of your choice: strength, vitality, agility and arcane.

You will find stones in the world that give you magical abilities; they can make you invincible, stun enemies easily, or drain the life force of your enemies, and you can charge your heavy attacks to imbue them with arcane magic.

The ageing system
You age one year every time you die, and with it, you’ll refill your dragon hearts and enemies will respawn back to their original locations. Every 10 years, starting from age 20, you’ll be granted with a perk of your choosing, until you hit 80 and gain immortality, and you’ll stay at that age until you defeat the dragon.

You’ll get useful perks at ages 20 and 30, but as you grow older you’ll get weaker in strength and agility (you won’t be able to upgrade them later on). Cosmetic and facial features will also change every 10 or so years.

Enemies and bosses
There are multiple types of enemies in the game, from slow-moving but dangerous wizards to huge Minotaurs. Most of them were challenging, but I rarely saw two or more in the same room, which made the game somewhat easy for me, since I only died once or twice from them. There are about six bosses in the game, the dragon being the final one, and they are memorable and visually impressive.

Other than that, the puzzles are good; some can be challenging while others require you get a certain item from another location. Surprisingly, and unlike other souls-like games, there are three different difficulty settings; casual, adventure and heroic, and the only main difference between is the damage received from enemies/bosses. Honestly, the only reason to replay the game is to earn the achievements.

The graphics and world design look very similar to Remnant: From the Ashes. The world is detailed and visually appealing, and I just love the art style. However, there were a few times where I got lost, since it was hard to memorize some locations and the sense of direction was very vague at times. There are also a few hidden doors and secret locations that you have to watch out for. Unfortunately, there are zero breakable objects in the game; everything is glued to the ground.

Laptop: Omen HP 17t, GTX 1070, Intel I7-7700HQ, 16 GB RAM, Windows 10 Home
This isn’t a graphically demanding game, since it’s technically four-years-old. With that being said, it worked well and ran beautifully. No issues to report.

The songs are good, same for the boss battle themes, similar to what you hear in other souls-like games but not as good and memorable. Since this was a VR-only game, the sound design is very immersive, from the ambience to birds chirping, and does its job pulling you into the world.


This game was short but satisfying; fun and creative gameplay, great visual art style, good soundtrack and memorable boss battles. However, I recommend buying it on sale instead of full price; the combat feels simple, very little replay value, and lacking depth. There are other recent games that offer much more, in terms of story and gameplay, even with the same price tag (the newly released Mortal Shell for example).

If you're looking for more quality reviews like this, follow our curator page, Devils in the Detail.

