Chronicle: Unit Eight Reviews

Not worth the price tag. Had the potential but it didn't seem to take advantage of that potential. If it's on a sale that puts it below $10 in price, sure, worth grabbing. But otherwise, it's not worth the price. The story mode has very little story other than some gab between the main character and the bosses she fights. While some power ups are obvious in their use, some are not. Also every weapon outside the main basic weapon you unlock is only temporary, which means that for most of the game, you'll be using the same weapon every single time. The grid to unlock the power ups was an okay idea but only the power ups that helped the core ship were permanent upgrades. Otherwise it was simply unlocking the ability for that weapon to spawn as a temporary weapon. Not sure if there'll be any updates to make changes to the game or not but I probably won't be playing it after this review.

Boring. Repetitive. Giant Skill Tree is boring and way too similar throughout. Picture the skill tree from Path of Exile, but everything is just core stat upgrades. There's just very little game here. REFUNDED

I couldn't enjoy this game. It's starts slow and boring. Elite enemies and bosses so bullet-spongey what it feels like you chipping concrete blocks with bb-gun. Upgrade tree "The Grid" may look impressive at the first glance, but it does not add anything good to gameplay. Threre is no "builds" in this game. All nodes on that tree is miniscule additions to various stats like bullet speed, damage, fire rate etc. This is the most boring and unengaging way to do system like that. It is if like POE skill tree have only minor stat nodes. Nothing there to advance or change gameplay. But if upgrade system does not provide advancement, change of pace, variety of gameplay its only function is to assist unskilled players to progress throug the game with grind. And, oh boy, the grind is what this game have in spades. At the start of each run, game take away all your unspent currency, Rogue Legacy style, making planning your upgrade route obtuse. I didn't play this game enough to comment on writing, but those snippets of dialogues that i was able to witness do not encourage futher curiosity enther. In 40 minutes i heard main character act and speak like typical Hollywood Strong Female Protagonist 2020 She finished intro dialogue with "Why are they always telling me that i already know..." line, and three first bosses dialogues was finished with eye rolling "ugh... another one". I hate to skip dialogues, but i couldn't stomach the cringe.

even after piles of updates this games is still bland and unchallenging, floaty controls and boring power ups, in theory it should be great but falls short in every way, hopefully they fix it

Chronicle: Unit Eight certainly has the nostalgia of the classic "Galaga" game with the charm of a rouge-like. It has a fair difficulty going into it, and while I don't claim to have a lot of skill at the game, imagine you will find yourself dying often early on. The scrap you get from killing the enemy ships and debris allows you to purchase upgrades for your ship in an attempt to push yourself further in the game. I have played a lot of rouge-like games and it does feel like even in my limited time playing this game that you can find yourself needing to learn the enemy attack patterns as well as think about what upgrades you will want to purchase when you can eventually afford them. There are some minor visual bugs I have noticed, where the enemy ship/bullets linger after their death, but isn't distracting enough for me to say it takes away from the flow of the game. I would recommend picking up the game if you are looking for a unique bullet hell, rouge-like game or just have some extra time on your hands.

This is a very nice galaga-arcade-like vertical shooter with nicely done animations and a very catchy soundtrack. The developers are active and fix bugs as soon as they are reproducible. You see this love in the game. It is fun right from the start, because you constantly get better. 1. You start your run 2. You will be killed 3. You come to your skill grid and boost your ship 4. Go to step one Every time you get a bit further and every time you say to yourself "just one more run".

This is an amazing game. Game have a good art style and have good audio work. It have a good progression system and it not have grinding issue. I hope more we can get dlc/expansion.

Really great game, reminds me of the old space shooter games I used to play growing up but with some fresh improvements on the genre, recommend anyone to pick it up!

