A Heavenly Sound
Deep Silver Fishlabs is a studio that’s not necessarily a household name; mainly known for the incredible Galaxy on Fire series of games that have been released on mobile devices over the years. As we know, unfortunately mobile is a very niche market, but none the less the Galaxy on Fire series is a shining beacon of what a studio can do if they fully embrace the mobile platform. Well now with their more mainstream release of Chorus (stylized as Chorvs), they will soon be come a household name.
Chorus is best described as an “open-world, space combat game” sadly its only in third person, which is really a shame because I would love to pilot main character Nara’s sentient ship Forsaken from a first-person angle. But given that the development team seems to reinvent the genre with some of the best zero-g combat I have ever seen; I completely understand the need for only 3rd person. But when I tell you that this game is beautiful… babyyyy this game is freaking beautiful. Every space system looks stellar in 4K, even moving at sub-lightspeed just cruising through each of the available star systems had me stopping for so many pictures. Those folks who fill the various timelines of social media with pictures will have a ball with this one…mark my words.
MSRP: $39.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $39.99
In Chorus, as I said, players take control of Nara, who is at the outset on the run from The Circle; an oppressive cult led by the Great Prophet who of course seeks to control the universe. Yes, it’s quite grandiose, but the story here works on a number of levels. As players progress they learn more and more about Nara who has had, let’s say a bit of a checkered past but let’s be honest, the best protagonist do. Having made up her mind to leave, Nara in fact steals the sentient ship, Forsaken. You see, they share a link which is what enables Nara to pull off the sweet zero-g maneuvers. Cutscenes are displayed with the gorgeous graphics and attention to detail. Cockpit scenes of Nara inside Forsaken is what really will make players yearn for a first-person view, seriously the detail is unreal. The sense of speed is a sight to behold, its quite a difficult task to get it just right with space shooters but Fishlabs having mastered their craft of creating games in the genre have pulled it off here in spades.
The control that players will have over their starfighter is simply astonishing; especially once they realize the depth of the maneuvers they can pull off. All of the maneuvers feel fluid and the control of Forsaken is very tight and responsive. Players who are familiar with typical aerial based shooters will recognize this one… “An enemy ship pulls up behind, so you brake and ether go above or below and pull up behind them…. BOOM”. Well, what if I told you that Chorus has a drift mechanic which will allow a pilot in the same scenario to just drift and turn on the enemy, so now they are going full speed forward but the front is aimed at the oncoming ship… BOOM. That’s just one of the MANY tactics available in this game; the drift mechanic is by far my favorite thing about this game, the freedom that is offered with it is astonishing. I can’t wait to see folks trick shots from this game, it’s gonna be epic.
Nara’s ‘Rite’ abilities add a whole other layer to combat like her ‘Rite of the Hunt’ which allows her and Forsaken to teleport behind an enemy or the Rite of the Star which turns Forsaken into a bullet. So, as he careens forward it enables him to smash through enemies; the great thing about all of these things is that Chorus’ upgrade system. The more players use an ability, be it one of the ‘Rites’ to the drift players will level the system up, giving players more powerful versions of attacks, or better handling when drifting. One of enjoyable things with this game is the exploration, and its key if anyone desires to unlock all of Nara’s rite abilities. Players will need to seek out ancient temples that they are able to explore in order to find not only new ‘Rites’ but better gear for Forsaken. Forsaken is equipped with a laser canon that’s great for taking out shielded enemies, a gatling gun for faster, dog-fighting style enemies, and rockets for armored enemies. As players explore each star system, they will find the area full of random encounters, and side quest markers. While not as many as Ubisoft has become notorious for, Fishlab has struck a very good balance without making the player feel overwhelmed with dots.
I’m not going to lie; I LOVE everything about this game. In fact, the only thing I wish is that I was able to get out of the ship and walk around as Nara. Much like the Galaxy on Fire series all conversations happen in ship, unless it’s a cutscene. But even that is not really worth counting as a strike against the game because literally everything else is such a smooth experience. While the story can get a bit confusing, if players are fans of breakneck speeds, and thrilling dogfights in space then Chorus is going to be right up your alley. I cannot wait to see what Deep Silver Fishlabs can do with a sequel to this game or even some DLC, with the world that has been created here it really would be a shame to let it go to waste.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
