Chronos: Before the Ashes

 PlayStation 4
Chronos: Before the Ashes Image
Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
5.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 16 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
Rate this:
  • 10
  • 9
  • 8
  • 7
  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
  • 0
  • Summary: An Adventure RPG with a refreshing combination of adventure game elements and RPG mechanics. Deep combat - a variety of weapons, abilities and powers are available to the player in the pursuit of their quest. Unique aging mechanic - Every time the player dies they age One year. Players mustAn Adventure RPG with a refreshing combination of adventure game elements and RPG mechanics. Deep combat - a variety of weapons, abilities and powers are available to the player in the pursuit of their quest. Unique aging mechanic - Every time the player dies they age One year. Players must adapt to their advancing age as they progress their character; starting the game young, nimble and quick, and ending wise and more attuned to magic.… Expand
Buy Now
Buy on

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 22
  3. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. COGconnected
    Dec 7, 2020
    83
    Chronos is a great action/puzzle game for players looking for light narrative and a comfortable challenge, and it’s one I can’t wait to complete.
  2. 4Players.de
    Nov 30, 2020
    75
    You feel like adding a few puzzle elements to your Dark Souls light? Then you should check out this little adventure that adds a creative aging process to the fighting and exploration.
  3. PlayStation Universe
    Nov 30, 2020
    70
    Chronos: Before The Ashes brings to the Souls formula some interesting ideas that, if further explored, could expand on a beloved formula quite nicely. However, in its present form, these ideas contradict themselves, creating more of a red herring than a legitimate risk-reward system. Regardless, the game is fun to play, but the narrative and initially appealing age mechanic don't reach the end of the game with the same intensity.
  4. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Jan 8, 2021
    70
    If you liked the look of Dark Souls but bounced off the difficulty, Chronos offers a solid (if cheaper), more user-friendly, yet still demanding alternative. [Issue#184, p.90]
    All this publication's reviews
  5. SpazioGames
    Dec 6, 2020
    67
    The transition from a VR-only title to a full fledged action rpg was not smooth, but Chronos Before The Ashes is still a decent choice if you're looking for a simpler and more linear soulslike.
  6. Multiplayer.it
    Dec 6, 2020
    65
    Chronos: Before the Ashes is the prequel of Remnant: From the Ashes, but the quality is much lower.
  7. We Got This Covered
    Dec 1, 2020
    50
    Chronos: Before the Ashes is neither terrible enough to disown entirely nor deep or engaging enough to warrant a recommendation for anyone but the most genre-craved diehards.

See all 22 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 8
  3. Negative: 4 out of 8
  1. GameFan8567
    Apr 20, 2021
    10
    Great Game! Love the puzzle solving and aging mechanic. Will be playing this multiple times!
  2. freyes5291
    Dec 17, 2020
    9
    Very much Dark Souls. The only thing I dislike about this game is the fact that I can't change armor. Other then that, amazing game. A+
  4. Crumbsy
    Dec 6, 2020
    7
    A pretty straight forward Dark Souls-Lite experience with some Zelda thrown in for good measure. It’s budget ultimately holds it back but it’sA pretty straight forward Dark Souls-Lite experience with some Zelda thrown in for good measure. It’s budget ultimately holds it back but it’s also not a full priced game. For $30 I got a solid 8 hours out of it and I’m pretty happy with the time spent. It’s simplistic art style is a hold over from its VR roots but it gets the job done. Being a big fan of Remnant I had hoped this game would shed some more light on just what the heck is going on in that universe but it really doesn’t. Don’t come here for a story. At the end of the day I got pretty much what I thought I would. As long as you’re not expecting Remnant 2 or an experience that matches the high bar of Dark Souls you should have a good time.… Expand
  5. GrahfZeppelin
    Dec 5, 2020
    3
    Some really cool ideas and some fun concepts ultimately ruined by clunky combat and sloppy level design. I made it about 3/4 of the waySome really cool ideas and some fun concepts ultimately ruined by clunky combat and sloppy level design. I made it about 3/4 of the way through the game before giving up when having to solve an obnoxious slider puzzle which is THE laziest form of game design.
    The combat is stiff and enemies can stun lock you and there's an extremely inconsistent difficulty. The map layout is unintuitive and confusing and instead of being a cleverly interwoven map like most Souls games, it's more of a dull maze.
    There WAS effort put into this game and I hope the devs have better success down the road, maybe refining some of this games ideas, but Chronos itself is just plain bad, sadly    … Expand
  6. RestRabbitRest
    Jun 3, 2022
    2
    I wish I could like this game, but I hate it for several reasons. First of all, this game is insanely clunky and sluggish. Every playerI wish I could like this game, but I hate it for several reasons. First of all, this game is insanely clunky and sluggish. Every player character animation is unnecessarily slow, at RDR2 level. The character runs very slow as well. Usually I don't mind if the game itself has a slow pace and I'm part of it, but this game requires you to explore and backtrack to discover puzzle pieces and find the right way to advance.