I wanted to wait to review this game until I felt I could do it properly. After a full 24 hours spread throughout multiple months of playing it and seeing it grow through various stages, here is what I have to say. This game is a love letter to all the arcade classics we grew up playing. It's as if Galaga and a bullet hell had a child. Granted this game is in Beta and there are some rough parts, it is constantly updating every week for the better. Some weeks are minor overall improvements that help with the feel of the gameplay while others introduce more bosses, new enemy types, new power ups, new EVERYTHING. No matter what, this game is a solid buy. It's a game you can always come back to and feel reminiscent of your roots playing games as a kid. Overall, this is a project of love that you can feel every time you pick up the controller. Every boss has something unique to them and with a branching skill tree "GRID" you can improve your ship towards the style that you want to play. To go into further detail, here's a pros / cons list. PROS - Arcade mode is fixed. Take a crack at it and try to conquer the leaderboard! - The ship you play as is easy to control, along with the game offering controller and mouse and keyboard support is a major plus. - The sound effects pack the punch you'd expect from the weaponry that is used. - Speaking of sound, THE MUSIC. I'm convinced the Composer for this game is a musical deity of some sort. The game has a short track list but each song is memorable and you'll find yourself sitting on the main menu to listen to the theme song over and over. - This game is developed by a team of 3. 1 composer, 1 artist, and 1 developer. For what is there, it is an amazing achievement that deserves as much praise as possible. - The pixel art is so detailed and diverse. Just look at the bosses, not a single one is a copy of another boss. - Speaking of bosses, the fights are dynamic and provide a real challenge based on how much your ship is upgraded and how far you are in the run. Logan around 3rd/4th boss level difficulty is brutal. Hope you get him early or get really good at dodging missiles. - The skill tree is massive and allows you to gain new power ups and weapons to add to your arsenal. - You can shoot and destroy enemy bullets with your bullets! If that doesn't work, you can dodge it and keep on shooting! - The developers keep track of all the bugs that are reported and are constantly working on fixing issues. - There is a Boss Rush mode! - It has voice acting! It is not fully integrated yet but it is a work in progress that has more patched in every week. From what is there, it seems it'll be good. - There's a stat page! It shows you pretty much every bit of information you would want to know about your save file. - There's challenges that offer you extra "scraps" and xp to help make your playthrough a little easier. - At the end of the day, if you fail it's on you. There are no cheap deaths in this game. If you improve it's because YOU got better at the game and that allowed you to get stronger. CONS - There's co op! It's just kinda broken right now. - Bugs aren't frequent but they can destroy a run when they pop up. - Developer works on the bugs but sometimes it takes awhile to get it fixed due to the limited amount of people working on the project. This is truly a very minor con. - If you rush damage 100% for your ship build, you can break the game sometimes. (Sorry devs, I don't know my own strength) TLDR Give it a try, get crushed in the first hour, then become obsessed with having the perfect run then die and do it all over again until you're in a constant loop of fun. The devs are eager to hear from you so they can fix the problems and improve the game. Chronicle has reignited my love of gaming and I hope it'll do the same for you. This game has some time before it's a 100% masterpiece but it 100% has what it takes to get there and be a true classic. P.S. Haha, guns go brrrr

