City of Chains

About

City of Chains is a single player role playing game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Astronomic Games and was released on December 8, 2015. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"City of Chains: Astronomic" is a first-person shooter game set in a dystopian, futuristic city. As a member of the rebellion, players must fight against the oppressive government and its enforcers, using a variety of weapons and abilities. The game features a rich story, detailed environments, and intense combat that will keep players engaged and challenged.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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74%

Audience ScoreBased on 156 reviews

story37 positive mentions

graphics6 negative mentions

The game features a well-crafted dystopian cyberpunk setting with a compelling story and interesting characters.
Players can make meaningful choices that affect the narrative and lead to multiple endings, enhancing replayability.
The combat system allows for strategic gameplay, offering options to avoid fights through skills like hacking and charisma.

The writing is often stiff and filled with grammatical errors, detracting from the overall experience.
Combat can feel repetitive and unbalanced, with a lack of enemy health information making battles frustrating.
The game suffers from poor pacing and limited environments, leading to a lifeless atmosphere.

story
135 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
71%
2%
The story of the game is a mixed bag, with some players appreciating its intriguing cyberpunk setting and branching narrative that allows for multiple endings based on player choices, while others criticize the writing as stiff and the pacing as slow. Although it features well-developed themes and character arcs, many reviewers found the overall plot to be cliché or predictable, with a desire for deeper character backstories. Despite these criticisms, the game is noted for its engaging side quests and the impact of player decisions on the storyline, making it a worthwhile experience for fans of RPGs.
- “The story is well-written, and some memorable characters and villains are present.”
- “The story branches at a couple of points, and there are a few different ways it can wrap up.”
- “You'll be following his adventures in this 6-hour sci-fi RPG where you'll battle, hack, and charm your way through four different acts: City of Chains has a quite good story and setting and is enjoyable to play despite a few gripes with its UI and combat system.”
- “The story wants to be deep, but the writing’s stiff and the pacing drags like a busted hovercar.”
- “The story, though it has potential and some little twists, is cliché and just uninteresting.”
- “Great crafting mechanic as well as nice map layouts, but the story is boring and the characters are so stereotypical.”
gameplay
41 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
64%
7%
The gameplay of "City of Chains" features a mix of traditional RPG mechanics and innovative elements, including crafting, turn-based combat, and a morale system that influences character interactions. While some players appreciate the engaging mechanics and choices that affect gameplay, others criticize the outdated RPG Maker framework and balance issues, leading to a mixed reception overall. The game offers a compelling narrative and a cyberpunk aesthetic, but its execution may not resonate with everyone, particularly those seeking more depth in gameplay.
- “Despite an intriguing story, the gameplay that the game presents is a little different than usual.”
- “The dark sci-fi setting, compelling narrative, non-linear gameplay, and wonderful turn-based strategic combat come together to create quite the exciting adventure.”
- “City of Chains takes the foundations of a retro-inspired RPG and attempts to combine them with an ambitious array of modern gameplay mechanics.”
- “That does nothing to fix the awful gameplay endemic to RPG Maker; it's designed specifically for making low effort, low quality clones of Final Fantasy.”
- “Pretending this isn't RPG Maker trash, reviewing the game on its merits, ugly retro pixel graphics, fixed resolution, massively outdated gameplay mechanics, mediocre story, and terrible balance all cement this as a low quality, overrated game.”
- “It's not the story that kept me playing, nor the mechanics or even graphics.”
graphics
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
73%
16%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with some praising its unique cyberpunk aesthetic and custom artwork that diverges from typical RPG Maker styles, while others criticize the outdated, pixelated visuals and clunky interface. Despite the low-quality graphics, many players find the overall design and atmosphere engaging, suggesting that the visuals, while not cutting-edge, effectively contribute to the game's narrative and setting. Overall, the graphics are seen as a blend of retro charm and functional design, appealing to those who appreciate a non-traditional RPG look.
- “The different graphics style and setting, compared to the several medieval fantasy ones out there, probably helps it not seem as cookie cutter.”
- “It's a joy to see a JRPG-type game that doesn't feature manga/anime-style graphics but more stylized western cyberpunk graphics.”
- “Graphically, the title is absolutely fantastic and is also without a doubt the best looking RPG Maker game out there, hands down.”
- “Pretending this isn't RPG Maker trash, reviewing the game on its merits, ugly retro pixel graphics, fixed resolution, massively outdated gameplay mechanisms, mediocre story, and terrible balance all cement this as a low-quality, overrated game.”
- “The graphics look like they've been run through a third-party Sega Saturn game filter, and the major characters are all matched with awful, kludgy 3D portrait art.”
- “The graphics are in an old school 90's poop-and-vomit color palette.”
music
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
37%
10%
