Clash: Artifacts of Chaos XSX Review 8.5/10 "Pretty Pugilism" ⚔️ @theACETeam @NaconFR #GameDev #IndieGame

It was only as I was installing Clash: Artifacts of Chaos that it dawned on me that I’d played the previous games in the series a decade ago - Zeno Clash and Zeno Clash 2 (2009, 2013) – and enjoyed their idiosyncratic take on the 1st person melee fighting genre.

As the installation percentage slowly rose, I cast my mind back to the sessions on my PC with the initial Clash games, they were incredibly unique titles with flawed but fun mechanics that had a narrative style and structure that called to mind Ice-Pick Lodge’s Pathologic – but the Clash series was different in that they actually held up to close scrutiny and were fun to play.

It’s a heady combination when you discover a developer that isn’t afraid to go off-piste with their narrative presentation, whilst also pushing forward a pretty niche genre, in this case, an FPS melee combat / RPG hybrid.

Fast forward to the present and within a couple of hours, I was completely on board with the third title in this long-running series - Clash: Artifacts of Chaos.

Playing the part of Pseudo, a wandering fighter that also has the ability to control a dream-like version of himself, the player gets introduced to the rudimentaries of combat, as well as the absolutely wonderful cast of characters that pepper the land in which the game is set. In terms of gameplay, it’s a case of pretty much wandering from place to place and getting into fights, but the sheer richness and intensity of the atmosphere is intoxicating.

Presented in a crosshatch, comic book style, Clash: AOC was constantly a visual beauty through the time I spent playing, and the perfectly pitched soundtrack completely swept me up, as I made my way around the land.

The main narrative thrust comes from Pseudo happening across a character called Grandfather losing a fight – and indeed getting killed - to a squat, bullish enemy that tries to take ‘Boy’, a dark-owl character that believes that he is cursed. Pseudo defeats said attacker, and takes Boy under his wing, getting more engrossed in the narrative when he discovers that Gemini, the most feared individual on the continent also has a deep interest in capturing Boy.

It’s a deceptively simple setup that’s made captivating by the character design and interplay, each character you come across feels completely unique and ingenious, but also absolutely at home on this bizarre planet. I wanted to drink in every aspect of each person I encountered in Pseudo’s travels, each fully voice-acted and memorable. I really feel that there’s a depth to the lore and characters that could reach Oddworld levels, such as their uniqueness and impact.

This entry in the Clash series moves from a primarily first-person viewpoint to a third-person viewpoint, which is a wise move as it makes it a lot easier to track multiple opponents during battles, even if the melee mechanics still feel slightly clumsy - after three games. That’s not as much of a knock as it might sound, as the slobber-knocker vibe of the fights matches the character designs, and the fact that most fights are preceded by ‘the ritual / one law’ whereby a dice game is completed to see if one of the combatants will have to endure a forfeit adds flavour to the more central fights that take place throughout the game.

Although I appear to be the unluckiest man in the universe in this regard as I swear, I haven’t won a dice game yet! As such, many the time that I’ve fought through a cloud of fog, whilst being stung by bloody bees, tethered to a peg, or – my favourite – just having to turn around and get twatted in the back of the head by a plank of wood before the fight even starts!

Beyond the combat, the world that Pseudo inhabits is stunning – I haven’t been this taken with a game's visuals since Octopath Traveller – but it’s also intensely labyrinthine. So many linear, narrow paths have hidden corners that can obfuscate pick-ups, items and totems that enhance your character.

Should you lose in combat, you re-awake in wooden / dream form at your last campsite, and from there can make your way to your corpse, where it can be re-animated -  should you be able to successfully fight your way to it.

This second chance can lead to some of the tensest battles in the game, especially as enemies are different in this form. Should you be beaten to a pulp before re-joining your physical form, you’ll find yourself back at your last camp, where you can brew another health potion from the ingredients found in the wild - and get back in the fray.

SUMMARY

Aside from the naturally slightly clumsy combat, there really aren’t many negatives about Clash: Artifacts of Chaos. Admittedly the maze-like paths can be tough to navigate, but they all hold secrets and items, so it doesn’t feel like a chore, and when you do discover the correct way forward, it’s quite liberating, and few games have given me cause to exhale slowly and weigh up my chances of winning a fight as Clash does, as you make your way through to a new section and round a corner to see two beautifully designed and animated hulking creations lumbering in the distance – it actually pumps you up, knowing that you’ll slowly make your way over to them and get embroiled in fisticuffs – after The Ritual, natch.

Add all of that to a surprisingly engaging, clearly told story heavy with atmosphere, and this is knockout stuff.