Surprisingly, in the universe of Warhammer, there aren’t many real-time action isometric or 2.5D role-playing games. There is Inquisitor and there is Chaosbane. To summarize, Chaosbane released in 2019 is a casual aRPG, very accessible to players who are new to this genre, and very easy to pick up. Just that, you shouldn’t expect Chaosbane to be on par with other mainstream aRPG such as Diablo 3. The storytelling is basic. Voice acting has its hits and misses. Maps and enemy types are limited. But what I really like is the multi-stage boss fight that is epic and fair. The combat is fluid. Last, but not the least, you wouldn’t need to invest a lot of time to progress well in this game.
Chaosbane has a total of six classes. All gender locked. One is available as a DLC. You start with a story mode. Act one to four and act six are included in the base game while act five is a DLC.
Like Diablo 3, you can pick a difficulty that suits your current progress. The higher the difficulty, the better the rewards in terms of loot quality, gold, fragments, and experience point.
Chaosbane supports different tiers of gears. The approach to set gear is rather refreshing. The more set items you collect, the better the single effect. Higher-tier gears do have special benefits as well. Overall, it is uncomplicated and new player friendly.
There isn’t crafting per se. But you can bless your items by utilizing your fragments and currencies. There is a randomness to the outcome and that is probably one of the reasons to keep you playing the game, collect more of the same item for random blessing.
What is most refreshing about Chaosbane is their approach to skill tree and god skill tree, the latter can be unlocked through a DLC, and to me, it is almost a must-have. Each skill has three tiers. Each tier may have different effects and potency. To equip the skills, you need to work within the finite skill points and skill slots you have. There are trade-offs to be made to equip skills with the relevant rank in creating a build of your own. For example, you can’t have all the skills at the max rank of three. You can however hunt for gears that allow you to equip certain skills at no cost.
Like Diablo 3’s paragon system, Chaosbane has a legendary ranking mechanism. Experience points earned after the level cap contribute to the legendary rank. You can further boost your offense and or defense through legendary ranks. Again, trade-offs are to be made and the legendary ranking in Chaosbane is slightly more in-depth compared to Diablo 3’s paragon system.
Story mode is just one of the game modes of Chaosbane. There is a game mode called Towers of Chaos whereby each floor has a specific objective. The difficulty escalates as you progress through the floors. So are the rewards. At some points, you would have to decide if you want to keep going or take the profit and end the game. Once you open the chest upon completing the objective on any given floor, the game ends. If you fail to complete the objective, you would lose the chest.
Another game mode is called Boss Rush. You can pick any of the bosses from the story mode and repeat the experience of taking them down without having to go through all the leading storylines and quests. You may augment the difficulty level for better rewards by picking up to four hazards. Obviously, the number of bosses is limited. And tackling a boss at a higher difficulty can take a much longer time.
There is also a game mode called Relic Hunts. Like Boss Run, you may augment the difficulty level by picking up to four hazards. You may upgrade Relic Hunts with relics for better rewards. It is basically a game of clearing up the trash mobs and down the boss in the end. Kill streaks are the key factors to determine how much loot you would get at the end of the run.
Last but not least, Invasions is another game mode that allows you to transverse through the map and reap certain rewards such as stats, passives, and specific gear according to the map layout. There are many missions within the Invasions. And every time you change the rank, you would need to start all over again.
In conclusion, if you like the Warhammer universe and need more depth to any given game, play Inquisitor Martyr. If you are new to the genre or in between games like I do waiting for Diablo 4 to launch, Chaosbane is a good option.