The plot involves Jess and Kim who, despite surviving Glory Island’s trials, are drawn into the depths of a “merging” between the real world and The Gloom. You’ll work with the Anton Family and try to avoid their fate while crafting new weapons and upgrading abilities. The goal is to destroy The Gloom’s heart, which requires braving many battles and gathering ingredients.

Interestingly, the DLC touts replay value and “experimentation”, which could indicate a more sandbox-like structure. Stay tuned for more details when it launches next week. Of course, if you already own the base game (check out our review here), then The Gloom Below is free.

The Chant starts out with you running from a group of people as you try to make a last-ditch escape from a ritual that’s being held against the backdrop of a tropical island. After that short gameplay section, the story cuts to the past where we learn that our character Jess is suffering from severe mental health issues as she tries to cope with the death of a loved one. Her friend Kim asks her to join an island retreat where they meditate and do all sorts of activities to attain peace, which brings us to a faraway island where the game is primarily set.

"a weak plot, poor production values, and gameplay shortcomings envelope this game’s many strengths, and The Chant ends up being a decent experience that falls really short of its potential."

As soon as you get there, things start to go wrong, and soon Jess finds herself trapped in a battle against a cosmic force that seems to have some deep connections with the history of the island and the family of the retreat’s founder. The story itself starts out promising, and each character has an empathetic past which makes them relatable. But then everything from character arcs to plot revelations happens so quickly that it soon becomes jarring with plenty of contrivances.

For instance, how could someone so mentally weak as Jess would instantly transform into a brutal monster killer in moments unnoticed, or why would she risk her life in the first place to save people who were clearly involved with a shadowy organization instead of just escaping from the island for good? These are questions that were running at the top of my head, but the story pays little heed to these concerns as it chugs along at a rapid pace.

The game also has an element of choice, with Jess being able to choose from dialogue options during points of the story. But during my experience, they had little impact on the actual outcome except for different responses from conversations – which makes it feel like an inconsequential system that doesn’t serve any real purpose. The story itself touches on sensitive topics like trauma, psychosis, panic attacks – but due to the aforementioned reasons, it seldom does justice to those topics – and instead, the story devolves into a generic tale where the protagonist must rise to the cause and banish evil to save the day. It’s fine enough for the most part, but it could have been so much better.

"The story itself touches on sensitive topics like trauma, psychosis, and panic attacks – but it seldom does justice to those topics – and instead, the story devolves into a generic tale where the protagonist must rise to the cause and banish evil to save the day. "

The Chant does some interesting things with its gameplay, and it mixes traditional survival horror elements with action mechanics for a unique experience. Jess has 3 core stats – spirit, body, and mind. The mind governs your sanity, and if that depletes beyond a certain extent – Jess will start to have panic attacks. The spirit meter is used for special attacks, and the body stat is basically your health. You can trade spirit points for mind energy at any time by meditating, and it’s essential to keep tabs on these meters to ensure survival at all times.

You will need to craft weapons by collecting herbs and twines from the environment, which can be used to beat down enemies through a combination of light and heavy attacks. Jess can craft and store different weapons, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. For instance, the fire stick will unleash fire damage on opponents while the witch stick will help in gaining spirit energy with every strike. Different species of enemies are weak to different types of weapons, so it becomes essential to mix and match things depending on the situation.

As you progress through the story, you also gain spirit abilities such as the ability to slow down time, repel your opponents through a shock blast, or grow damaging spikes out of the ground. Additionally, you can also lay down traps and use throwables on your enemies to get bonus damage on attacks. Between all this and the ability to dodge attacks and counter mind attacks with the quick press of a button, The Chant has some impressive options when it comes to the gameplay department.

"As you progress through the story, you also gain spirit abilities such as the ability to slow down time, repel your opponents through a shock blast, or grow damaging spikes out of the ground."

But a core issue with the combat is that it feels really clunky, and that’s primarily because of two things. Firstly, the animations are really janky, and that leads to many issues ranging from inaccurate hitboxes to slow movements to even getting stuck between groups of enemies. The second issue is that the enemies don’t really react to your attacks as they soak up tons of damage with little reaction, which can make for boring fights that seem to drag on forever.

The level design itself is decent, and you get to explore different places ranging from forest trails to mines to lighthouses. Each of these places has multiple side-paths that you can explore, which reward you with precious resources and additional notes, the former of which can be used to gain skills and increase stats through a skill tree. These upgrades don’t offer much in the name of gameplay alterations apart from stat boosts, so it could have used some variety in that sense.

