Rating of
2/5
Banhammered for Being Chaos-Bland
Chris Kavan - wrote on 02/12/25
While I am a big fan of the hack n slash RPG genre, trying to find a decent one to match the master Diablo series has been a challenge. Every now and then we find something surprising - like the Van Helsing game - but most other times we mercilessly slog through games like Titan Quest or Torchlight III. Most games in this genre fall short and even with a Warhammer backing, Chaosbane must join the ranks of the underwhelming.
Looks and Stuff: For a game that actually changes your appearance based on what armor you wear, it fails to celebrate this by having a camera that pans so far out that any change is lost in the distance. This also means that even with some fairly good creature designs you get little detail in the chaotic, muddled battles throughout the levels. It also doesn't help that the color palate is likewise bland with "dark" being the primary color of choice. Level design is rote - you're going to be wandering around and back-tracking in still fairly small areas - and occasionally come across a slightly beefier enemy before ultimately facing the final boss. Occasionally you must collect stuff or kill certain things - but it all feels very cut and paste from better games. While having fully voiced characters is a nice tough - and they were all done pretty good - the game likes to cut off conversations (often before you can read/hear them) and thus what little hope you had for a story is also dashed. Music is there - I can't rightfully recall anything about it at this point so it MUST have been... playing. Playing on GOG might have saved us some money but it also meant a host of problems connecting, staying connected, communicating, not borking progress and a myriad of other little things that made everything that much more of a headache.
Story: Some big heroes that helped save the day in the past are once are brought back after the Emperor Sigmar is seemingly targeted by the forces of Chaos as his life hangs in the balance. With a High Elf mage and an Imperial Witch Hunter goading you along - you must face the four gods of Chaos: Nurgle, God of Disease and Life; Khorne, God of Blood and War; Slaanesh, Goddess of Pleasure; and Tzeentch, God of Knowledge - and save the day once more. Of course each of the gods has their own cults, their own demons, their own agendas - and, lo and behold, maybe one of your "friends" is actually working for the wrong side?! If you can't figure out who it is, you're an idiot - the story is not exactly Shakespearean in its depth or delivery.
Gameplay: I refer to all hack n slash games as Diablo clones as the grand-daddy of them all is still the king. You run around, kill enemies, hoard loot and hope to find something better to equip as you level up, unlock abilities and skills and get stronger. Chaosbane, though, is a weird one in that by somewhere mid-second chapter, the game ceases to offer much of any challenge. I used a handful of health potions during the first chapter - I think I may have died a couple of times even - but by the end of the second chapter I was nigh invincible. Maybe having other people along made things that much easier but the group was breezing through enemies like nothing and even the biggest boss battles didn't warrant any kind of challenge. Sure, you find better gear, but when you're already unstoppable, does it really matter? I did like the varied abilities at least my character had - although you can never max out any one skill tree as the game caps you - but whirling around like a madman (mad dwarf), spewing fire, leaping slams - at least it gave some variety even if the enemies were mostly dead (due to ranged attacks) by the time I could even get close enough to them. Unlike most games in this genre there were no merchants. Extra gear could be "donated" to raise your reputation and the mountains of gold are not used to purchase things but, rather, at the end game, go through random dungeons looking to "maybe" get better loot. End game also finally gives you the change to up the difficulty - finally - but by that time everyone had enough and going through another round was clearly out of the questions.
Those hoping that the DLC would provide some beefier content will also be sorely disappointed as The Tomb Kings quest was short and had a likewise bland story and the other was even worse - essentially a one-shot mission that could easily be done in a half-hour that features a steampunk Nurgle storyline that makes even less sense. I'm glad we got this for free and honestly feel bad for anyone who paid good money for these half-baked offerings.
Replay value: Yes, it surely does have increased difficulty but why anyone would subject themselves to such torture is beyond me.
Final Verdict: Hack, Slash... Repeat and maybe die of boredom.
Presentation: 2/5
Story: 2/5
Gameplay: 3/5
Replay: 3/5
Overall (not an average): 2/5
Time Played: 15h 35m
Cheevos: 70% (30/43)
