Nacon and ACE Team present us with Clash: Artifacts of Chaos, an interesting fighting game with very interesting mechanics
In 2009, a Chilean studio called ACE Team released a game called Zeno Clash in the market. It was a first person fighting title with first person shooter overtones. In the words of one of the developers of Zeno Clash, it was a mix of Dark Messiah and Double Dragon. The Atlus-published game was received positively, so Zeno Clash 2 was released years later, which received somewhat worse reviews than the first installment. This saga remained in the freezer, until March, by the hand of Nacon, Clash: Artifacts os Chaos was launched, the third title of the saga, although completely independent of the previous ones.. If you want to know everything that this title will bring us, stay with us in this analysis.
Nickname, you are the strongest
Our story will begin with our protagonist, a being called Nickname, waking up after a long sleep. He will wake up in a kind of spiritual world, where a voice will speak to us and guide us through a kind of tutorial, teaching us the basics of combat. After that, we will wake up in the world of Zenozoik. After advancing a bit through these lands, we will meet an old man and a somewhat strange being. The old man, after being challenged (a mechanic that will be explained later) will die, so this creature will be saved by our protagonist. Pseudo decides to accompany this creature (who will be called throughout the game the boy) to meet his brother, but everything changes when they discover that Gemini, the villain of the game, seeks to capture this creature since it has various powers
After these events, Pseudo will become the protector of this strange creature, both of them having to survive in the dangerous lands of Zenozoik. The title plot is good, the story is engaging, and you always want to know more about what awaits our particular protagonists. It may be too cliché and unsurprising, but it has a good pace and is followed with interest.
What is your favorite fighting style?
One of the qualities of Clash: Artifacts of Chaos is the wide range of options it offers us as a player in combat. From the start, from the start of the game, we can choose between 3 different combat styles, each with its own differentiated movements, blows and speed. But it does not end there, because as we progress in this adventure we will unlock more combat modes. It is something very dynamic. since we can change between 3 styles that we choose in the middle of a fight, allowing us to change strategy while a fight is going on. In addition, we can also modify Nickname’s special attack, as well as assign some kind of wooden dolls, which we will find hidden or in chests in the environment, and which will improve the combat style where we assign them.
Despite all these options given to us during the fights, it is not perfect. And it is that our character is very slow, the chosen fighting style does not matter (some are faster than others) but our character will feel very heavy and slow. It wouldn’t be a negative point if our opponents were on an equal footing with us, but no. Our enemies will be very fast, being a little frustrating that our character is so slow and our enemies are not. This makes the title more difficult, but not fun.
Bonfires and… dice games?
A very fun and unconventional mechanism is the so-called “Ritual”. In the world of Zenozoik there is a kind of dice game in which the fighters, before starting the fight, play, the winner of this game being completely advantaged in the fight. In the ritual, opponents will use artifacts that will start them with an advantage in the fight if they win this game. These can cause you to be attacked by wasps, have poor vision, or be hit from behind. This ritual is very simple and brief, but it is a lot of fun and can completely change a fight.
If that wasn’t enough, the game is often reminiscent of Souls. And it is that our character will be different in the morning and in the evening. The morning Pseudo will be normal (in the normality of the title) of flesh and bone as you can see in the images that accompany this analysis. But at night everything changes. When night falls, our character will be a kind of wood spirit, being able to access previously blocked areas or face enemies that we can only see at night. This mechanic is even more interesting when we fall in battle. If Pseudo dies, he will have another chance to live again, since our spirit will be able to go to his deceased body to resurrect.
The title takes place in a semi-open world, with different differentiated areas, and quite labyrinthine. It makes us get lost several times and it’s something that frustrates the player. The title could have used a minimap or an indicator that shows us the objectives, but none of that exists. We don’t like games taking us by the hand, but we don’t like getting lost in labyrinthine hallways and environments either.. Also, if the game’s shoulder camera works very well in combat, not so much in exploration, since we have a fairly limited view of the environment.
Zenozoik, a world of death and color
The graphic and artistic aspect of Clash: Artifacts of Chaos is fabulous. Everything looks awesome, Zenozoik is a world full of life and colors. Forests, coastal areas, dark deserts, all environments are perfectly recreated and spectacular. The character and enemy modeling is also very good, although perhaps too rehearsed, they are impressive. The title, on Xbox Series X runs very well. I have not encountered any part of my adventure with frame drops or with a bug. This shows that ACE Studios has had time to polish its game.
If we go to the sound section, we have light-dark ones. The soundtrack is very good, I personally liked it a lot (by the way, you can find it on YouTube) with songs that are very pleasant to the ear, and which fit perfectly with the situations we find ourselves in. ‘adventure. The issue I’ve found is that sometimes the music suddenly stops making it almost impossible to hear anything as we move through the environments. The voices of our characters are performed well, but without too much fanfare. The voices are in full English, although the game is translated 100% into Spanish.
Clash: Artifacts of Chaos Conclusions
Clash: Artifacts of Chaos is a good game. The Chilean studio ACE Team has managed to revive one of its most famous franchises in a very remarkable way. It’s not a perfect title, that’s for sure. It has some more or less significant problems, such as the absence of a minimap or the slowness of our protagonist in combat. But also many successes, such as its options in combat, or its beautiful graphics. In short, Clash: Artifacts of Chaos is a highly recommended title if you like combat-focused action-adventure games. I had a great time in the 10 hours of its main story, and I can’t wait to discover all of its secrets.
Clash: Artifacts of Chaos
39.99$
Benefits
- Many options to fight in different ways
- It’s a very nice game graphically.
- “The Ritual” is a very fun mechanic
The inconvenients
- Very slow and heavy movements of our protagonist
- No minimap or objective indicator
- some sound issues
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