The puzzles themselves rarely provide a challenge, and most of these involve fetching different items from multiple rooms and combining them into a key item that’s needed to progress to the next room. The visual presentation is also pretty underwhelming, especially when it comes to character models which lack the detail and expression that’s needed to deliver dialogues that are surprisingly well delivered by the entire cast. The environments themselves lack any sense of dread, and they feel kind of lifeless with less-than-stellar textures and excessive use of dark spaces to unease a player. There is a visible lack of polish when it comes to the presentation, and that really sticks out in a horror game like this one.

"But a core issue with the combat is that it feels really clunky, and that’s primarily because of two things – janky animations and damage sponge enemies."

All in all, it becomes really hard to enjoy The Chant after a while as these issues start to become bigger nuisances in the way of enjoyment. There were times when I was literally wrestling with myself to keep going as the poor visual presentation and clunky gameplay systems kept fiddling with any little enjoyment that I was having during the moments when the game clicked. And that’s a shame because somewhere under the thick veneer of these issues – there lies a game that’s genuinely unique with its mix of horror and action mechanics.

But The Chant tries to do so many things at once, and what happens is that everything gets muddled up in that pursuit – and none of these elements get the love and opportunity to shine as bright as they could. In addition to this, an underdeveloped plot that doesn’t do justice with its heavy themes and otherwise well-written characters alongside an underwhelming visual presentation also contribute to the feeling of the game being a missed opportunity. The Chant is not a bad game by any means, but it could have been so much better had it spent some more time in the oven.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Not only that, but the other survivors also have their sanity affected. It’s up to Jess to protect the survivors and battle back using various weapons, craftable items, and abilities. Some encounters may necessitate running away instead of standing your ground to fight. This is a survival horror game, after all.

The player must also balance their Mind, Body, and Spirit attributes to resist panic and physical damage, along with accessing powerful spiritual abilities. For more gameplay that showcases exploration and combat, head here. You can also learn more about the game in our feature here.

Story

The story of The Chant takes place on Glory Island at the Prismic Science Spiritual Retreat. As Jessica Briers, you’re there to relax for the weekend and get away from the hustle and bustle of daily life along with various other characters. “Turn your gloom into glory,” they say. Unfortunately, during a group chanting session, it becomes clear that The Gloom isn’t just a state of dejection, but a “psychedelic dimension” that feeds off of negative energy. It unleashes terrifying creatures and cultists on the cast based on their deepest fears. It’s up to you to unravel the mystery behind The Gloom, find out the retreat’s role in all of this, and ultimately survive various horrors to escape from Glory Island, ideally with your sanity intact.

Cast

Despite not being a big-budget release, The Chant features an extensive range of talent for its main cast. Jessica is played by Siobhan Williams, who some may recognize as the voice of Laura Kearney from Supermassive’s The Quarry. Other actors have extensive experience in television series and movies. Praneet Akilla of Skymed and Nancy Drew fame plays Sonny; Emily Tennant of Dirk Gently fame voices Hannah; Nicole Anthony of Child’s Play fame plays Maya; and Adam Millard voices Tyler. While not the biggest names, there’s still an impressive amount of talent onboard for all the characters.

Presentation

The Chant has been compared in previews to Supermassive’s horror titles in terms of presentation. There are a hefty amount of cutscenes and screen time for each character as you interact with and learn more about them. Of course, the overall tone of horror is also pretty different. Creative director Mike Skupa described it as a mix of 1970s cult horror and New Age spirituality, and it’s clear that there’s some cosmic horror thrown in. Of course, in terms of gameplay, it’s also pretty different from The Dark Pictures Anthology or The Quarry, but Jess’ decisions could still very well influence the fate of everyone else.

Gameplay

At its heart, The Chant is a third-person action-adventure title with a heavy dose of survival horror. You’ll run around the island, exploring different areas and battling against nightmarish creatures. No firearms here – your weapons consist of incense, salt, and whatnot, though some can break with continued usage. Of course, sometimes fleeing is a much better choice than standing your ground, especially if you need to save resources for tough encounters. Another core gameplay mechanic is dealing with the other survivors as they slowly go mad. It’s not confirmed whether the other characters can die based on your actions, but expect to become embroiled in a fair bit of interpersonal drama.

Interconnected Areas

Glory Island is a big location, and as more areas open up, it’s possible to locate shortcuts and backtrack as necessary. The interconnected nature of the retreat isn’t too surprising, but it should allow for exploring previous locations and finding any missed items or resources. In terms of the different areas, besides the site of the ritual that brought about this entire mess, there are mines and extensive forests to explore along with infected zones. How players go about navigating and clearing these zones remains to be seen.

Crafting and Resource Collection

Interestingly, crafting and resource collection play a part in the gameplay loop, though it’s not explained in detail yet. Crafting herbs is confirmed at the very least, so perhaps it’s like the Resident Evil games where you combine different items for different purposes. Again, time will tell how this feeds into the survival mechanics, but it does seem like resources are limited, and you’ll need to be careful in managing them.

