The Bearded Ladies is back again with another massive hit from their wonderous minds. They started out in 2010 with their first release, Bandit Landit on PS3, and then went radio silent on us for several years. However, in 2018, they astonished the world with their release of Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden, a brilliant turn-based strategy RPG with the most surprising character design but also a great story to follow. Soon after that, they released Corruption 2029 in 2020, an odd take on strategy mixed with top-down exploration, but it was missing something. Rating and reviews also showed that while the game was good, it needed something extra.

Now in 2023, The Bearded Ladies have taken another stab at impressing the world, and they definitely hit the mark with their latest release, Miasma Chronicles. Miasma Chronicles seems to be breaking all the rules for turn-based strategy and instead made it so much better than it could ever be. To sweeten the deal, Miasma Chronicles still has that signature touch that makes the story nearly impossible to put down as well.

Miasma Chronicles is a game about an America that was at one point overflowing with pollution, waste and massive amounts of environmental damage. Thanks to the Edezen Corporation’s technological breakthroughs, the Miasma was brought to life and it restored the land back to its full glory, and this era was known as the Great Stability. However, the corporations just started polluting again and the Miasma somehow took on a mind of its own, and became angry. It began lashing out at the people and instead of fixing it, started attacking people, the land and anything else that would be a threat. This was also the collapse of the Great Stability.

Much of the population was wiped out and the people basically devolved. Life became more primitive in some aspects as old and new knowledge was lost permanently to the Miasma plagued wastelands. Though not all hope is lost, the people who survived managed to somewhat keep things going at least. Unfortunately, the first family, the once Edezen corporation who created the Miasma and lost control of it, are also the biggest threat with the latest army of robotic killers who force the people to mine gold as an offering to them.  However, like with any good story, there’s always some hope when things are at their worst. This is where the Editors come in, people who could control the Miasma, but also the biggest threat to the first family.

Before you can jump into the crazy world of Miasma Chronicles, you’ll need to choose your difficulty and game mode. Normally these options are really straightforward but they should also come with a warning that this game has a semi steep learning curve. If you’re new to a game like this, start off with Narrative for difficulty (Easy Mode), nobody will judge you and you can still change it later on. Then comes the game mode, Light Tactical or Full Tactical. The key difference between these two are how predictable and how likely your and enemy your shots are to hit, but also how well any form of cover will work. It’s basically a deeper option on the difficulty but again, not to be taken lightly if you’re new.

With that out of the way, your journey starts with Chronicle One (Or Chapter 1) somewhere in Kentucky, 140 years after the collapse of the Great Stability. We see our protagonist, Elvis, trying for the 37th time to break through a Miasma wall to get to his mama with his robot companion and brother, Diggs, cheering him on. Though this went unsuccessfully yet again. You’ll have to guide Elvis on his journey initially to break through the Miasma wall, but the world becomes a lot crazier in a very short time.

Eventually you’ll be led back to a town, but on the way, you’ll discover one of the more important aspects of Miasma Chronicles, loot. Plastic (The in-game currency), consumables, codex entries and even quest items are littered throughout the world, some are in plain sight, and others need a bit more exploration. Keep your eyes open and be willing to explore, you’d be surprised at what you can find and how valuable a simple consumable can be. The same can be said for codex entries, while they usually provide some good insight into the world and its current state, you’ll also get codes, clues and locations for other things that you can find to aid your perilous journey.

Next up, you’ll be introduced to combat against your first enemy, the frog monsters, or grabbers as they’re eventually called. Created by the Miasma to fight off the human threat, they have simple objectives and even simpler tactics at first. As for combat, Miasma Chronicles doesn’t play by the usual rules of encounter-based combat. While you can freely explore the world, you can also set up ambushes and position your party members for a strategic advantage. However, what sets the combat apart is that you can also go with the stealthier option of picking off enemies one by one with quick and silent kills, provided you can kill your target before alerting the rest of the enemies around him.

Picking off enemies one by one is fine and all, you’ll also need to keep distance between enemies in mind. If your target is too close to the rest of his squad mates, they’ll be alerted too, and you’ll have to fight it out. Luckily, this is at least highlighted, so you’re not stuck guessing the whole time. To sweeten the deal, you’ll sometimes have to make your own opportunities by luring your target away from the others using bottles or environmental attractors. This is actually a really important aspect to have because in a game like Miasma Chronicles, numbers are everything. If the enemy outnumbers your party in size or power, having the ability to even the odds is a major help.

So, you’ve got yourself stuck in a fight, initially you won’t have much in terms of options or abilities to use. Luckily, between Elvis and Diggs, you won’t need much aside from moving from one tile to another to get to cover or a better vantage point, firing, and reloading. Yes, you actually need to reload your weapons. However, not all weapons are equal either. There are only three weapon types in Miasma Chronicles but they all play a unique role as well. You’ll start off with assault rifles, short to medium range with good damage and a fair amount of ammo, having less distance between you and your target raises the chance of your shots hitting. Next is the sniper rifle, high damage at long range, this weapon is also the opposite of the assault rifle because it has much less ammo and the hit chance goes up with more distance. Sorry to all those who like going point-blank with any weapon they find.

As for the last weapon type, it comes with a few ups and downs in the form of shotguns. Like with any shotgun, they’re typically short range and ammo can vary, but they also cause knockback in Miasma Chronicles and have a wide spread. Shotguns are great for clumps of enemies or just getting a few off your back or even out into the open where they can be gunned down more easily. This is where the cover comes in. Between Full Cover, Half Cover, and destroyable cover, you’ll need to choose your positions wisely because they can also make or break a fight for you.

