Chasm – What would happen if Super Metroid, Castelvania and Mega Man had a love child? Chasm would be born. This being Bit Kid Inc. their first installment, I was a bit worried as Metroidvania games are either a hit or a miss. So, with a weary heart I booted up my copy and went straight into a new game. So, wondering if it was worth equipping my Leather hat and strapping on my +5-jock strap? Let’s discover that in what is called… Chasm!
What is Good?
- Pricing: Like wow, if I didn’t look up the game’s selling price, I wouldn’t have believed it. This game has the quality of being a 30 euro or more game but its around 20. Which makes this game an absolute sweet deal! I didn’t know if it was due to this being bit kid Inc. ‘s first video game, but their quality and love that they put in this game is more then enough to wanton this selling price!
- Customization: During your adventure you ‘ll have multiple ways to create your character. Will you focus more on magics, or will you become a warrior? What kind of weapon will you use during your travels? I can honestly say that I fell in love with the whips in this game as they had an overpowered feeling to them. I used an underpowered Bone Whip for ages, even though I had gotten much stronger loot, I refused to change out my beloved whip. You can buy and craft certain Armor and weaponry as well, different kind of potions and spells, you won’t know what to choose first!
- Sound: Ah yes, the sound… This game’s soundtrack is just wonderful, it suits the environment, it is never disturbing or doesn’t draw away your focus. Each different biome has its own theme, from the jungle biome to the town, into the dreary prisons and dungeons, they all have their theme song that will keep your mind focussed, just as it should be!
- Never the same playthrough: Each new game will give you an option to generate a seed. This seed generates the entire playing field on which you will unleash your powers on. Which means that, on top of all the customization you already have, you will also get a different game, every time. Okay the enemies will still be the same, but your experience won’t. On top of that, you can share your seed number with any friend that plays this game as well, and they’ll be able to do the exact same run as you are doing. Which could make up some nice challenges for them as to “how quick can you get through to the end.”
- Graphics: It just looks amazing. It must have taken them some time to get the game to run so smooth and fluid. Okay its not your Red Dead Redemption or anything like that, but for its genre, being 8-Bit, this game is just gorgeous! Each biome looks fresh and clean, the models looks polished and not drab or washed out. I commend them for this as there are enough examples out there which are created in the same way and are just ugly messes!
Mixed feelings
- Hitboxes: During the course of my playthrough, I noticed that some of the weapons, in certain situations, didn’t damage the enemy. Even though you could see that the weapon physically did connect with the enemy. On other occasions it would damage an enemy that was no where near my weapon. Not always, just some rare occasions. It’s this kind of finishing touches that makes me sad in an otherwise gorgeous game!
What is Bad?
- Healing: During your exploration of seed session X, healing will be rather troublesome. This game gave me a hoarders disease. As the healing items that drop from enemies, are really rare. You will be able to buy healing potions later on in the game but those come at a rather high cost so stacking them will hinder your future item purchases. Which will in turn make your playthrough harder, as death will come faster than expected.
- Save System: Each biome you will encounter has a set amount of save rooms, you can only save in these areas, or when you are in town. But sometimes you’d get a rare drop which you wouldn’t want to lose, which means you either A. Take a dare and continue on until you find an undiscovered save room, or B. Track all the way back to the previous save room to save there. But backtracking means you’ll encounter the same number of enemies in those rooms as they respawn the moment you enter and exit a room. This, together with the healing, will make for some uncomfortable rage moments.
Chasm [Score: 80/100]
Truth be told, its been a while since I last was this excited to be playing a metroidvania game. But Bit Kid Inc. did its magic extraordinarily well and churned out this little gem of a game. But with a twist, its procedurally generated levels. Whereas the other titles only had one level design, Chasm will be a different playthrough every time you start on a different seed. From slick design to the customizable character, this game will bring you hours upon hours of joy. I would highly recommend this game if you ever played any of previous mentioned games, I am sure you won’t be disappointed! I am honestly looking forward as to what they will bring us in future installments!