Greetings gamers! We are here today to talk about ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos from My Dearest. ALTDEUS caught my attention by combing two things I love: giant mechs and VR, so I had my hopes up from the start. But before you rush out and buy it read this review so you know what to expect from this game.
ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos presents a story with a branching narrative based on your decisions in a cool anime style. Allowing players to make decisions based on Chloe’s conversations. Chloe is a DNA-altered human who was specifically designed to be a mech pilot against the Meteoras which are giant aliens that come to attack the underground hideout of humanity. Chloe isn’t fighting the Meteoras on her own she has an advanced AI system named Noa, so advanced she’s also a pop star and other pilots who are really to be just as good as Choe. Then back at base, she has Julie her creator an eccentric highly upgraded scientist and the military commander Deiter who gives out the orders and plans for the missions.
The fun really began on the second playthrough where many more decisions have been unlocked. The subsequent playthroughs allow for really big changes in the story and overall experience. I almost wish that’s how the first playthrough was, but it really is intended to be done this way for story reasons. Probably my favorite thing that I was able to do in the game was to go to Noa’s concert where the game offered its most enjoyable use of the VR headset. The rest of the game, sadly to say, didn’t really need to be in VR. Sure its more immersive to play a VR game, but since most of the game is conversations, I really didn’t feel the need for them to be in VR. I sometimes found myself just taking off the VR set and placing it on my lap using the TV to listen to the conversations that once you enable auto text scroll don’t require any interaction from the player for a very long time.
For much of ALTDEUS, the game could have been a choose your own adventure movie instead. The player interacts with the game so little it’s hard to justify it being a game at all, it could have really been called an anime conversation simulator. There is a mystery involved and on subsequent playthroughs, the options definitely expand what the player can do, but it doesn’t really have gameplay. You don’t get to control the Mech really and you don’t really face any puzzles, other than the main storyline as a whole, it’s mostly just choosing different paths in the narrative and conversations. On subsequent playthroughs, you can see your progression in a tree on the pause menu, which can help you plan your additional playthroughs, which keys the player into just how many different options there may be.
Voice performance is pretty key to this game since most of the game is conversation and some of the voice actors do a great job and others really don’t seem too excited to be included in the game. I really enjoyed Julie and Noa’s performances the most because they seemed the most alive, ironic since they are either an altered human and an Artificial Intelligence. For whatever reason Cloe’s performance is very slow and uninterested in what is going on for the most part. I feel like that might have been a decision based on her DNA altering to be emotionless, but it really makes the conversation taxing over time.
So here are my conclusions. If you are interested in a story that only starts to really shine after you’ve gone through the game more than once, and want a VR game that doesn’t need to be a VR game then please be my guest and support these devs. It helps if you just know going in it’s all about the story, the characters, and the different choices you can make over multiple playthroughs. The game really does get a lot more interesting on subsequent playthroughs but you do have to keep playing it over. This game left me wishing I could really control the mech and might the Meteoras and solve some real puzzles in the game, or at least skip all conversations that are the same as ones I’ve had before. Much like in groundhog’s day like movies where every time you watch the same thing play out it gets shorter and shorter over time this game could have done with some of that too. Overall I give this game a 6/10 for its interesting story but overall lack of player interaction.
Check Out the ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos Trailer:
For more information, please visit the ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos official website, follow it on Facebook, Twitter, and search for #ALTDEUS on social media.
PlayStation VR Review
I've been a life long nerd and video game junkie known to associate with the likes of Link, Nathan Drake, Batman, and Master Chief. I'm a filmmaker by profession, but spend lots of time behind a controller escaping the real world. @GregVelde on Instagram/Twitter/YouTube
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