Full cover will protect your party most of the time unless your enemies have full or at least half line of sight to you, half cover works similarly but the hit chance is somewhat increased. Then we have destroyable cover, it works just like half cover but can be destroyed by things like grenades, heavy attacks and shotguns.

Another thing to take note of in Miasma Chronicles is that you don’t get an infinite number of actions in combat, each party member will get 2 AP per round. Any action will consume 1 AP but moving beyond your initial range will use 2. However, if you don’t want to do anything else and just shoot, it will use both points in one shot but moving first and then shooting will still count as 1 point each. It’s a bit odd that shooting uses both points and it would be nice if you could fire at an enemy and then move to cover again.

Elvis and Diggs might be the dynamic duo, they are missing a person. Lucky for you, your party options start growing quite soon and more people will start joining you as companions in battle. Elvis and Diggs can’t be replaced, but your companions can be switched out for others, this does make life a bit trickier as you go because it limits your options severely.

On a more important note and another thing that sets Miasma Chronicles apart from its counterparts is that not all battles have to be fought. Sometimes it’s easier to simply sneak past enemies to get to your objective so you can come back and finish them off later because not all battles can be won outright, this alone shows just how much thought went into the strategic aspects of this game.

Sooner or later, a game like Miasma Chronicles would become terribly boring if there wasn’t some way to spice things up. Naturally, abilities fill that void quite nicely. Finishing off fights, picking up treasures and even completing quests all give experience points which go towards a party level. Leveling up gives each party member 1 point to use on passive upgrades or new abilities, though while your first passives and abilities typically only cost 1 or 2 points, the cost does rise as you progress through the skill trees. This will require you to be patient and rack up skill points for the next ones as you progress.

Now that the basics are done, you’re probably wondering what happened to the consumables. Consumables come into play sooner than you think and also spell the difference between life and death in battle though this also breathes some extra life into Miasma Chronicles. You get two types of consumable items, support and offensive. Support items are your Medipods for healing and Energy Cells to recharge your KWs. Then we have offensive items, these range from frag grenades to napalm deathcans. Where you’d normally just see the item being used in a combat scenario with no extra animations, consumables are visibly thrown to your target, this might be small but it adds a nice touch to the game.

There is one other type of consumable that could be classified as neutral, glass bottles. They’re rare to find and damned expensive to buy but if you need to lure an enemy out into the open. They are probably your most important tool even more so if you need to make an opening to sneak past a whole group of them.

On the topic of buying consumables, you’ll eventually get to a small mining town known as Sedentary. The name isn’t just for show, the town is relatively slow going. However, it’s also going to be one of the places you’ll need to frequently visit to stock up on items, possibly some new guns and weapons modifications, aside from quests. Just like with anywhere, you’d be surprised at what you can find and loot around the towns as well. You’ll need to keep in mind that nothing is free and while you can buy some very necessary items, plastic isn’t easy to come by at first in Miasma Chronicles, so it’s best to only spend when you need to.

Speaking of weapon modifications, as you explore the world, you’ll notice that there are several different scopes and magazines that can be equipped for your weapons and they all come with their own unique bonuses to certain stats or damage bonuses to specific enemy types. You’ll need to mix and match to suit your current environment and enemy layout for the area you’re in.

To save the best for last, the world is already in a crazy state but Elvis does eventually learn that he can absorb the Miasma Vortexes for a power boost. Or in this case, new Miasma Powers for his glove. These powers come in a whole range of types and uses from Miasma Storm that will pick up and throw an enemy, to Mind Worm which temporarily takes control of an enemy. However, these powers come at a cost in the form of KW, it’s basically the stored energy in the gloves. You’ll need to use Energy Cells to recharge unless you can get your hands on the right weapon modifications that’ll give you a slower recharge when shooting. Your only other alternative is waiting for a level-up that’ll fully heal and recharge your party.

The Bearded Ladies seem to have gone all in with Miasma Chronicles on its visual front, while the world might be mostly covered in Miasma and dead for the most part, the attention to detail is astonishing to say the least. The character designs during in-game cutscenes carry the same level of quality as the rest of the world design, it’s rare to see this level of work put into a turn-based strategy game. Cutscenes take a different approach as well with what look detailed drawn images combined with the voice acting. All this brings the world to life in all the best ways.

On the sound front, the most notable aspect is that the game is fully voiced and right from the start, you can hear that the voice actors didn’t just play their parts. They lived them. Elvis already looked very Southern, but his voice acting really made his character stand out with the same Southern accent. Diggs might be a robot, but his endless sass brightens up a darkened world with a good laugh or two. You’ll meet so many other characters along the way, all voiced as well, and it just has to be said that the dialogues in Miasma Chronicles really help the game shine. Another thing to take note of is the ambient sound as you’re exploring the world, each area has its own unique sound and music that breathe some extra life into the game as a whole but this also gives so much immersion to an already rich game.

Overall, if you’re looking for challenging strategy gameplay, an intensely rich story, and a world that’ll just keep you coming back for more, Miasma Chronicles is definitely the right pick. It’s incredibly difficult to put down because it’ll keep you wanting to know what happens next. Even the side-quests are interesting and reveal so much more as to what happened in the world around you.
 

Jay Claassen (@R3GR3T_3NVY)
Editor, NoobFeed