    Secondly, combat is broken. At a glance it seems it has all the general mechanics such as parrying and dodging, but neither is useful in actual combat. Well dodging has a decent length of i-frame so yes, you can dodge enemies' attacks, but you have a huge opening right after that and it makes incredibly difficult to step out of enemy's reach. Moreover, there're quite a few number of enemies with shields, and there's no way to break their defense. The only way is to flank them, or wait for them to attack for an opening. Strong enemies take 10 to 50 hits based on your attack rating, so dragging an encounter for 5+ minutes because of this forced strategy makes the game incredibly boring.

    Last but not least, the camera. When just running around it's okay, but in combat the camera could be your worst enemy. For instance 1/3 of the enemies in this game are dwarf-like creatures, shorter than you. That means if you don't adjust the camera you can't see what they're doing when they are up close. The problem is, when you're locking on to an enemy, vertical pans are locked. You can only rotate sideways. I got hit so many times in middle of a combo because of this; I can't see if they're striking back or not!

    By the way, some people defend this game for being an old, VR game ported to a modern system. But I don't buy such an excuse, because, one, it's not THAT old, and two, I'm not playing the game on an old VR system. I'm playing on a non-VR, modern system for god's sake. The developer could've and should've tweaked the game here and there, at least the overall clunkiness.    … Expand
  7. ju_ma21
    Jan 12, 2022
    1
    Im srry but this game is really bad the first boss is literally just you parrying or dodging his attack and than pressing attack for theIm srry but this game is really bad the first boss is literally just you parrying or dodging his attack and than pressing attack for the enhance hit and i couldnt even get myself to keep going after that because it just became so stale when the boss fight was literally the worst experience ever not fun nor hard

    not to mention the heal is atrocious in the game you cant even move while healing and you cant cancel it in anyway and your likely to get hit while healing almost always this game is horrible complete trash just buy Remnant from the ashes    … Expand
  8. BIade
    Dec 2, 2020
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Awful game with awful concepts. Imagine a **** version of dark souls with slow motion. Game runs like **** and loading screens have a tendency to go on forever. The map design is pretty bad, a lot of reused assets that make every area bland. The enemy design is pretty **** with a lot of enemies just dying to R2 spam and oh yea, if you’re playing the game for the “bosses”, don’t expect anything good. Like the final **** boss is the dragon reused asset from remnant from the ashes. Bosses are not that creative, they’re pretty boring and piss easy to fight. Design choices such as having to interact with a chest from your inventory just to open it is pretty dumb and a waste of time. If you think that the aging mechanic is “unique” or that it makes the game more interesting, let me tell you that it just makes the game less fun, all this “magic gets stronger as you grow older” is bull****, the magic in this game is just particle effects on your weapon with no use, unless your activate your “dragon stone ability”, your stamina regen when your old takes forever, which adds to the unnecessary frustration to the game. And oh yea let’s not forget about the **** healing mechanic that takes forever to heal yourself while standing in place making you vulnerable to enemy attacks
    Basically just save your 30 bucks and buy something that is actually nice instead of wasting it on this ****    … Expand

See all 8 User Reviews

Current PS4 Games

Full List »
89 Rolling Gunner + Over Power
86 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
86 AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative
83 Infernax
83 Moss: Book II
83 Horizon Forbidden West
82 The King of Fighters XV
82 Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream
80 Cotton Fantasy
80 Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
79 Pocky & Rocky Reshrined
79 Capcom Fighting Collection
79 RiffTrax: The Game
79 Rise of the Third Power
78 Young Souls
78 Metal Max Xeno Reborn
76 WWE 2K22
75 Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden
74 Slipstream
74 WindJammers 2
All Current Games »