TL;DR: The story that Clair Obscur wanted to tell but failed to was told decently well here. It may not be as "fun" of a "game", but it told a compelling story in a compact, clear way that didn't overstay its welcome at any point.

Presentation is above the bar for this price point.

Given the price when this was purchased, it didn't come across as a game that we'd enjoy. And we never played XCOM - the game this is mostly compared against. But we're not new to tactical RPGs, which is basically what this is.

The first game that comes to mind with this is Metal Gear AcId, minus the card-based engine. Everything else is very similar in how the game plays. Persona 5 Tactica and Mario vs. Rabbids are other games that have similar types of fighting engines.

The world is a post-apocalyptic United States of America. The map sees you travel from the West Coast all the way to Las Vegas (the traveling isn't tedious). Miasma has started to well up places, and your protag is left with a bionic arm and mysteries to seek out his mother. All he has to do is get strong enough to clear the miasma.

One thing that marks a good story, is when you understand basically what your purpose is within the first hour or so. That's achieved nicely here; while it does take a bit longer to flesh out characters, the story doesn't drag.

Voice acting is plentiful and decently well done - rare in games, much less ones at this price. Do be advised that there's a bit of cussing at points.

Graphics are really well done. Walking into a rundown airport, it's obvious that's what it is. This is different than other games where you're supposed to figure out what something is but the detail doesn't do a good job of presenting it well. That's absolutely not an issue here.

When you learn what happened to "The Originals" (basically, you and I and everyone else of the current era), visiting the place called Dying Place is almost creepy. Even better, you hear an audio recording about "Patient Zero" - and if you're an exploring type, you'll find that person. That's continuity and it's done amazingly well. And while yes, there's a bit of Horizon Zero Dawn with this part of the game (let's be honest), it's not as absurd as what happened in that game.

Character development isn't the greatest. The clear focus is Elvis; the other characters are presented but not really fleshed out. Some of the sidequests help a bit with this, but Diggs for example goes almost completely unexplained. Jade, on the other hand, presents like she gets feelings for Elvis at a point, then randomly tosses a line about him being her brother. It's strange and odd.

Sidequests aren't fun despite being important to leveling.

The vast majority of the game is spent backtracking. There's a warp mechanic, but only to the major destination, not "inner" places like a specific person's residence or store. The explanation for sidequests is also a bit wonky; you'll get told you need to go to a place, but no further hint around it. Keypads sometimes have hints and sometimes don't.

If we didn't know better, it almost seems like the sidequests were an afterthought and not really well developed. After a bit of this we just ended up skipping the majority.

It's not an amazing battle engine. But it's "good enough" for the non-picky.

The weapon shops are far and few in between, and the weapons you find in the field are mostly subpar, but they're fine as long as you do your augments properly. By mid-game, if you've done things right, range won't be an issue at all.

Your primary weapon is either a rifle, a shotgun or a sniper rifle. You can equip two weapons, to have different styles and handle different ranges. You also have Miasma techniques, which frankly are overpowered to a degree; for example, being able to spawn a barrel near a group of enemies and one-shot them with a powered up sniper rifle, or blow an enemy directly into some exploding barrels.

Tactics like suppressing file for rushing enemies is fun to watch. In one stage you'll run a gauntlet of fights, which might sound like a pain, but in one of the waves, Jade pretty much picked off 90% of the rushers in one turn simply with the one suppressing move using the sniper rifle. Fun, but grossly overpowered.

The cover system is a bit flawed; the enemy can almost always hit you regardless of cover, but you'll frequently find your shots being blocked or missing. Fortunately, it's easy to knock enemies out of cover first. From there, the sniper rifle properly equipped will make short work of most everything. Near end game, the majority of enemies are machines, which means EMP-based attacks make them not even worth mentioning.

The final boss was disappointing to fight, but an AMAZING character.

The way he came across reminded of an 80's Lex Luthor. It was refreshing to have a character that wasn't completely absurd as the ones in "Tales of Aionios" (aka Xenoblade Chronicles 3") were, or just bland and uninteresting like most modern games. That said, the fight itself was uninspiring - take out some cronies, then one-shot the boss and that's it.

It's a better told story than Clair Obscur. It's also more fun.

This isn't to say that Miasma Chronicles is some amazing game. Clair Obscur wasn't amazing either despite what people say.

We look at the price compared to what was provided. For the price, Miasma Chronicles was a great experience that was well worth it even if parts of it became a slog. It didn't overstay its welcome, and it felt paced generally well, all things considered.

Summary: Why are the reviews not that great then?

You must understand: the modern gamer apparently doesn't care about story; doesn't care about character development; doesn't care about plot; wants open world, wants a character creator with nonbinary options, etc. (which is why they get bored with games so fast).

If that's you, you will HATE this game. Because its weak point is arguably the battle engine simply because it's not overcomplicated nor does it try to do more than the basic needed.

Liking this game requires that you appreciate the entire experience, including cutscenes. If you don't, skip it, because it will just annoy you.

Link to original review