Chasm
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Critic Reviews for Chasm
Chasm is a lovely and fun Metroidvania with a lot of cool new ideas, even if its randomized maps are uninteresting.
Beautiful pixel art and tight controls make Chasm a fine, if reserved, modern take on the Metroidvania.
Chasm features a lot of Metroid goodness, but the randomness makes levels range from triumphant to tedious
Chasm's sharp combat mechanics and rich visual design make it easier to bear the inconsistent difficulty curve.
While Chasm is an indie Metroidvania title using procedural generation, this isn't another roguelike. Instead, Chasm generates a new map with every campaign for re-playable variety. During the campaign the map stays put, promoting exploration and memorization. Chasm is all about getting around: finding new abilities to open a new path forward and overcoming difficult platforming challenges. Chasm might have been outdone in certain aspects during its five years in development, but what's here is still very good.
Chasm was worth the wait regardless of its shortcomings. It's gorgeous, it sounds wondrous, and even though I'm not quite at the point where I can call it a "classic," it honors the genre. I hope the follow-up doesn't take nearly as long.
It has been a long wait for Chasm and I am happy to report that it provides a great classic Metroidvania experience. It isn't as obviously polished graphically as the likes of Oni or Hollow Knight, and doesn't offer the Dark Souls stylings of Dead Cells, but it succeeds entirely on what it sets out to do. The art style is perfectly suited, the controls are responsive and focused (although I would have liked to move dodge from the Y button) and the world map is a real joy to explore, despite my worries about the procedural generation. It may not be the gamechanger that Dead Cells seems to be (having not yet played it myself) but it is a wonderfully pure and challenging experience. If you have even a passing interest in the genre, Chasm deserves a place on your playlist.
A metroidvania with some interesting ideas, but lacks in combat system and level design, resulting just sufficient in all of its mechanics and not worth a second run.
Review in Italian | Read full review
