Chorus – 10 Things You Need To Know

Of the many cross-gen titles announced last year, one seemingly slipped through the cracks – Chorus, a space combat title from Fishlabs (of Galaxy on Fire fame) and Deep Silver. It’s out on December 3^rd for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC and Google Stadia, and promises fast-paced action with a deep single-player narrative. Let’s take a look at 10 things you should know before picking it up.

Story

Chorus begins with Nara who’s part of a dangerous cult called the Circle that’s fairly serious about ruling the galaxy. As the leader’s right-hand, she possesses immense power but following the destruction of the planet Nemika Prime, Nara is overcome with guilt and decides to leave the Circle. While she escapes at first (and seemingly loses her powers), the cult’s imminent return brings widespread destruction. Nara must thus rise up against her former master and the Circle to bring them down for good.

Dual Protagonists

She won’t be undertaking the journey alone though. Nara enlists the help of Forsaken, a sentient ship that is also seemingly her oldest ally. They were previously an “unstoppable force” together though how they first met, what led to Nara joining the cult and splitting from Forsaken, and how their bond grows is yet to be revealed. As such, Forsaken has its own personality and effectively serves as the second protagonist of the story with both characters having extensive voicework throughout.

Multiple Star Systems

Throughout their journey to topple the Circle, Nara and Forsaken will venture to multiple star systems. There’s a good amount of freedom to the exploration and plenty of variety in the environments, from outlands that resemble Mars and asteroid fields to populated cities and star bases. Each location is fairly dense and offers plenty to see while also providing cover in combat. There are also places “beyond our waking reality” to explore though their nature is still a mystery. Not every place is super-intense though – there will be moments where the player can relax and take in the sights.

Story and Side Missions

Chorus offers both story and side missions – the former encompasses mission chains like Disruptive Tactics where you hunt down three Circle targets to distract the cult while preparing for a bigger attack on their citadel. This doesn’t mean you’ll just be hunting wandering ships though – the first target is a Phantom-class ship that’s attacking refugee convoys while the second is a Circle supply station containing hundreds of fighters that must be destroyed. You might even need to be stealthy to recover intel in some cases. Side missions include dealing with the Cobra Clan, answering a Resistance Convoy’s distress call, investigating a lightning field and also facing off against space pirates. Mission rewards like mods can be earned though there is a greater purpose to all of this.

Recruiting Allies

While Nara and Forsaken are formidable together, the Circle is an overwhelming threat and as such, you’ll need to build up a resistance to fight back. Completing missions is one way to do this but it’s not completely clear how your allies will help out. Will they provide different benefits and perks or simply join you in the end battle? Are there more nuanced characters to meet? Time will tell but you’ll still need their support.

Drifting

As a space combat title, Chorus leans more into fast-paced action than realistic simulation. To that end, there are quite a few movement options involved thanks to Forsaken’s ability to drift. Lead artist Leggett told Polygon that, “The back halves of Forsaken kind of separate, and then there’s sort of an energy between the parts. [That’s what] allows him to drift around, and that’s something that was built straight into the design. […] We wanted to push it to the forefront, to sort of show that functionality as you do the special maneuver that we like the best.” Of course, Forsaken is also capable of doing a barrel roll (which seems capable of deflecting shots, just like in Star Fox 64) and boosting.

Ship Customization

Along with upgrading her powers, Nara can also upgrade Forsaken with a variety of weapons. There are three main types of weapons – Gatling, laser and missile. Each weapon has its own stats like hull damage, armor damage, and shield damage along with fire rate, overheat time and cooldown time. They each play a specific role – Gatling guns are more effective at hull damage while laser weapons deal more shield damage – and there are different rarities to find. Weapons have perks and you may find unique weapons like the Guardian Fang which comes with Reaping Storm – this significantly increases rate of fire while reducing accuracy, making it strong in close range.

There also seem to be set bonuses depending on the kinds of items equipped. Equipping four Guardian items, for example, gives you Shields Down which allows for siphoning and absorbing enemy shields when in close proximity. Equipping Blaze items grants Energy Transfer which instantly recharges a laser weapon when disrupting an enemy with Rite of the Storm and Supercharger which grants two additional laser charges. Weapons can also be upgraded, making them more potent in combat.

The Rites

Weapons aside, Nara can also wield the Rites. These are special abilities which provide a variety of uses, both in and out of combat. The Rite of Senses is used to uncover things around Nara which others can’t see but also reveals points of interest and other activities on the star map. Rite of the Hunt allows for a short-range teleport that can pass through barrier fields and position Forsaken behind enemies. Rite of the Storm can disrupt enemy thrusters, shields and weapons along with destroying Faceless Corruption Clusters. Each Rite has different Rite Fragments which seem to be upgrades to add unique effects, like overcharging Rite Energy capacity after teleporting or chaining together Rite of the Storm to disrupt multiple targets.

Ruins of the Faceless

While the number of Rites that Nara will have to start with is unknown, it seems she can find more by venturing through the Ruins of the Faceless. These are labyrinthine environments created by the Faceless, inter-dimensional beings that are capable of bending reality. How they play a role in the bigger story remains to be seen (aside from Nara also possessing some of the same powers). But the Ruins themselves will be a challenge to navigate with puzzles to solve and “trans-dimensional horrors” to deal with.

4K, 60 FPS and Ray Tracing Support

According to its official Xbox listing, Chorus will support 4K Ultra HD on Xbox Series X along with 60 FPS, ray tracing and Smart Delivery. This should also apply to the PS5 and PC versions, though whether there will be cross-gen saves and upgrades on PlayStation remains to be seen. Performance and Quality Modes should also be expected though Fishlabs has yet to outline them or PC hardware requirements.

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