Getting away from everything and finding inner peace has become the must-do activity for any hard-working induvial, or those looking to run away from their dark and shady past. So, venturing to a remote island, filled with all manner of unsettling sights and complete strangers who make a Tik Tok influencer look sane wouldn’t seem like the best plan, but for a creepy, cosmic horror video game it sure is! The Chant from Brass Token is a psychedelic horror game infused with cultism and cosmic dread, that feels like it was ripped right out of the 70’s B horror movie scene. Does it deliver the horror goodness I had been hoping for this year?
What is The Chant?
The Chant is a story-driven single-player title, that infuses elements of cosmic and psychological horror with intense melee combat and resource management. You play Jess, a brilliant young woman who is gravely haunted by a traumatic event in her past. Being sickened by the sight of flies and hearing the voice of those she has wronged, Jess decides enough is enough and takes up an offer from a friend to join her at a remote island retreat for recovery. After arriving on the island and meeting her old friend Kim, Jess believed the healing process can begin. Everything seems fairly normal from the outside, however, the trip soon turns into a living nightmare, as we discover there is much more to the island than pretty landscapes and tranquil woodlands.
After a late-night session of enlightenment, the island reveals its true nature and unleashes The Gloom, a psychedelic dimension of cosmic terror that feeds off people’s negative energy and consumes all who wander into its realm. It’s time for Jess to face her fears and explore the island for answers before The Gloom consumes her and the rest of the group.
The Chant’s DNA has plenty of classic survival horror elements, including resource management, various supernatural threats, and exploration. But Brass Token has implemented some neat dynamics, to make it different from many other games in the genre.
Flower Power and consumption of the flesh!
The best thing to keep in mind is that this is a AA game, one of the smaller budgets and teams. And while you might notice the odd clunkiness here and there, The Chant pushes its presentation with striking visuals and excellent sound design. The Gloom is a hauntingly beautiful realm, and there are plenty of visual elements which really excel for a smaller-budget game, including cool enemy designs and nice animation.
When playing The Chant, I got a sense of familiarity that reminded me of classic horror games on the PS2 and of 1970’s B horror movies. I love old PS2 horror games, as many of them were some of the greatest ever made. Brimming with creativity, and interesting gameplay and didn’t rely on cheap horror thrills and tricks. While the fever dream, psychedelic visuals and the undertones of cultism are akin to a classic 70’s horror movie such as The Wickerman or Phantasm. It’s all great stuff, that pulsates in intensity, mystery and dread. That’s what I guess makes this so refreshing compared to countless other horror games on the market at the moment. I have seen more horror games change the time period and they can do wonders thematically.
The story overall is quite enthralling, with plenty of great character developments, a curious setting and lore which feels parallel to an A24 production. Jess is a likeable soul, who aims to help those around her even if it means risking her own life or sanity. There’s an air of trauma to everyone in the story, and while I wished some elements of their past (Jess more so) were explored in greater detail, there is a good sense of gravitas to connect you with them. And the island is full to the brim of neat lore and documentation which sheds some light on the shadowy goings on of the island and its cultist denizens.
The plot does feel quite “gamey”, and you can guess the repetitive pattern of events very early on, as certain characters fall victim to The Gloom and dealing with each of them progresses the narrative. It's all-good stuff regardless and feels has that timeless game structure that rewards you with each victory over evil and opens up new ventures on the island. There is that typical nonsense of the main character doing the heavy lifting through plot devices, while everyone else just kind of hangs back and does nothing useful. I had one moment of hilarity where Jess, having been through so much trauma at this point allows another character who has barely lifted a finger to rest. It's a typical game/film, but harmless at best.
My only real pet peeve was the predictable nature of the last act and just feeling a tad rushed overall. I won’t go into too much detail, but you could easily guess the final twist and there is a lack of presence for the main villain, who really isn’t around for long before shifting the mantle for the very end.
But The Chant manages to stick to a solid story, that differs from government conspiracies and zombies, to give us something a little more trippy and personal. I liked Jess as the leading lady, and the supporting cast pivoted the emotional cogs, making them more than slasher film victims. The general pacing is good and kept me invested until the very end. Plus, there are multiple endings to unlock, adding some replay value.
A very gloomy doom is coming! 
If you’re at all familiar with the likes of Alan wake or The Last of Us, then you’ll get to grips with The Chant very easily. The Chant offers a fascinating world to explore, filled with all manner of dangers and rewards to discover, including cosmic wildernesses to venture through like your tripping balls in a Lovecraft nightmare!
The exploration was one of the favourite aspects of The Chant, as the world had plenty of looping level design, secrets waiting to be discovered and plenty of side quests which would reward handsomely upon completion. I was always intrigued by a shadowy cabin off in the distance, or an opening in a wall made of rock, and while the never-ending dread of danger kept looming over me, I always wanted to go further and find out if there was something useful around the bend. While the answer was yes most of the time, danger always crept up from the darkness too.
The Chant is a pure survival horror and resource management is vital to surviving the night on the island. Resources such as health and other relieves are limited, but keen eyes will scavenge what is needed for sure. And weapons also have a habit of breaking, so you really need to search to keep a steady supply. Just like the greats of the genre, The Chant always manages to ramp up the tension throughout the campaign. It can be a game that pushes the intensity and difficulty at times but always managed to offer me enough to get by. By taking many risks, and by engaging in exploration. As a veteran of the genre, I managed to find core resources and upgrade tokens for my abilities, without feeling stressed out but always on my guard.
