While it's understandable to cringe at the phrase "like Dark Souls," Cronos is a lot like Dark Souls. Slightly. While there are obvious similarities in combat and audio design, Chronos treats the high frequency of deaths differently than the Souls games. In fact, it is friendlier than any of the Souls. Germophobia is an option.

The lowest of the three difficulty options is relatively easy to complete. It's obviously not a way to make a particular system shine, but it does allow a wide range of people to enjoy other parts of Cronos. However, the difficulty levels are fixed once you start the game, making it difficult to experiment with the difficulty level that suits you best. [Remnant: Fans of "Remnant: From the Ashes" will enjoy the prequel a lot, but "Chronos" can be enjoyed on its own: you live in a post-apocalyptic world that smells of Nier, and you are sent through a portal to a fantasy land to find and defeat a dragon You are sent to a fantasy land through a portal to find and slay a dragon. Of course, things are not that simple.

On all but the lowest difficulty levels, expect to die dozens of times before the credits roll. Since melee combat is subtly altered by the weapon/shield combo you use (and likely will be altered by finding and upgrading items), there is little room for error. At the same time, however, this also means that crafting techniques to cut through previously flattened enemy types can be very satisfying.

Each time you die, you respawn at a world stone that doubles as a fast travel point. You come back one year older, but this is rewarded every ten years starting at age 20 (starting at the disgustingly young age of 18). At this time, you can choose characteristics such as health, defense, increased parry window, etc. The traditional system of XP and attribute points is still in place, but its success has been controversial.

The idea is linked to the aging mechanism, where magic becomes much more important to the character than strength and agility in twilight. Having played on the intermediate difficulty, I finished the game in my early fifties and did not see any signs of this in my character. Rather, I regretted the points I invested in Arcane. The effect that age ultimately has on a character is a great idea, but I suspect that only a minority of players will ever experience it. That said, it is nice to know that at age 53 I can still wield a sword and a heavy shield. Heavy shopping bags would be a piece of cake.

Still, it's nice to see the game bury this aging system. Combat is instantly familiar to anyone who has played a From Software game, but the balance between skill and punishment is perfect. You won't be instantly destroyed just because you slip up, but you certainly won't last long if you mess up. The variety of enemies is also there, and most of them require slightly different tactics to defeat.

Most of the game takes place in and around the castle. Like Dark Souls, you will open shortcuts everywhere you go to minimize backtracking. Unlike Dark Souls, these shortcuts are sparingly (and definitely) placed, so the experience never feels repetitive or unfair. There is also less punishment for death. There is nothing to lose upon respawning, and health items are rare but used items are replenished.

The story and atmosphere are, for the most part, well integrated, with distinct highs and lows. At times, "Kronos" feels like a wonderful interactive fairy tale. I'll never forget being shrunk to the size of an ant and fighting clockwork enemies while their footsteps echoed outside my bookshelf. Traveling through mirrors and into pictures. I love it. But these are the moments that stand out in this game, where the majority of the time is spent being dragged into hallways, caves, and courtyards.

There are a few NPCs who are more than happy to talk than fight, but they are painfully underused. One of them would ask me three simple riddles, one of which I accidentally clicked on the wrong answer. I could not reload the checkpoint to do it again. This is painful.

There are puzzles scattered throughout the game, but that is not the game's strong point. Some are a bit too simple, and one I solved twice without understanding exactly how to do it. Sliding Tile Puzzle. Is this a 21st century video game or a Christmas cracker prize?

Then there are the bosses and mini-bosses. Some of the bosses are fun to defeat if you have the right countermeasures, but in general they are not as much fun to fight as your average enemy. The last boss, in particular, betrayed my attempts at a graceful victory at every turn. By the time the boss was down to its last tenth or so of health, I was just frantically hitting the attack button in rapid succession. As the fact that

suggests, this game is a bit of an unstable project. Nevertheless, Gunfire Games is to be commended for attempting to build upon, rather than borrow, the template of Dark Souls. The result is a game with its own strong identity. It is just a shame that the aging system is not activated earlier in the game.