[h1]Get Old and Die Trying![/h1] Gameplay Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXDvzAF7o0o [i]Chronos: Before the Ashes[/i] is a third-person souls-like adventure game, and a prequel to [i]Remnant: From the Ashes[/i], which takes place in a labyrinth that can only be entered once a year. Your task is to kill the dragon, who supposedly destroyed your world, and fight any enemies that are in your path. It was a VR-only back in 2016, now it’s a fully-fledged game. I haven’t played [i]Remnant[/i] yet, but I do love playing souls-like games. [h3]Pros[/h3] ✔️ Interesting and straightforward story. ✔️ Simple, yet fun gameplay ✔️ The ageing system is very creative ✔️ Impressive and very detailed world. ✔️ Great visuals, similar to [i]Remnant: From the Ashes[/i]. ✔️ Good soundtrack. [h3]Cons[/h3] ❌ Not very challenging. ❌ Offers very little replay value. ❌ Doesn't always offer a sense of direction, you will get lost a few times. [h1]Story[/h1] The game takes place a month before the event of [i]Remnant: From the Ashes[/i], and you are just an unlucky person who is destined to fight and slay the dragon inside a labyrinth. In order to fight the dragon, you have to find and kill three guardians in three distinct locations. You can only enter the labyrinth once a year, so if you fail your mission and die, you will respawn a year later. You will get weaker and less agile over time, but you will become wiser and more experienced in magic. Like in any souls-like game, you can explore the surrounding areas and look for logs, notes and scrolls to find out more about the story and lore of the world. You’ll meet a few interesting NPCs along the way, some will provide you with weapons/types of equipment, while one of them can be hostile towards you if you don’t play your cards right. In short , the story was straight forward and above average, but it did its job and kept me engaged till the end. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] [u]Souls-like[/u] This is a souls-like adventure game, so you’ll probably be familiar with how the gameplay works. You will start with a sword/axe and shield, and you'll get different weapons as you progress, but you won’t be able to unequip the shield. There are about eight different weapons (sword, axe, spear, etc) in the game, with their own set of combos and fighting animations, and three types of shields (with different blocking strength and parrying speed). Weapons can be upgradeable by using dragon shards, which are common items that are dropped from slain enemies. Early in the game, you’ll find a dragon heart (and more as you progress), which is used to regain your health mid-battle. You’ll also level up by killing enemies and bosses, and every time you do so you’ll earn points to boost the ability of your choice: strength, vitality, agility and arcane. You will find stones in the world that give you magical abilities; they can make you invincible, stun enemies easily, or drain the life force of your enemies, and you can charge your heavy attacks to imbue them with arcane magic. [u]The ageing system[/u] You age one year every time you die, and with it, you’ll refill your dragon hearts and enemies will respawn back to their original locations. Every 10 years, starting from age 20, you’ll be granted with a perk of your choosing, until you hit 80 and gain immortality, and you’ll stay at that age until you defeat the dragon. You’ll get useful perks at ages 20 and 30, but as you grow older you’ll get weaker in strength and agility (you won’t be able to upgrade them later on). Cosmetic and facial features will also change every 10 or so years. [u]Enemies and bosses[/u] There are multiple types of enemies in the game, from slow-moving but dangerous wizards to huge Minotaurs. Most of them were challenging, but I rarely saw two or more in the same room, which made the game somewhat easy for me, since I only died once or twice from them. There are about six bosses in the game, the dragon being the final one, and they are memorable and visually impressive. Other than that, the puzzles are good; some can be challenging while others require you get a certain item from another location. Surprisingly, and unlike other souls-like games, there are three different difficulty settings; casual, adventure and heroic, and the only main difference between is the damage received from enemies/bosses. Honestly, the only reason to replay the game is to earn the achievements. [h1]Visuals and Level Design[/h1] The graphics and world design look very similar to [i]Remnant: From the Ashes[/i]. The world is detailed and visually appealing, and I just love the art style. However, there were a few times where I got lost, since it was hard to memorize some locations and the sense of direction was very vague at times. There are also a few hidden doors and secret locations that you have to watch out for. Unfortunately, there are zero breakable objects in the game; everything is glued to the ground. [h1]Technical[/h1] [u] Laptop: Omen HP 17t, GTX 1070, Intel I7-7700HQ, 16 GB RAM, Windows 10 Home[/u] This isn’t a graphically demanding game, since it’s technically four-years-old. With that being said, it worked well and ran beautifully. No issues to report. [h1]Soundtrack and sound design[/h1] The songs are good, same for the boss battle themes, similar to what you hear in other souls-like games but not as good and memorable. Since this was a VR-only game, the sound design is very immersive, from the ambience to birds chirping, and does its job pulling you into the world. [h2]Additional Details:[/h2] [table] [tr] [td]Total playtime[/td] [td]8 hours[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Recommended difficulty[/td] [td]Heroic[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]M&K or Controller[/td] [td]Controller is preferable[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Offline mode[/td] [td]Yes[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Achievements[/td] [td]Yes[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Trading cards[/td] [td]Yes[/td] [/tr] [/table] [h1]Final Thoughts[/h1] This game was short but satisfying; fun and creative gameplay, great visual art style, good soundtrack and memorable boss battles. However, [b]I recommend buying it on sale instead of full price[/b]; the combat feels simple, very little replay value, and lacking depth. There are other recent games that offer much more, in terms of story and gameplay, even with the same price tag (the newly released Mortal Shell for example). [h1]Final Verdict: 6.5/10[/h1] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37072886][quote]If you're looking for more quality reviews like this, follow our curator page, [b]Devils in the Detail[/b].[/quote][/url]