While I did find certain items for crafting didn’t appear as much as I liked, I always had a weapon and found health when needed. Veteran survival horror fans will enjoy the explorational aspects and resource management for sure, and still, find it a challenge on the hardest difficulty. Jess can ramp up her defence by crafting weapons and obtaining various special abilities. You won’t be armed with pistols or shotguns, but rather blunt weapons made from sage.
Yeah, it might sound a little goofy, but I felt melee combat was quite engrossing, and managed to have a lot of brutality, intensity, and impact. Jess is able to do the usual stuff like dodging and shoving enemies away to either make an escape to counter-attack. But more interestingly is her line-up of weapons, which are made up of various plants, fitting into a Wiccan theme. All have the power to kick a cultist’s butt, but each has a purpose for Jess. Fighting with the Witch Stick helps stabilise Jess’ state of mind while in areas affected by the gloom, and combing the flammable oil with the Fire-Lash burns enemies for extra damage. There are some neat strategies to play with, making it more fleshed out than a dense brawler game.
Jess really does kick butt in The Chant, but better are her abilities which allow her to grab enemies, launch them away from her, or bring up massive spikes from the ground. I used some more than others, but they were all useful whether for single enemies, crowd control or depending on if an enemy was airborne, incredibly fast or much stronger. You can mix and match and have a lot of fun with the results. Plus. The Chant offers a nice variety of enemy types overall, keeping you on your toes and constantly changing your tactics.
The only hindrances were the small number of main weapons, which altogether comes to 3 melee weapons and three throwable ones. I wished there was maybe at least one more or maybe even two to expand the roaster and thus add more variety or alternatives in combat. You’ll unlock all main weapons just after the first act of the story, and then there’s nothing new really to come about for melee combat. But in return, you do get 6 abilities which do indeed make combat much more compelling and dynamic, and there are a few neat set pieces, such as Jess using a beam of light from massive, mounted crystals to burn away swarms of nasty bug like enemies (very Gears of War like). And the boss battles are varied in scale, with plenty of captivating moments that feel really grand and epic for an AA game.
However, the last and the most annoying thing was the lack of accessibility and missing quality-of-life features. Now, I’m an old man (yes, I am in my early 30’s, it's shocking) and some things are pretty difficult to see. But for those who might be colour blind, I would say making out certain objects in the game will be tough, especially when a lot of stuff you find will be in jars and they’re either red, green, or blue. I had to use the Xbox magnifier feature just to see what the jar was. It would’ve been nice to have the name of the object hover when you’re next to it, or just add in a colour blind mode for those who are red, green colour blind at least.
Don’t mess with nature!
While combat plays a massive role in The Chant, it’s all about keeping your spirituality in check, along with a stable state of mind. Jess will face unimaginable horrors and so, keeping her cool while seeing a host of cosmic ghouls and creatures is highly needed. Players will have to manage Jess’s state of mind, spirituality and health. By viewing the various horrors on the island, or entering areas invested by Gloom, Jess’ state of mind will deteriorate and if it's empty, she will go into panic mode. This is a timeless mechanic we’ve seen before, but The Chant manages to utilise it as much as possible, for frenzied chase sequels, and long dread-filled ventures through places submerged in evil. It’s a frightening time when you see that meter go down and you have no idea when you’ll be able to recover.
You can calm Jess down by meditating, thus using her spirituality meter or by eating some lavender. But the spirituality meter is also for Jess’ abilities in combat, so it's best to make sure you have enough. Again, these aspects become a management task, and it’s a tense ordeal that really keeps you on the edge. Managing spirituality was quite possibly the most difficult, as it seemed the resource for filling up that meter was scarce at times. Meaning I would have to save it for combat and find other ways to keep my mental state healthy. Aside from this, I again felt The Chant offered just enough to get by, and you will never be complete without a way to recover all the meters.
But just to spice things up, The Chant throws in a stalker enemy, and while I know stalker enemies have been seen a lot recently with the RE remakes. But here, it is genuinely creepy and implemented in a balanced manner to scare you enough without feeling tedious. Jess' pursuer is a literal ghost from her past, and one that’s made up of flies. I personally hate flies, and I hate them even more now. The stalking was genuinely creepy, as you could just about make out the figure made of flies and hear the buzzing sound slowly get louder as the ghost near you. It can be dealt with, but never put down altogether. It's creepy, unnerving and used in the right among to scare the s*** out of you and make you fear for your life.
Overall?The Chant has been one of this year’s pleasant surprises, feeling like one of my favourite old-school horror films coming to life. The trippy visuals, engaging narrative and strong stance on gripping melee combat have really won me over. I love the classic survival horror games like Resident Evil 2 and Dead Space, but I’m always thrilled when developers try something a little bit new to spice things up. The team have really pushed their craft to bring us a thrilling experience of psychedelic nightmare fuel, with plenty of gravitas and dynamic gameplay elements that differ from many other games in the genre.
The Chant really deserves the attention of all horror fans and I really hope the developers will bring us something else soon.
++ Fun and riveting combat, and lots of cool bosses and set pieces
+ Intense survival horror elements, such as resource management are executed well
+ Neat visuals and some awesome cosmic horror sights
+ Decent plot with interesting characters
- Could have been more melee weapons and certain resources
- The story can be a little cliché at times
- Lack of accessibility options and quality-of-life features
An Xbox Series S/X review copy of The Chant was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.