Mind, Body and Spirit

Throughout your journey at the retreat, three meters must be managed at all times – Mind, Body, and Spirit. Mind represents the state of Jess’ mental well-being; Body indicates her overall physical health; and Spirit conveys her spiritual state. While Mind will help keep Jess from losing sanity due to the horrors on display, Body provides damage resistance. Of course, keeping your Spirit high also grants access to supernatural skills, which can turn the tide in battle. Balancing all three of these is important, though you can perform actions like meditation to deplete your Spirit and restore your Mind meter in the process.

Potentially Different Endings

Overall playtime for The Chant is yet to be confirmed, but the story comprises a prologue and seven different chapters. There also seems to be some replay value in terms of the ending that you can achieve. During the Future Games Show at Gamescom 2022, creative director Mike Skupa discussed how balancing the Mind, Body and Spirit stats could affect the ending one receives. This may not necessarily mean multiple endings, but rather minor adjustments to the main ending, based on one’s decisions.

System Requirements

The Chant can be somewhat demanding on PC, depending on the settings. At the very minimum, you’ll need an Intel Core i3-9100F 3.60GHz or AMD Ryzen 3 4300G, 8 GB of RAM, and either a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or Radeon RX 580. Nothing too crazy. However, the recommended settings require a Core i7-9700K at 3.60GHz or an AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 16 GB of RAM, and a GeForce RTX 2060 Super or AMD Radeon RX 5700 with 8 GB VRAM. In both cases, a solid-state drive is required, along with 35 GB of installation space.

Pre-order Bonuses

As with many other titles, you can get some in-game bonuses by pre-ordering. These include the Spiritual Retreat outfit and the 70ies VFX Filter Mode. Both feed into the whole 1970s vibe the story is going for, with the filter adding that extra bit of cinematic flair.

Tje 4-minute-long trailer shows off The Chant‘s gameplay, including the various interconnected zones on the game’s island setting, and how it affects exploration. The trailer also gives us a look at some of its puzzles, the upgrade system, and how choices determine the outcome of the story.

There is also a good variety of weapons to choose from, but the player will also have to make use of traps and environmental objects in combat. Since resources are limited, players will also have to retreat from battles.

The Chant is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on November 3. It was originally announced back in 2021. For more details, check out the gameplay trailer from August.

The Chant is set on a remote horror island retreat where a ritual gone wrong results in interdimensional monstrosities pouring through. Its brief new developer presentation showcases multiple glimpses of combat, while also touching upon things such as upgrades, crafting, resource collection and management, and more. Interestingly, it looks like The Chant will also feature multiple endings. Get more details in the video below.

The Chant launches on November 3 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

The Chant’s story revolves around protagonist Jess, who visits a remote island retreat, only to find herself trapped with a murderous cult and all manner of eldritch monstrosities pouring through. In this new behind-the-scenes video, various members of the cast talk about the characters they’re portraying and what role they will play in The Chant’s story as some of its primary players. Check out the full video below.

The Chant is due out on November 3 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more coverage on the game.

Prime Matter and Brass Token have released a new trailer for The Chant that confirms at the end that the game will release in November. Meanwhile, the trailer also offers several glimpses of the game itself, showcasing more of its story – which sees you trapped on an island run by a cult, while having to deal with cosmic, interdimensional demons. It’s looking quite interesting, to say the least. Check out the trailer below.

The Chant will launch on November 3 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

The Chant takes players to a spiritual retreat on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest, where you’ve essentially been invited by a cult. As is usually the case with cults though, things quickly go wrong, and a ritual ends up opening a dimension of cosmic terror called the Gloom. With the island now teeming with terrifying interdimensional monstrosities and the humans around you quickly beginning to go insane and lose their grip on reality, you have to find new ways to survive. Check out the trailer below to learn more.

The Chant is out this Fall for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Almost a year on from that announcement, brief new details on the game have been made available. With a new teaser trailer, Prime Matter and Brass Token have confirmed that The Chant will launch for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC sometime this Fall. Last year’s announcement mentioned the game would also launch for PS4 and Xbox One, but interestingly enough, there’s no mention of the previous-gen consoles in the new teaser trailer. There’s no official word yet on whether those versions are still planned.

The teaser trailer itself is brief, and there aren’t a great many details on the game available yet, but according to developer Brass Token’s website, players will have to “craft, fight, and escape the psychedelic horrors set loose when a ritual goes wrong and awakens a dimension of cosmic terror.” The website also mentions October 2022 as the game’s launch window, though again, the teaser trailer doesn’t get more specific than Fall.

You can check out the teaser trailer and new screenshots for the game below.