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Clash: Artifacts Of Chaos is nails, mate. And that's via someone who recently reviewed Team Ninja's Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, a casino game that's mighty effective in grinding people into a paste. I'm not trying to brag; I'm being vulnerable together with you. I have a very case in the Ben Affleck blues, where most sessions of Clash's third-person action-adventuring have me veering from elation to being slumped against a wall with Affleck's signature grimace in this little face.

Aside from being challenging, I'm a bit undecided about how I feel about Clash from the Elden Ring Runes I've played up to now. It looks fantastic and puts some brilliant spins on combat, but leveling can be a bore and exploration carries a confusing edge. It's immediately both a wonderful time and a taxing one. The surreal lands of Zenozoik, it happens, aren't all sunshine and turkey men. There are a lot of turkey men, though.

For a short bit of context, Clash: Artifacts Of Chaos is often a spiritual successor to developer ACE Team's earliest offerings of Zeno Clash and Zeno Clash 2: both first-person fighting games in places you right hook gangly toe people. So then, Clash: AOC sees you resume the colorful lands of Zenozoik like a guy called Pseudo. Not only does he appear like a vacuum-packed Earthworm Jim, or even a bloke who barely suits a ballsack onesie, but he's also gifted at fighting styles.

A talent for beating the snot from things is usually a boon for Pseudo since the game's story centers around protecting a sooty barn owl called – his name cracks me up because I am a child - The Boy from goons eager to pinch him for his mysterious powers. It's some of those stories which begin and you're like, "eh?", as there is not any real context to anything. You're a four-limbed Pepperami who decides to safeguard a bundle of feathers as you... feel like it? From what I've played up to now, at the very least, the stakes become clearer because you explore the planet and stumble into settlements where key characters reside.

Early confusion aside, I'm a fan of how the tale unfolds. It's paying homage to God Of War (2018), inside way you are father-figure battling on your path through a dangerous land to safeguard a kid. Except it's really a world that's more muted than God Of War, with mostly the crunch of the steps or crunch of one's fists accompanying yourself on what's a good solitary journey. There's not much chatter between you and The Boy, and it's actually a rare treat when you're getting to have a speak to a fucked up lil' guy. Although, again, I think the relative chill from the world fits Clash's dreamy, elden ring runes.

Zenozoik is, just, phwoar. It looks the part, alright. From the sections I've explored thus far, it's actually a frequently lovely mash of bright yellow and greens, stone, and bones. The devs describe it as a "punk-fantasy" style plus it is certainly entirely possible that way. I mean, it is an Earth that seems like it's been upended and shaken coupled with Star Wars' Tattooine glued with it using a weird herbal combination of berries and mugwort. Everything looks like it is often etched too, with crosshatch shading lending characters and scenes a fantastic texture.

Exploration in Zenozoik fluctuates in fun-factor up to its environments, though. From what I've played, it is a relatively large semi-open world stitched together by loading screens that'll get you to separate "levels" (segments on the map), with save points inside the form of campfires. Getting about has hints of Metroidvania with it, in which you follow pathways with multiple routes and prepare a mental note in the spots it's not possible to get through yet. Often, you'll kick down boulders that'll represent shortcuts to reach previous bits more readily, by incorporating paths suddenly winding you to view a vast amount of earlier portions.

Clash doesn't have a compass without a yellow blip suggesting where to go, so it's really a case of trusting your intuition or setting up your map - which isn't that helpful since it is zoomed out really far in support of vaguely letting you know what area you have. While I appreciate its free-range way of exploration, it could be frustrating in the event you genuinely have no idea of where to turn next. Some areas use a habit of blending together, helping to make certain paths nigh-on invisible from time to time, and you're simply often made to backtrack through so what can be a confusing tangle.