[b]This review is updated for "2.1.1-Test" (what it is titled in-game) patch.[/b] The game is still a giant grind fest. It isn't very long at all. The level up and scrap grid fools you into thinking there is more depth to the game than there really is. You have to level up to unlock a node to get access to upgrades you buy with scraps. It is imperative that you plan your path out beforehand because you can buy into the same node twice and waste a level up. Which that would not be a huge issue except for the fact that it takes several runs to level up no matter what the enemy level is. When you finally beat the game it gives you a lot of free level ups when levels are no longer desperately needed. There are also some balance issues and a lot of game breaking bugs. [table][tr][th][b][u]Positives:[/u][/b][/th][/tr] [tr][td]+Art style is good.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]+Music is decent.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]+Full controller support with nSwitch Pro controller[/td][/tr] [table][tr][th][b][u]Negatives:[/u][/b][/th][/tr] [tr][td]-Too much grinding required for levels and upgrades.[/td][/tr] [tr][td]-Could never get co-op to work. Both the keyboard and the controller only controlled player 1. (Still true in 2.1.1)[/td][/tr] [tr][td]-Ship size and hitbox size. The game wants to be a bullet hell, according to the description, but in most bullet hell games only the cockpit is the hitbox. In this the hitbox size is huge. The 1.2.0a patch notes say "Hitbox now reaches across cockpit to each gun, leaving each wing not damageable." This is not true. (Still true for 2.1.1) [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2384240936]Example[/url][/td][/tr] [tr][td]-No explanation for what the lane shift icons mean. (New to 2.1.1)[/td][/tr] [tr][td]-Several bugs. To name a few:[/td][/tr] [tr][td][list] [*]Bombs and laser pickups no longer spawn in story mode nor arcade mode. Neither do any of the skills you buy in the grid. (New to 2.1.1) [*]In boss rush mode you can get your fire rate up so high that the bullets push the Tetra Knight's artwork back. The hitbox for ship collision remains static, though. This can cause you to run into the enemy when you think you are not as close. [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2384278446]Example[/url] [*]In bossrush mode and arcade mode sometimes a boss will not finish his death animation. This halts progression and ends your run. (Still true in 2.1.1) [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2675615010]Example[/url] [*]Arcade mode glitches out every now and then when you die and never recognizes that you are dead. The game keeps progressing like you are still alive. You can not pause it when this happens so you have to alt-f4. [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2384277193]Example[/url] [*]Bombs do not carry over to final stage. (No idea if still true in 2.1.1 because of power-ups not dropping) [*]In two player story mode you can never go to the final stage. It just sits forever. Only been tried with a dead player 2 since I can't control player 2. (No idea if still true in 2.1.1 because of next bug) [*]In two player story mode it is impossible to move past 'choose your trait' if player 2 is dead. (New to 2.1.1) [*]In two player story mode one player can get stuck off screen during the shift. (New to 2.1.1) [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2675607971]Example[/url] [*]If you pick up homing bullets and are in a shifted lane the bullets track off screen to the centre lane. (New to 2.1.1) [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2675611105]Example[/url] [*]If you are fighting a mini boss before a lane shift the mini boss can shift into the lane with you. If you do not kill him before the mini boss of the lane shift he will still be firing at you during 'choose your trait'. (New to 2.1.1) [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2675772379]Example[/url] [*]Sometimes bullet sounds persist until boss. (New to 2.1.1) [*]The station platform stage progression bar does not correctly update until after you defeat the turret boss. (New to 2.1.1) [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2675772058]Example[/url] [*]The double shot power-up can appear before you unlock it on the skill grid. (New to 2.1.1) [*]The double shot power-up does not move down like the other power-ups. (New to 2.1.1) [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2675613500]Example[/url] [*]The game bugged out when my nSwitch Pro controller battery ran out. The game auto paused, at start of platform stage dialog, when it died. I had to alt-f4 to get out of the game. (New to 2.1.1) [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2675614246]Example[/url] [*]The scrap from the second to last boss does not auto collect on death. (New to 2.1.1) [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2675610131]Example[/url] [*]The final stage can create a path that makes the stage not able to be completed. (Still true in 2.1.1) [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2675612703]Example[/url] [*]During the final stage the diagonal shot only shoots to the right. Sideways shot still shoots both ways. (New to 2.1.1) [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2675609406]Example[/url] [*]Reinforced forge says "Gain armor equal to 0% of your current health..." (New to 2.1.1) [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2675608747]Example[/url] [*]If you kill one of the twins while the other is off screen the trait screen pops up. When you select your trait you can kill the other twin and it offers another trait selection. (New to 2.1.1) [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2675823235]Example[/url] [/list][/td][/tr] [tr][td]-Some balance issues. A few listed below:[/td][/tr] [tr][td][list][*]Arcade mode is impossible to make it more than 2-3 bosses deep legitimately. You get one power-up per boss death and that is it. the enemy level ramps up too fast to make it far with just one upgrade. (Still true in 2.1.1) [*]The auto-fire pickup makes no sense. (new to 2.1.1) [*]I am not certain that boss rush mode can be beaten because of the bugs and balance issues. Which is interesting considering there are achievements to beat boss mode... [*]Some traits are downgrades instead of upgrades. Some also do not seem to have any benefit for level 2 and up. (New to 2.1.1)[/td][/tr] [/table] In its current state, I do not recommend buying the game. There is groundwork for a good game here, but it has too many things that just do not make it fun. 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