The first important step for a game stamped Warhammer naturally consists in respecting the universe created by Games Workshop. No worries on that side, the English company keeps an eye on the grain and Warhammer fans will have the pleasure of finding the names of known characters and places, and encountering creatures that will remind them of the figurines of their youth. On the side of the scenario, however, we should not expect anything revolutionary. Chaosbane is classic, and the "twists" that dot each of the four chapters are almost the same each time. As for the final imitation twist, it touches one without moving the other. In short, if you came for the screenplay aspect, you will be disappointed. Fortunately, this point is far from essential in a hack 'n' slash, as Diablo III was able to prove to us a few years ago. For example, it is much more crucial to offer interesting character classes. And this is indeed the case here, since the four available archetypes play differently. The Empire Soldier is adept with the sword and the shield, the latter also being used to deal special blows. The High Elf Mage is a wizard who offers you the almost unprecedented possibility of controlling the precise movement of certain balls of fire or electricity yourself. The Dwarf Slayer wields axes like no other and fights without armor or helmet, different tattoos and haircuts replacing the classic pieces of equipment. Finally, the Wood Elf Scout combines the advantages of a ranged class and a summoning class, since she is adept at the bow and the appearance of multiple dryads. Each class can unlock many talents, a system of skill points and slots forcing the player to make wise choices. Infinite healing potion with cooldown, basic skills that recharge energy, advanced skills that cost, and blood orbs to collect during fights are also included. Fans of the latest Diablo will therefore not be out of place.
THE DIABLO HIDDEN IN THE DETAILS
The orbs we just mentioned, however, do more than restore life. They also allow you to charge a so-called "bloodthirst" gauge, which allows you to trigger really devastating blows. We will therefore remember to keep this possibility under the elbow for the toughest groups of enemies. Just like Blizzard's hit, Warhammer Chaosbane is handled both with the traditional keyboard/mouse pair and with the joystick, radial menu and inventory in list form allowing the game to be perfectly playable on consoles. In general, French production has nothing to be ashamed of in the face of the Californian juggernaut as far as playability is concerned. The gameplay is very pleasant, and if the beginning of the game can seem a little soft, nervousness quickly answers the call once you have unlocked some advanced skills. Moreover, the game does not hesitate to throw multiple small mobs at us, thus multiplying our pleasure of slicing through the pile. This profusion of adversaries goes hand in hand with very bright special effects and damage indications that are very pleasing. The whole thing isn't always very readable (especially when you've summoned half a dozen dryads to top it off), but at least it rocks! Everything is for the best in the best of all worlds then? Alas no. Contrary to what its selling price may suggest, Warhammer Chaosbane is not a AAA with a huge budget, and it shows. Thus, there is absolutely no question of browsing a vast semi-open world. Each quest teleports us directly to the desired location, and we therefore lose immersion and appropriation of the premises. Even more embarrassing, within the same chapter, the same decor is recycled identically for almost all the missions of the moment. The sewers of Nuln, the city of Praag, the snowy forest and the realm of Chaos are quite nice, but with only four major settings for four chapters we get tired quickly.
A CHAOTIC JOURNEY
We can also point the finger at the economic system reduced to its simplest expression since there are no real merchants in the cities. You can offer the items you don't want to keep to a guild, in order to gain reputation and earn some bonuses, but that's it. The presence of a tree of the gods which allows you to unlock passive bonuses and additional active skills, as well as the object blessing system add a bit of complexity to the whole, but we are still very far from the masters. of the kind. Likewise, the endgame content is quite poor. It is possible to progress through the ten levels of difficulty by doing expeditions (simple monster hunts in the campaign settings), rush bosses (which allow direct access to the four bosses of the adventure) and hunts for the relic (which add small surprise modifiers such as "with each hit received the heroes lose energy" or even "the damage of the heroes decreases according to their missing life"). And that's all ! Certainly, we are promised the arrival in future patches of an invasion mode (with still mysterious content), a permanent death mode, new pieces of equipment, additional difficulty levels and an increase in the maximum level of heroes. We are waiting to see, but for now, know that you will complete the campaign in about ten hours, and that you will only need two or three more to maximize your favorite character. Much more anecdotally, we can also point to the lack of zoom, some erroneous skill descriptions or the obligation to restart the game if you want to change the resolution on PC. So many aspects that confirm that Warhammer Chaosbane is a more modest production than expected. We have a good time there, it is quite possible that we will return once additional content is available, but it is not likely to dethrone Diablo in our hearts and our hard drives.
