ALTDEUS Beyond Chronos Review
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
Summary:
Altdeus: Beyond Chronos is a VR visual novel with a deep and compelling plot that had me hooked from start to end.
I found myself, unwilling to take off my headset because I kept wanting to learn more about the story and characters – something which also happened in Tokyo Chronos.
MyDearest seems to have mastered the art of generating mystery and intrigue, making me very excited about their future games.
Do I need to play Tokyo Chronos before playing Altdeus: Beyond Chronos?
Not really, although there is a small section where playing the first game can give light to some of the things in this game. It’s not too important though and you’ll be able to understand 99% of this story without playing Tokyo Chronos.
If you haven’t played Tokyo Chronos yet and you like these types of games – you should probably start with Tokyo Chronos just because it’s a great game.
Story:
▢ Masterpiece
✅Great
▢ Good
▢ Bad
▢ Horrible
Characters:
▢ Super attached to them
✅Believable and interesting
▢ Meh
▢ Hated them
▢ Extremely poor writing
Music:
✅Eargasm
▢ Beautiful
▢ Good
▢ Generic
▢ Bad
Gameplay:
▢ Ground-breaking
▢ Great fun
▢ Fun for a bit
✅It exists (but aided the story)
▢ Boring
Worth your money?
✅HELL YES (if you’re an anime fan)
▢ YES
▢ Maybe
▢ Wait for discounts
▢ No
Altdeus had some moments in the story that were straight up 10/10 moments which left me mesmerized. Whilst other moments felt dry and left my disappointed.
It’s hard to rate a story as a whole because some moments were straight up 10/10, and others were 5/10. However, overall I’m giving it 8.5/10, because the good outweighs the bad. Those ’10’ moments really make this game worth playing!
Story:
The main reason why I play these types of games is for the story. I didn’t care what kind of gameplay they added cause gameplay will never tempt me to buy these types of games.
MyDearest got a lot of criticism for making a visual novel in VR, but those critics don’t understand that there’s a large audience base who just wants to experience an immersive story.
Luckily for us – it is a great story and even more immersive than the first. I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece though.
Normally, what makes a story great comes down to these 4 elements: Suspense, mystery, drama and fun/comedy.
It’s better to excel in at least one of these than be mediocre in them all.
How did Altdeus perform in these?
- Mystery: 10/10 – as mentioned before, they nailed the mystery and had me completely hooked.
- Suspense: 7/10 – had some decent moments of suspense, but nothing over the top.
- Drama: 7.5/10 – there were some moving moments, but sometimes it felt overdone.
- Fun/comedy: 2/10 – there was virtually no comedy or fun
Overall I was very intrigued with the mystery and it kept me wanting more and more. I was hoping to experience some heartfelt moments in the story. Unfortunately, I was kinda let down by it, because the emotional scenes felt a bit dry, and sometimes overdone. Maybe it was because I wasn’t attached to the characters enough.
This was the main reason why I rated the game an 8.5/10 instead of 10/10. Of course, your opinion may greatly differ and you might love those emotional scenes.
Delivery:
I’m a firm believer that how a story is delivered is just as important as the story itself, sometimes even more important.
Altdeus did a near perfect job in it’s delivery using VR as a medium. It did a much better job than it’s predecessor Tokyo Chronos for several reasons:
- Despite being a ‘visual novel’ there were far more animation in this game than the first, making it feel more like an anime and visual novel.
- You also have the option to turn off the text so you can listen to the characters speak instead of reading.
- I liked the music for the first game, but this one takes it to another level. Whilst the generic background track wasn’t anything special, the concerts and mecha battle music will give you an eargasm.
They were some of my most favorite moments in the game…
I really enjoyed the mech battles, because it makes you feel like you’re an actual badass pilot right out of an anime. I just wished there were more…
And Noa’s concerts: unbelievably breath-taking. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a VR concert this much!!
Not only were the songs and animations amazing, but they also timed the vibrations of the controllers to emphasize certain moments or make you feel the beat. I couldn’t be happier with the strong vibrations of the Quest 2 controllers.
Characters:
At first I didn’t like the protagonist Chloe, because she felt too edgy and monotonous, but when I learn her backstory, it starts making sense… and for a believable reason – not just for the sake of being edgy.
The characters in this story felt believable and multidimensional. They almost never did anything out of character and each character has their own motivation/goals and having knowledge that other characters/the audience don’t know about.
In terms of likeableness – I wasn’t too attached to the characters as I was in the prequel. This is just personal taste, but I felt like there was a lot of potential for the game to make me fall in love with some of the characters, especially Noa and Coca, but it never materialized.
Gameplay:
The gameplay revolves around some point and click adventure style gameplay, tonnes of decision making which leads to multiple endings, and some mecha battles.
Don’t expect anything challenging or fancy.
The point and click adventure style gameplay – at first I thought it would be annoying and detract from the story. But overall I didn’t mind it.
The decision making was good to have, but sometimes it’s unclear what the choices meant – possibly bad translation?
There are several endings in this game and having so many choices to select makes it complicated to getting to the ‘true ending,’ but if you get stuck, I’ve written an ending guide which will lead you to all the endings.
It’ll probably take you several tries to do it, but each new run has enough new elements to the story that it didn’t feel too repetitive. You can also skip scenes and jump to a certain storyline.
As for the mecha battles – the gameplay revolves around doing simple stuff – pressing buttons, putting your arms through stuff and holding up the rail-gun. I actually liked it! It made me feel like I was in command of the mecha which was cool. It’s a simple example of how the gameplay can add to the story, instead of detracting from it.
Was it worth it?
If you’re into anime or visual novels – this is a dream come true for you. The story was great, and I think the concerts and mecha battles were worth the money alone! And if you don’t believe me – there are much worse VR anime experiences out there which people pay similar money for and give good reviews xD
I’ve played some of those games and there’s nothing like Altdeus: Beyond Chronos – so it’s one of a kind for an anime fan.
