Chains of Freedom – Liquid Loyalty

When I tried the demo back in February this year, I was pleasantly surprised. I expected nothing, yet got an interesting experience for my time downloading. Now, the transition from demo to full game does not always go smoothly, but I’m glad to say that the gameplay is exactly the same in the 1.0 release. The story also progresses as expected, and this could be considered good for almost every game, which is it in this case too. However, Chains of Freedom remains the same to its detriment, seeing as what you get in the demo, is what’s on the menu for the whole campaign. 

Same, but different
In large, this is not so much of a problem, but it’s worth mentioning that the gameplay never goes past what was presented in the demo. There’s no base-management or additional strategic layers beyond inventory management, with crystals replacing a level-up system. I don’t feel like going over everything again, so I highly recommend you to read my demo impressions for further context. There are some light explorations to the maps, but in general, the story, gameplay, and loot upgrades progress on a very linear level. It resembles first-person corridor shooters from the 2010s in that regard. When it comes to loot, you might be required to switch to older tier weapons occasionally, as premium ammunition can be hard to find. 

To balance out the ammo scarcity, I highly recommend going for a few close quarters builds, which is entirely possible thanks to the weapons, and the skills they give. The crystals you find will also help you to build the ultimate close combat mutant smasher. One of the melee-enjoying maulers I created, healed herself, and provided action-points to the others for every mutant or human she crushed under her fireman’s axe. Very damn useful! Every crystal, weapon, and character works like this, and it’s good fun finding great synergies between it all. Many hours can be spent optimizing your squad, if you enjoy this kind of stuff (which I do).

Encounters
Every engagement in Chains of Freedom is scripted, and there are a lot of them. At the end, they start to feel draining, as many monsters got some serious health-bloat – that the designers love to spam to increase the tension and difficulty. These fights take time, and doubly so, when you start to run out of ammo for the heavy damage-dealing weapons. That said, these battles are fun, even if a tad easy on normal, at least in the beginning. I would have set the game to hard, but hard comes with a time-limit for every encounter, which would make the skirmishing even more puzzle-esque than they already are. The main problem I had with the combat is that some maps don’t seem to be that well-designed. Monsters or human enemies start so incredibly close that it makes any form of maneuvering impossible. This I think goes against the spirit of the game, and genre overall, as being cornered does not make for intriguing or fun gameplay.

Yet, as said, for the most part, I found enjoyment in the battle-system, thanks to skill synergies, and what I think speaks best for the game: atmosphere.

Mutant wasteland
The thing that makes Chains of Freedom is the atmospheric mutant apocalypse setting, and the compelling story. I don’t think the gameplay would be able to hold up alone, but in combination with the cool backdrop, and narrative, I think this little turn-based game goes way beyond. It’s a rather simple tale, yet, how it’s presented is good, and this aspect lasts almost for the whole game. Unfortunately, as with everything, nothing can remain purely great all the time. The story falls apart when reaching about the middle, and again when coming close to the end. The story becomes very predictable, with twists that feel very unnecessary, which works against what it tries to do: adding depth. It doesn’t become bad, but it becomes tiresome, as we have seen this narrative allegiance switch countless times before. And killing off the coolest character due to the script demanding it felt like the death knell for a solid, cohesive story – that in my opinion didn’t need a story curveball like this.

The visuals & sound
The world of Chains of Freedom looks great, with endless apocalyptic scenarios to explore and shoot up mutants in. The graphics alone punch above their weight, as everything has a surprising amount of detail – from the characters and weapons, to the environment. And, it runs very well, with no drops or crashes experienced at all. AAA-devs, take notes! Music, and sound is also good, especially the voice-acting, which is very high-quality. One stand-out character is the 100% military man Fidel. I think he makes a splendid overzealous squad-leader that loves to bark orders, but still shows care for his men. The visuals, in combination with the sound-scape, makes for a presentation of top-notch quality!

Conclusion
While Chains of Freedom looks and sounds great, with gameplay that works, but never reaches nirvana – the general mechanics of it all works fine. Like mentioned, the story eventually stumbles, which drags down the overall experience. The twists were so needless and disappointing that it leaves an awful stain on an otherwise clean sheet, and it’s a damn shame. Yet, all in all, it’s a fun indie title, for people that like turn-based games, and an apocalyptic setting to explore. It’s being sold at a very favorable price, too, which fits the game and length of it. Chains of Freedom is nothing revolutionary, but I had a good time, so with that, I recommend it to everyone that has an urgent need to blast mutants!

Thanks for reading.

/Thomas