CHORUS

We have not seen good news in the genre of space simulators for a long time. Yes, there were additions to X3 and X4, but these are additions, and also in many ways crooked (especially X4: Cradle of Humanity). There is Elite Dangerous, which was released, however, back in 2014, and there is Star Citizen, which I don’t even want to write about – you yourself know everything, either a scam, or a long-term construction, or a scam long-term construction …

And with Chorus, all connoisseurs of the genre are finally lucky. This is a brand new game. Yes, not a space simulator in the spirit of the same “Elite” (closer to Freelancer, and then with reservations), there is no such scale and powerful economy as in the X series. It’s more of a space shooter, but Chorus also has a certain freedom in the exploration of the galaxy, it is possible to complete many tasks, make decisions and upgrade your ship. And most importantly, there is Nara – a beautiful girl with large, expressive eyes, lined with the same expressive black makeup, which only emphasizes her beauty, pain and depravity at the same time – Nara recently destroyed an entire planet while working for a dark cult, and now she wants to take revenge on him.

Player cover
Here for everything for my grave sins …
Yes, Chorus is primarily a story game, and the story and image of the main character are worked out very well here. This is almost the main thing that she clings to. I honestly don’t remember when a spaceship management game had this level of storytelling. First of all, the image of Nara catches. At first, all her suffering over the destroyed planet seems like crocodile tears.

She has a lot of faults.
But gradually you begin to believe and empathize with the girl – constant monologues and dialogues filled with pain, expressive acting, powerful cut scenes, where, for example, she talks to her former self and tries to overcome this past, not to die, having again gone through one of rituals of the cult.

With this expression, she spends almost the entire game, but this is explained by the plot.
Everything becomes especially interesting after Nara again unites with Forseiken – this is an intelligent ship that also has its own accounts with the cultists and which our heroine once betrayed, leaving her in sleep mode in some cave on an asteroid. Force initially does not trust Nara, although a spiritual connection is established between him and the pilot, they turn into a single whole. Therefore, communication between them, also in many ways painful, works great for the overall gloomy and, I would say, sad atmosphere.

Yes, this is the pilot talking to his ship.
Well, in general, the plot is interesting to follow. It is clear that the tasks for such games are classic – we fly to the point, join the battle, study something, collect, escort and protect other ships, provide a retreat or take our own legs until the enemy is much stronger at the moment. But here the pace is well maintained, the direction is excellent, the right degree of tension is maintained, when, for example, we need to have time to beat off several enemy waves before they finish off the refugee transport. And there are situations of choice – to take pirates on board with the same refugees so that they help put up an energy shield, or is it better not to risk it? And at the same time, in her memories, Nara sees some rifts and strange creatures from the Abyss, anticipating that we will soon encounter them – this is both intriguing and frightening …

Many situations in the game are built on the memories of the heroine.
As a result, there will be rifts, and monsters from the Abyss as the embodiment of sins and feelings, and characters with clouded consciousness, which were influenced by cultists, and battles with huge dreadnoughts. And at the same time, in 10+ hours, this whole gloomy story does not cause a feeling of satiety and does not bother.

Chorus is a very beautiful game.
Nara will help everyone
In Chorus, a semi-open world is implemented, there is a map with different systems, but since this thing is primarily a story, we are not always allowed to move freely between them. But within a particular sector, we are free to digress from the story missions and just fly, scan everything around, pick up loans and look for side quests. The latter are generated when, for example, we need to help a civilian ship calibrate and restart their systems.

We receive distress calls all the time.
And there are more interesting, hand-made tasks – either we are looking for thieves who stole nuclear fuel, then we help drones restart the processing plant, then we defend the station by the sweat of our brow, withstanding not three, but four waves of attackers, then we negotiate with pirates and help them choose a new one leader to stand against the Cult together.

Sometimes they give control of other ships.
Yes, the map is not the most convenient at the same time: sometimes scripts fail, and the game simply refuses to put marks on a side quest – you have to look for the right place yourself. And Nara’s ability to use her senses to scan the area and find footprints.