"Crash: Artifacts of Chaos" is like the anti-"God of War". It looks a lot like Sony's franchise revival, enough to draw comparisons, but its design philosophy couldn't be more different. In particular, if you thought "God of War" would be a more hands-off adventure, "Crash" offers no sweaty palms. For those who hate being told where to go or how to get there because the game is littered with symbols and NPC chatter, this may be heaven, but heed the old adage: pushing through Clash's lush world and interspersed narrative is often a richer experience because there is no directorial noise and the absence of directorial noise can be a rich experience. Nevertheless, the pendulum that guides the player swings too far to the extreme, and one may find oneself longing for a quest marker or eager companion to show the way.

At times, it seems as if Chilean developer ACE Team is really saying what it wants to say about God of War. This nobody hermit is a misshapen sack of muscles, with misshapen shoulders and unevenly spread toes, and his bald head literally sticks out like a sore thumb. He has the same gruff demeanor as Kratos, but in truth he is a big softy, more like George Clooney than a battle-hardened warrior. His diminutive traveling companion, on the other hand, is more like a spherical owl known only as "the boy." Take your pick.

What is certain is that the visual design of Shude and his hometown only enhances the ace team's reputation for mind-bending surrealism established in the "Xeno Crash" series (which is its sequel) and "Cylinder of Eternity. The evocative strangeness of the work is further enhanced by the love of vibrant color that "Crash" and "God of War" share, and ACE, despite AA's production values, transforms it into a colored pencil drawing saturated with bottomless hues and crisscrossing shadows that make the environment and its inhabitants are given a voice that sings. The mesmerizing effects (aside from the occasionally erratic frame rate) demand that you drink up the greenery of passing alien shrubs.

Although more subdued, the story also has its level of color. Pseudo meets his companion by chance after the boy's grandfather is killed and decides to help the little kid find shelter. However, he discovers that he is being pursued by a shady character, and the two embark on an adventurous journey. It's a journey that takes them all over the land of Xenozoic, stopping in the path of would-be factional fiefdoms and bounty hunters. Often, "might is justice," so one must fight for one's own interests, but "Crash" also uses its performers to ponder fantastically twisted ideologies, including a memorable encounter with a group of fatalist troupe members.

Whatever your role, the folk and wild animals you encounter and fight are overwhelming to behold. Nevertheless, in the case of humans, it is often because they look like the experiment to merge homo sapiens and beast that has backfired. They are stocky, rubbery beings with rough accents and faces that could have been depicted in Picasso's Guernica. When the first stocky individual you meet, with its head squashed into its torso, slaps itself in the face in preparation for a fight, you know the show is about to begin.

These encounters are made more meaningful by the rituals that can be chosen before the fight begins. The "one rule" of the country is that any provocation of battle must be met with a game of dice, with both sides first playing a game of dice, and the loser forfeiting the winner's choice. For example, they must drink a slow poison or be tied to a peg with a rope to restrict their movements. The ritual itself is properly tactical, with sometimes trivial results but sometimes shaking the balance of the battle.

This is a sign that "Clash" wants you to think strategically before you go in. The game's first fights are like drunken bar fights, with rivals trading fat fists until one of them falls over, or multiple opponents lining up and accidentally slapping each other for laughs. But as is evident in this game, most opponents are stronger than you and you are faster, so you must play like a boxer who immediately punches above his own weight. By doing so, you accumulate a power meter and a first-person mode (reminiscent of Xeno Clash) that can be activated when full, allowing you to quickly inflict damage before you can land your finishing move. You can also fight with weapons (mostly crude hammers and clubs), but they break after a while and are best saved for tougher clients.

However, despite the fact that "Clash" encourages a cautious approach to beating people up, it is far less satisfying to actually carry out your plan. Because you are weaker than your opponent, small mistakes can cost you dearly, and because the enemy is unpredictable, relying on parry mechanics such as dodges and sponges in close quarters is very dangerous. It is also dangerous to bring them into a full combo because you never know when your attack might interrupt their attack. Especially if you are outnumbered, your best bet is to keep your distance, attack with your throwing ability (a must-have), and lure your enemies into striking each other. The moment you try to hit them with an attack, you risk getting blitzed.

One mercy here is that when a Shud dies, he will be resurrected at night with a body made of wood, nails and red yarn. If they can be defeated, they can resurrect the body of the Shud and continue on their merry way. Failure on this second attempt would send them back to their last save point. Even if a less punitive system or a more flexible difficulty setting would be preferable, knowing that this backup shot is available would alleviate some of the frustration.

As for why Pseudo has a nocturnal Timber alter ego... Well, one of the endearing qualities of Clash is that it doesn't feel the need to explain itself. It's an enigmatic feature of a strange world that may or may not be unraveled, but either way, it heightens the sense that something is going on beneath the surface. It's what makes adventuring through Xenozoic so intriguing, even more so because we often go quietly, pondering the origins of the land and what it all means. The boy breaks the silence from time to time, but he doesn't feel the need to fill every second with chatter. The scenery is stunning, changing to pastel shades over long distances, and the music is sometimes spiritual, like that of "Nia: Automata," a bit like "Automata.

Unfortunately, this seemingly open world is too knotted together. At first it feels suffocating. Cued by invisible walls, a maze of dense pathways carved into shin-high obstacles, it widens to the point of bewilderment later. Side streets lead to treasures, but there are even more side streets that branch off from one another, making it almost impossible to remember where you started, while the main streets are sometimes half-hidden, requiring multiple sweeps through the area to discover them. Lacking the intuitive connections of "Dark Souls," the distinctive at-a-glance terrain, or the unique shortcuts that help you mentally connect with a place, "Clash" will have you spending a lot of time getting lost or going back to places you've already been by mistake. Let's preemptively commiserate with those who try to stop playing and go back in the middle of the game.

Even the map is a small square on the inventory screen that requires six button presses to display. The pseudo appears as a small circle, not an arrow, with only place names and vaguely drawn landmarks around it. This might work well if the landscape was such that distant destinations were always visible, but this is not the case. For example, fairly early in the game, you are encouraged to head for a "town," but there is nothing on the horizon that looks like a town. Also, the route is unlikely to be a straight line, which does not help much in figuring out the direction.

Compared to games like "God of War," "Clash" is almost unpleasantly esoteric. It also fails to provide a dribble of small rewards and a sense of accomplishment when you make it through a difficult part of the game. Nevertheless, "Clash" is commendable for not trying to explain ideas, locations, and strange creatures as "God of War" does. It is more efficient in its world-building, characterization, and plotting, and thus leaves more room for interpretation. Pseudo may be Kratos' smaller, weaker (and poorer) brother, but at least his soul is deeper and more interesting.