The music in the game is generally well-received, with many players appreciating its ability to enhance the atmosphere and fit the sci-fi and cyberpunk themes. While some find the combat music simplistic and repetitive over time, others praise the variety and quality of the soundtrack, noting that it effectively complements different stages and situations. Overall, the sound quality is excellent, and the music is described as engaging and atmospheric, contributing positively to the gaming experience.
- “The soundtrack is always new and engaging, appropriately matching the environment.”
- “In just a short time, I have fallen in love with this soundtrack as it is really good.”
- “Good techno-style space-age music really sets the mood.”
- “For example, I found the combat music really basic, and it wasn't that pleasant to listen to for very long.”
- “My only gripe with it was the music became extremely repetitive in the long run (can be forgiven).”
- “Keeping in mind the somber tone of the setting, the music is well-suited for this atmosphere, though I don't know how strongly they feel like sci-fi tunes.”
grinding
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
71%
Players appreciate the game's approach to grinding, noting that it eliminates traditional experience grinding by rewarding skill points for exploration and completing objectives instead of combat. This design choice leads to a more engaging experience, as it avoids the tediousness often associated with grinding in other RPGs, while still providing enough freedom and side quests to keep players invested. Overall, the game is praised for its efficient use of encounters and a focused narrative.
- “There's no grinding for experience: you get points as you complete portions of the game and spend them on abilities you desire.”
- “As skill points are awarded for completing objectives rather than combat, there is no grinding to be done.”
- “It does not offer up that much loot and astronomical grinding for experience points.”
- “It does things I wish every RPG would do, like having fixed encounters which are actually different instead of just endless filler, and awarding skill points for exploration/progression instead of grinding.”
- “Where it is short, it maintains a tight story with just enough freedom and side quests to keep you hunting without it seeming like the tedious slog of many AAA games.”
atmosphere
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The atmosphere of the game receives mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the fitting music and the gritty sci-fi themes, others find the environments repetitive and lifeless, detracting from the intended oppressive tone. Overall, those who enjoy the genre often praise the realistic visuals and immersive atmosphere, despite some criticisms regarding the combat and environmental design.
- “If you enjoy the ideas from the sci-fi genre or gritty themes, this game has the perfect atmosphere for both.”
- “The combat is repetitive, the environments all blur together, and the atmosphere that should feel oppressive just comes off as lifeless.”
- “Keeping in mind the somber tone of the setting, the music is well-suited for this atmosphere, though I don't know how strongly they feel like sci-fi tunes.”
- “The battle gameplay itself is familiar turn-based territory, while the music fits the sci-fi/futuristic atmosphere.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game offers significant replayability due to the impact of player choices, which lead to different paths and scenes, enhancing the experience across multiple playthroughs. With three difficulty modes and a variety of weapons and skills to choose from, players can enjoy a fresh experience each time, despite the relatively short length of 6-8 hours for the initial playthrough. Overall, the combination of decision-making and customization contributes to a high replay value.
- “Thanks to this, the game also has a good replayability value, in addition to its length of 6-8 hours for the first play-through.”
- “There are three difficulty modes—casual, hardy, dystopia—and given the number of weapons and skills to select for your team, as well as the many decisions to be made throughout the story, the replay value of this game is quite high.”
- “Worth noting that the decisions you make are very important and bring a lot of replayability to the game, thanks to different paths or scenes depending on which choices you make.”
- “There are three difficulty modes - casual, hardy, dystopia - and given the number of weapons and skills to select for your team, as well as the many decisions to be made throughout the story, the replay value of this game is quite high.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
Reviewers highlight that the game features a more realistic visual style in character design, setting it apart from typical RPG Maker titles. Additionally, the mechanics of character development are praised for their solid execution, contributing to memorable character experiences.
- “+ memorable character designs”
- “The mechanics of character development are equally solid.”
- “I believe the main difference, at least to me, is that this title doesn't have the 'anime' or 'cartoony' look of your average RPG Maker title and has opted for a more realistic visual style, especially when it comes to character design.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
100%
The optimization of "Serve No Master" has been praised for its impressive performance, showcasing a well-executed gameplay experience that enhances player engagement.
- “Serve no master is the correct term to end this review into bragging rights on beating this breakout performance game!”
- “The game suffers from severe optimization issues, leading to frequent frame drops and stuttering during gameplay.”
- “Despite its potential, the lack of proper optimization makes it nearly unplayable on lower-end systems.”
- “I was disappointed to find that the game is poorly optimized, resulting in long loading times and crashes.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor is noted for its darker tone compared to typical astronomical games, yet it retains the developer's signature style and character types, offering a unique comedic experience.
- “I could always expect the developer's humor to take things in a different direction.”
- “Yes, it is much darker than usual astronomical games, but it still has its signature humor and character types.”