Chrono Ark
" Engaging roguelike deckbuilder RPG with strategic party management but steep learning curve "
Chrono Ark Review
Chrono Ark is a roguelike deck-building game that blends elements from popular titles like Slay the Spire and Darkest Dungeon 2, enriched with unique character personalities reminiscent of Danganronpa. Players praise its deep and engaging gameplay mechanics, which combine strategic deck-building with party management, allowing for refined playstyles through character selection. The game features a captivating story that many find immersive and well-integrated with the gameplay, supported by high-quality artwork and animations that enhance the overall experience.
The soundtrack is frequently highlighted as a strong point, complementing the game's atmosphere and adding to its replayability. While the game offers a substantial amount of content, including multiple characters, challenges, and difficulty modes, some players note a steep learning curve and occasional translation issues. Despite a few bugs and quality-of-life shortcomings, Chrono Ark is widely regarded as a passionate and creative title that offers hours of addictive gameplay for fans of the genre.
Highlights
Players consistently praise Chrono Ark's unique blend of gameplay mechanics, combining deck-building with party strategy. The artwork and animations are described as gorgeous and polished, contributing to an immersive experience. The storyline is engaging and well-crafted, drawing players into the game world with interesting characters and narrative depth. Additionally, the soundtrack receives frequent commendations for enhancing the mood and energy of gameplay. The game’s replayability is bolstered by diverse characters, multiple difficulty modes, and a workshop for custom content.
Criticisms
Common criticisms include a steep learning curve and some characters being difficult to understand or use effectively. Players mention translation incompleteness, with some text remaining untranslated, affecting accessibility. There are also quality-of-life issues such as missing features like viewing deck contents and discards. Some find the combat pacing slow or unsatisfying due to minor synergies and flat scaling. A few players report bugs that can break gameplay, including a rare issue causing characters to become immobile, requiring save deletion to fix.
Pros
- • Engaging deck-building combined with strategic party management enhances gameplay depth.
- • Beautiful artwork and smooth skill animations create an immersive visual experience.
- • Captivating and well-integrated storyline enriches the roguelike deckbuilder genre.
- • Diverse characters and multiple difficulty modes increase replayability significantly.
- • High-quality soundtrack complements the game's atmosphere and player immersion.
- • Workshop support allows for infinite custom content and extended playtime.
- • Passionate development team evident in game polish and creative design.
Cons
- • Steep learning curve and complex mechanics can overwhelm new players initially.
- • Incomplete English translation leaves some important text only in Korean.
- • Missing quality-of-life features like viewing deck contents and discard piles.
- • Combat pacing issues with minor synergies and flat scaling reduce satisfaction.
- • Occasional bugs can break gameplay, including character immobilization glitches.
- • Some characters are difficult to understand or less intuitive to play.
- • UI design choices limit prediction and control over enemy moves.
Rating Criteria
Chrono Ark is a singleplayer roguelike that combines elements from deckbuilders and party-based RPGs. Recruit, train, and build a team of unique Investigators to restore the Twisted World!