Chorus [PlayStation 5] | REVIEW

After working on an array of space shooters on mobile devices in the form of the Galaxy on Fire series, developer Fishlabs have now brought the action to PC and consoles with the release of Chorus. It’s a title that has been on my radar ever since its initial reveal, with the beautiful outer space locale and epic shooting action reminiscent of some of my favourite releases in the genre from over the years.

How does Chorus hold up when compared to them? I’m happy to report that it’s brilliant, with only a few technical issues causing frustrations during my time playing.

Check out a gallery of screenshots down below:

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The game puts players in the role of Nara, a pilot with a troubled past after being involved with a vicious cult known as The Circle. After leaving to join the resistance, she faces off against The Circle, with her sentient ship Forsaken arming her with the tools needed to take them down. With the battle brewing and more dangerous missions than ever to take on, Nara has to establish a stronger bond with Forsaken and use all of her piloting skills to take down The Circle for good.

I was pleasantly surprised by Chorus’ plot, with plenty of depth on offer when it comes to the lore of the galaxy and Nara’s plight against The Circle. Nara is a genuinely interesting character who has a dark and disturbing past, but her quest for redemption is a commendable one that’ll make the player root for her success. It helps that the villains are dastardly too, with it easy to want to take down every one that shows up in the story. Don’t get me wrong, there’s none as memorable as those you’d see in other forms of popular space-themed pop culture, but they still strengthen the plot and help keep the player invested in the narrative.

“I’m already a fan of space-shooting so the game didn’t really have to do much to sell itself to me, but the fact that combat feels sublime is a real treat.”

All of the action of Chrous takes place from within your ship, with players cruising through an array of open locations, blasting away at enemies in epic dogfights, and completing the many missions that are entrusted upon Nara. The combat in-game is brilliant, with plenty of varied enemies to battle against that’ll really test your shooting skills, with Forsaken armed with the likes of a gatling gun, lasers, and missile launchers to wipe them out. Nara also unlocks special abilities known as Rites throughout the game, with each giving her another trick up her sleeve; some of these are basic things such as being able to drift or highlight points of interest in the area, but others are more lethal such as being able to disrupt the shields of enemies, smash through targets as her ship morphs into an unstoppable force, or even hold enemy ships and launch them into different targets. Players can also equip mods to power up Forsaken in varied ways as well as upgrade different aspects of it, so there’s plenty of room for fine-tuning the ship to best suit your needs. It gives the game a real sense of progress, with the game being more enjoyable the more powerful Forsaken becomes.

It all comes together nicely to make the action of Chorus feel stellar throughout, with the mere sight of enemies in-game bringing a smile to my face as I surged forward to take them out. I’m already a fan of space-shooting so the game didn’t really have to do much to sell itself to me, but the fact that combat feels sublime is a real treat. The only real issue I found was that it was VERY easy to die early on in the game when I was lacking upgrades, but the problem goes away after a few hours play when you start to flesh your ship out.

Whilst players explore an array of open environments in Chorus, it’s always clear where you need to go next to progress the story. The main missions are fun, bringing with them plenty of interesting story beats and mixed objectives to keep the experience varied throughout its roughly nine-hour runtime. There’s plenty on offer for those who take the time to explore each location too, with side missions aplenty across the game. Whilst some of these could be a little bit ordinary in design, others offer more unique objectives that tell their own little stories. It’s definitely worth checking them all out, not only to get the rewards that they offer but to also learn more about the world of Chorus along the way.

“Chorus is a gorgeous game, with some wonderful sights to be seen throughout that are emanating with vibrancy and character.”

There really is plenty for players to discover, but simply taking in each Star System itself makes exploration worthwhile. Chorus is a gorgeous game, with some wonderful sights to be seen throughout that are emanating with vibrancy and character. Each area feels really alien in design, with the typical sci-fi archetypes embraced perfectly when it comes to the environments of the game. It’s wonderful stuff and just makes being a part of Chorus’ world feel all the more special. Just be warned: the opening areas of the game feel a little dull in design, so you can expect to be a little underwhelmed at first. Just know that it gets MUCH better.

Chorus really impressed me and felt riveting to play, but I did come across a few technical issues that soured the experience a little bit. I had crashes, the game not acknowledging my progress in a mission, targets that I seemingly couldn’t reach… it had a fair few unusual hiccups that would often force me to re-load my save to fix. Thankfully, there was nothing game-breaking that I couldn’t get through without a little work around, but it was still a bit frustrating. Hopefully, these can all be fixed with a patch in the near future.

Developer: Fishlabs
Publisher: Deep Silver
Platform(s): PlayStation 5 (Reviewed), PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC
Website: https://chorusthegame.com/