Cloud Chasers - Journey of Hope Reviews

At $4 this is a good game. Perma death rogue lite, FTL-lite, prequel to the excellent Airheart. However, it has very little action (passive glider flying avoiding bad buys and their bullets) to collect water aka cash. I completed it in 4 hours and don't really feel compelled to play again soon. There are items that are worthless except for fufilling dialogue options. There are a few basic upgrades for your glider that make the water collection mini game much easier to almost trivial when the gilder is fully upgraded. Overall, it's not nearly as good as a game as Airheart the twin stick shooter. It was still fun if a bit shallow.

[b] Cloud Chasers [/b] is a text-based adventure that incorporates survival elements, map exploration, and a flying mini-game. I think the game is pretty decent when it comes to resource management and storytelling, although the controls for the glider are a bit wonky. The goal is to get across the desert which includes 5 separate levels with randomly generated events. If one of your characters dies, you start over. However, the game is not particularly hard as I was able to beat it on the second try (in less than 1 hour on normal). Since many of the achievements are attached to unique events, it does have some replay value because you can't get everything in one run. There are several different resources to keep track of such as water, glider structure, health, and status effects. Water is actually the main currency in the game, which is a really cool idea because you need to keep some of it to survive. Cloud Chasers has a good risk vs reward aspect where you constantly deciding if one of your resources is more valuable than another. There are many items that can be traded in the towns that you visit between the levels; you can keep unique items for random events to get a bigger reward, or you can just sell them in a desperate situation. In my opinion, the narrative was enjoyable because there are many interesting choices that you can make. [h1] Pros: [/h1] + decent narrative / many unique item based choices + good use of risk and reward / fun resource management + lots of items and upgrades + many fun achievements for replay value [h1] Cons: [/h1] - the glider movement is a bit clunky [b] Overall Thoughts: 8/10 [/b] For a game that is only asking about $5, it has a decent narrative and the use of risk and reward. I think you need to be a completionist to get the full value from this title as there are many unique events and interactions. It did not give me much of a challenge, but I think it is fun enough for one or two runs. [code]For more hidden gems: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]