Miasma Chronicles review – My mama says

Every top-down strategy game that has been released after the XCOM series has the unfortunate consequence of being compared to XCOM. It’s served as the basis for many games since and led to what has basically amounted to a new genre of strategy game, with varying results. Miasma Chronicles introduces players to a new world with the titular Miasma threatening all of America for some time.

It’s strange because Miasma Chronicles is set in the same area of the U.S. where I have lived for most of my life, in Kentucky. I have lived right on the border between Tennessee and Kentucky for over 20 years. I’ve been to the former home of Graceland where the main character, Elvis, gets his name more than once.

Learning this I hoped this game would feel familiar to me in some way, as I haven’t played a lot of games that take place around my home. In a lot of ways it feels like a caricature, but they’re also able to nail some of the racist undertones that are sewn into our fabric.

Throughout my time in this corrupted version of America, players will face all kinds of enemies while also exploring the wide world that remains after the fall of the country. Whether Miasma Chronicles is worth it or not will largely depend on your tolerance for pain and understanding of classic strategy mechanics.

The greatest threat America has ever faced

The motivation from the beginning of the game is hard to get behind, with Elvis meant to find him “Mama” Ba Madhi from behind a wall of a substance called Miasma. It takes liquid and solid form, swirling in large vortexes or standing as tall solid structures made of the stuff. According to the characters, much of America has fallen to ruin because of this corruption, with it still spreading.

Elvis’s power grows when he learns how to use the Miasma for his benefit and each new area provides unique opportunities to explore. Elvis isn’t alone, though, as he’s got his big robot brother Diggs and a group of side characters meant to provide unique strengths in fights. While they’re all pretty interesting characters, Diggs is the clear standout personality and one that inspired a few genuine chuckles.

Elvis took some getting used to, and I’m unsure whether that was because of his accent or because of the fact that he doesn’t really remind me of a real person. While I got used to this after a couple of hours, something about the way he talked about needing to get back to his “Mama,” who he’s never met, was coming off a bit whiny. Maybe because most of the country has fallen to an unknown plague and there are much larger stakes.

Other than that, the world is interesting enough to where I kept searching areas to look for new voice logs that detailed others’ experiences. Reading up on the different creatures and enemy types was pretty interesting too, providing new insight into the world. Even still, there were some parts that feel like they didn’t fit together, like the sci-fi and magical fantasy parts.

It’s interesting enough and players who are bought by the basic premise will likely find enough around each level to pique their interest. It’s not the most exploration in a game, but it’s more than most strategy titles have and the free exploration provides great opportunities to ambush your enemies.

Tactical gameplay is done well enough

If you’ve played a lot of these types of character turn-based strategy games in the past, you will understand the basic gameplay. Miasma doesn’t do anything innovative, with each character basically playing their own special role similar to the traditional classes like stealth sniper, tanky robot, or a DPS with a really powerful robot arm.

The game provides the player with plenty of options in the difficulty of the game, with there being four difficulties and the option to play in full or simple Tactical Mode. Simple is less strict, while playing the full experience will make you susceptible to chance. Make sure you choose wisely, as it’s really hard to change the difficulty after, and it doesn’t seem you can change the tactical mode at all.

It’s great that these options are there and it could even help this title serve as some player’s entry into the tactical genre. Miasma Chronicles is frustrating though and players may have to attempt some levels multiple times if they’re playing on anything but the lowest difficulty setting. There aren’t a lot of options to improve approachability, though, but it should be enough to help most find a comfortable experience.

The gameplay didn’t really expand in any ways that I found too captivating, even if some of the characters did have some interesting perks. Some games lack proper skill trees that are custom for each character and, while they may not offer a lot of options, they give a better idea of each character and the choices in how you can play them.

Miasma Chronicles touches on a lot of good themes for America right now and even manages to pin some relevant things down about the southern U.S. Other than those few instances, I didn’t really recognize anything else about it. Most of the game felt like a caricature of the country, but that may be part of the lesson that this title is trying to drive home.

Conclusion

Try Hard Guides was provided with a PC review copy of this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website!