Space Sim Closer Look: Chorus

Over the years we've done brief profiles on a number of non-Wing Commander space sims, but it's been quite a while since the last one. Impressive new space sims continue to be made, however, and an interesting new(ish) one is Chorus. It came out at the end of last year, and I'd say it's had a slow but growing burn since then. FredDude helped bring it to our attention earlier this week, and I'm surprised how many Wingnuts have actually played it and are quite familiar with the title already. The game looks good and seems to have an engaging story. There's an open world with lots of side quests in addition to the main campaign. Your ship has a neat upgrade system and there is a special action mechanic that seems fairly novel in the space sim genre. It's currently on sale for $30 at the Epic Game Store, but an even better deal is its recent addition to Xbox Game Pass. There is a free demo, but the Xbox version is free to Game Pass subscribers on PC or Xbox (or Mac or Tablet via Cloud). Here are a couple of comprehensive IGN overviews to give you a better overview of what to expect:

Chorus does an excellent job of cutting out the dull parts of space dogfighting, getting right to the flashy fun of blasting through enemy fighters and capital ships with superpowered abilities. Its large and pretty map is filled with fleshed-out side quests, and they're varied enough that it's easy to cruise around for a few dozen hours and really get the hang of the combat system. The story behind it all isn't half bad once you've waded through a flood of sci-fi mysticism, and Nara and Forsaken are interesting characters to spend all that time with - which is a relief, because they're the only ones we ever get to see.