Chains of Freedom is a turn-based RPG that plants you in an Eastern European county that has been ravaged by “EDEN”, a disease that caused World War Z -like mutations and death. Out of that apoclyptic episode a cure is found and the “The Soverignty” emerges to reinstate order with your help. You start as a Peacekeeper with a mission which ends up being the catalyst that starts you down the proverbial rabbit hole of deceit and ulterior motives.
The Good:
Chains of Freedom captures the top-down RPG elements pretty successfully. The overworld is pretty linear, but there are some puzzles and item finding to freshen up some of the hand-holding. Playing the game I definitely heard (or seen) echoes of some more popular series such as BG3 and Diablo, though without the hack-and slash element. Chains of Freedom is very much a good attempt at capturing some of those more popular aspects, albeit without some of the polish expected in those franchises. The combat is where Chains of Freedom really shined for me. The UI may turn some players off at first as I did not find it to be very intuitive however, as the gameplay hours add up you will get use to it. Playing around with “hit chances” and other probabilities can be very entertaining, though I did find that even a very high probability will fail (in some cases, multiple times). The weapon selection is decent, the crafting CAN come in handy, and there are SOME biocrystal perks which can be extremely helpful.
The Bad (Or Not So Great):
The visuals of Chains of Freedom are ok, I found the comic-style illustrations of the cut-scenes the most eye-grabbing but the actual gameplay visuals are really just acceptable. The lighting is pretty good throughout however, the contrast can make some enemies and objects in combat fade into the background a bit too much. The soundtrack is forgettable. It emphasizes the feeling in some parts of the game, but after any length of gameplay it dwindles into just perceived background noise. The UI, crafting, and biocrystal perks can get pretty annoying at any point in the game. There are exceptions to crafting, some perks are little more than useless (some ARE worst than useless) and it turns into a guessing game which is not unheard of in RPGs, but it seems the logic of the system ebbs and flows instead of being constant. While the story did lead me to want to continue or move to the next area, there was very little surprise or Shyamalan-esque twist. Again, not in itself a bad element, but it honestly would not have hurt in Chains of Freedom.
Conclusion:
Chains of Freedom is a solid action RPG. The elements are there and, in some cases, executed pretty well. The elements that fall flat do just that, they don’t bring down Chains of Freedom into the area of being a “bad game.” The story and combat do well enough to keep you going and in, some cases, feel a very real sense of achievement. Overall I rated Chains of Freedom with a 7/10. While there were pieces that didn’t astound me, I never felt like I was playing a sub-par game. There was definitely some interesting elements with the biocrystal perks and the enemies you encounter a long your way to the boss fights. The combat was good, if a little clumsy in places, and the RPG elements really stand tall as the focus of the development team.
