14 DAY TRIAL // 
I am facing two enemies, both sentient, circling around me. I am keeping my eye on the seemingly strongest one, throwing in a few punches here and there without committing. The idea is not to leave myself vulnerable while watching and waiting for an opening.
Third person means I have to constantly move to make sure that I have both opponents in view at all times. I have already taken a big blow at the start of the fight because I lost a dice game. And it’s clearly not yet time to drink from my health flask. I decide to launch a bigger attack, which deals some damage, before parrying a counter and moving away again.
I block some more blows, which tops up my rage meter. I close with the bigger opponent and enter first-person battle mode. This makes it easier to quickly land a flurry of hits, even if he is trying to move away. The good news is I deliver enough damage to activate a finishing move that takes my target out of the fight. Now the objective is to finish this encounter without doing anything stupid to lose more health.
Clash: Artifacts of Chaos is developed by ACE Team and published by Nacon. I played using Steam on the PC. It is also offered on the PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series X and S, and older platforms from Microsoft and Sony. The title offers a mix of exploration and combat, set in the weird world of Zenozoik.
This is the place the same studio has created for its two Zeno Clash games, filled with surprising enemy designs and a ton of interesting creatures to interact with. It’s a good place to inhabit Pseudo, a master fighter who looks like a skeleton draped in cloth. He quickly meets a creature called Boy, who has a special ability that the powers of this world crave.
Pseudo does not seem to be interested in relationships but is very much ready to protect his newfound companion. The first safe haven turns out to be a trap, so they have to traverse the universe, trying to find help and artifacts that can keep them safe from exploitation. The central idea of a grizzled fighter protecting a child is a classic one in entertainment. Clash executes it well but without big surprises.
The focus of Artifacts of Chaos is on combat and exploration. Pseudo is a capable fighter, master of one martial style, and able to quickly learn new ones. He can dash to avoid attacks but players also have the option to master a parry move to leave their opponents open. The system features different types of limb-based attacks (I don’t think weapons are worth the hassle) and special moves.
The action happens from a third-person perspective but once Pseudo’s rage meter is all filled up, he can switch to first person, dealing increased damage and allowing him to execute a very powerful end of combo special move. I found that it’s a good idea to keep this in reserve for the tougher fights, especially those that feature multiple enemies that tend to attack from different directions.
One neat twist is the ritual, which can only happen with sentient opponents (the window to activate it is weirdly short). The combatants use dice and special tchotchkes to try and get the highest amount of points. The loser is forced to endure a negative effect. I once managed to take half of an enemy’s health down by basically throwing bees at him. It’s fun but feels a little limited.
Pseudo has two forms. His meat sack look is for daytime and that’s how players will move through most of the game. The more skeletal avatar is reserved for nighttime, which opens up access to some areas by moving through brambles. The time of day also changes when our protagonist dies. Players will have to get to the corpse and take out the enemy that killed Pseudo to wake him up. Otherwise, it’s a game over screen and a reload to the most recent campfire.
The weakest element of Clash: Artifacts of Chaos is the world traversal. I often felt lost, unable to even guess how I might find a new path. The surfaces that allow Pseudo to climb and reveal new areas are marked with some red hieroglyphs that are easy to miss in this colorful world.
The one-on-one combat system and the narrative are good enough to immerse players. It’s not easy to defeat enemies, especially intelligent ones, but the fights are tense and exciting, especially against the weirder opponents. Moving through the world at night, trying to wake Pseudo up, is genuinely scary.
Clash: Artifacts of Chaos blends beautiful and weird in interesting ways. Despite his meat suit and skeleton duality, Pseudo is one of the most normal designs in the game. Everyone has a visual personality, even if they only feature in a combat sequence. The world is bright, with pencil-drawn touches, bright colors, and some beautiful landscapes.
This is the kind of world that is a joy to explore, although the game does not make that easy. The sound design is comparable in quality. Pseudo is a relatively taciturn creature but there’s plenty of voice work in the game and the villains are especially fun to listen to in their grandiosity. The combat sounds aren’t as weird as the rest of the world. The soundtrack knows exactly when to punch up the orchestra to push for a swell of emotion.
The Good
- Combat system
- Weird universe
- Character design
The Bad
- Confusing exploration
- Some difficulty spikes
- Limited info on some systems
Conclusion
This is a hard game and any sentient enemy can become a big problem fast. But the biggest issue with the game is how confusing it can be to move through the world, especially when doubling back through already known areas. Clash: Artifacts of Chaos rewards patience and quick reflexes and shows how being extra weird can make a game memorable.
A review key was provided by the publisher
