Before we dive in, I need to mention there are several versions of this title. Initially, a three-episode VR game, DYSCHRONIA: Chronos Alternate Dual Edition is available for PC and combines all three episodes that may be played VR or in a non-VR first-person-ish format. So you can play whichever version suits you. There are also VR and Non-VR versions out for the usual rogues gallery of consoles.

I did not review the game in VR mode although we should note it has won several awards in that arena. So this review is strictly non-VR. Mostly, the conversion work from VR worked well enough, and aside from some scattered POV issues the game overall plays well, a refreshing change for such ports, and care was obviously taken with the conversion.

Developer: IzanagiGames, MyDearest Inc

Publisher: IzanagiGames

Platform: Switch, PS5, Xbox X, MS Windows (reviewed)

Release date: March 27th 2024 (Steam)

Price: $34.99

This is the city, Astrum Close. I carry badge, my name is Hal… no not THAT Hal….

Visually, DYSCHRONIA: Chronos Alternate’s character designs and artwork is well done. The anime aesthetic looks great and the sheer amount of vibrant color in the Augmented Dreaming segments are striking. However, camera visuals can be frustrating at specific points, such as when sneaking and trying to find the right camera angle. Also, the floating hands used to represent your character’s hands when they have to be visually shown are odd. This is most likely a remnant of its VR origins and to be fair I am nitpicking. Localization wise, it's better than most. The soundtrack is also well done, with appropriate music tracks throughout and decent sound effects for The English voice acting is spotty though, as if they ran out of money halfway through. The main character is nearly flawless but some others leave much to be desired in performance and translation. Overall I feel like I am actualy in an anime, albeit one that needed a bit more budget for translation.

From a story and character perspective, DYSCHRONIA: Chronos Alternate is solid if a bit derivative. It’s well executed with a surprising amount of heart, particularly in the finale. The main character, Hal, is sympathetic enough even though the found family dynamic he develops feels contrived. But in fairness, this is more nitpicking on my part. Anyway, welcome to the generically futuristic yet pretentiously named city of Astrum Close, something of a walled garden, a closed-of world compared to the harsh conditions outside. This idyllic existence is disturbed by the assassination of Astrum Close’s founder. You, in your POV character of Special Supervisor Hal Scion, get the task of figuring out what happened before the populaces suffers a fatal anxiety attack. This anxiety is increased with the revelation of a prophecy foretelling Astrum Close’s doom in seven days. Can you solve the crime and prevent a city-wide freak out by the constantly linked population? Hal is a Variant, a mutant unable to link into the plot device (here called Augmented Dreaming) that connects Astrum Close’s residents. Instead, Hal can see memories from a relevant character’s past when he comes into contact with an object of significance to them. This ability helps Hal witness the past and piece together events. Pretty handy when trying to solve a murder. Occasionally, Hal can also influence these events, causing the present to shift. Path blocked by debris? Memory dive into the past, and prevent Erik from finding where I kept the Jameson and therefore alter the flow of time itself. Snark aside, this aspect is quite interesting as you experiment with what you can see and do through memory diving. On the downside, the developers must have thought this put too much on the player, as the game often just tells you when alterations might be needed.

Sometimes I use two grenades when one would suffice!

At its core, DYSCHRONIA: Chronos Alternate is a mystery, focusing first on solving crimes. Solving these crimes means memory diving to reconstruct the crime. This can be repetitive, but the game is actually going somewhere with the idea. Hal’s lack of connection to augmented dreaming sets him apart from the rest of the population of Astrum Close, but he can sort of manually enter the augmented dreaming world? environment? flash drive? …. whatever anyway he can enter the matrix and interact with the people there even if he not fully integrated with the system. If a resident is distraught, their color changes. You can then begin something of a “counseling” session to calm them down. This is useful, as panic can spread to other residents in a manner not dissimilar from watching US politics. This is the mass hysteria I mentioned. These counseling events play as sort of a minigame, becoming progressively more challenging the further you get. Eventually, these sessions become almost boss battles that you have to beat in order to advance the story.

Oh noes, my Apple Glass is getting fogged

Bottom line, DYSCHRONIA: Chronos Alternate is a pleasantly surprising sci-fi mystery graphic adventure. I enjoyed playing it despite its weaknesses, specifically the various left overs from its transition from VR. And my general apathy toward anime and anime games. I oscillated between frustrated about how hard the puzzles were to getting annoyed that the game was holding my hand at critical moments. The auto-save system is also a bit schizophrenic, saving or not saving at odd times. So if you like mysteries and anime give this one a try.

The Good:

Good overall execution
Decent story
sympathetic characters

The Bad

Lingering conversion issues from VR original
Some localization issue
Memory diving is clever but repetitive

DYSCHRONIA: Chronos Alternate Dual Edition Review (PC)