A bang-average title isn’t really going to cut it anymore with The Callisto Protocol and Dead Space looming on the horizon with the horror genre seeing an unexpected but welcome rebirth. The Chant is regrettably just that. It’s a passable game, but it will vanish just as quickly as it appeared.

In this third-person game, the protagonist Jess has chosen to go on a spiritual retreat, which manages to go horribly wrong in only 15 minutes. The game is about fending off hallucinogenic hazards rather than running from them. The game completely eliminates any opportunity for tension to build by throwing you right into a battle with another dimension if a ritual goes awry. Not nearly as intriguing is what comes afterwards.

The game, which has a cinematic edge, takes you through rather straight environments while you battle enemies and solve puzzles. Heavy-handed animations frequently lock you into assaults in the fighting system, and the absence of a lock-on makes it more challenging to assess distance. You obtain some pretty fantastic powers, but you can only use them so much because of a meter whose capacity you never feel is quite full enough.

In between encounters, there are a few good puzzles, but they never progress far enough to be truly spectacular. The Chant has the impression of having been created solely for practical purposes. When the Jared Leto impersonation of a cult leader appeared on television, we sometimes really liked the five to six-hour title; other times, not so much.

But it’s crucial to remember that this isn’t a AAA title, thus some of its aesthetics seem very opulent. When the sun is up, there are some beautiful images to appreciate, with vistas of the entire island and the surrounding seas. No matter how fierce the action becomes, everything goes smoothly thanks to a rock-solid 60 frames per second.

If only the rest of the game could live up to those expectations; otherwise, it’s a mediocre game that neither accomplishes anything especially well nor insultingly poorly. The Chant takes the dullest possible path, which is just very okay.

Pro

• Some cool abilities
• Several cool puzzles
• Knock-off Jared Leto

Cons

• There is little to no suspense.
• Clunky combat
• Just really average in most areas