Hardcore Droid
  • Home
  • Spotlight
  • Reviews
    • Action
    • Strategy
    • RPGs
  • Most Hardcore
    • Devices
    • Gifts
    • Gadgets
  • About Us
  • Pinball Legends game cover
    Pinball Legends Review
  • Cat Snack Bar Banner
    Cat Snack Bar Review
  • best-betting-apps
    How Have The Best Betting Apps Evolved in 2023?
  • Best-Offline-Android-RPGs-00
    Best Offline Android RPGs
  • Android-Transformed
    Android Has Transformed the Mobile Landscape
  • Scary Hospital 2 zombie nurse
    Scary Hospital 2 Horror Escape Launches on Google Play
  • DevilutionX
    DevilutionX: Play Diablo I on Android
  • Sands of Salzaar 00 title
    Sands of Salzaar for Android Review
  • best-offline-android-strategy
    Best Offline Strategy Games for Android
  • NBA All-World featured banner
    NBA All-World Review
  • Mighty DOOM Official Poster Screenshot
    Mighty Doom Opens for Pre-Registration
  • Magic vs. Metal Title image
    Magic vs. Metal Review
  • SAO VS feature image
    Sword Art Online Variant Showdown Review
  • Tiny Auto Shop 2: Car Mechanic Title
    Tiny Auto Shop 2: Car Mechanic Out Now
  • Idle Pocket Planet Official Title Artwork
    Idle Pocket Planet Review
Hardcore Droid
Hardcore Droid
  • Home
  • News
    • News
    • Spotlight
    • Interviews
    • Consoles
  • Reviews
    • Action
    • Adventure
    • Strategy
    • RPG
    • MMOs
    • Racing
    • Indie
    • Hardware
  • Best Of
    • Top 10 Games
    • Best RPGs
    • Best Action
    • Best Puzzlers
    • Best Strategy
    • Best Indie Strat
    • Best Indie RPGs
    • Most Hardcore
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Game Jobs
    • Archives
    • Attributions
    • Opportunities
  • Platformer
  • Reviews

Chamber Review

  • March 4, 2020
  • Kevin Sanders
Spread the love

It’s Red, You’re Dead, But There Is No Redemption

Do you like the color red? Are you partial to Sega Genesis-esque pixel graphics? Do you enjoy a game that’s punishingly brutal and tells you nothing? If you answered yes to all of these questions, then I have the perfect game for you!

Chamber is a Metroidvania-style platformer by o3one kinetics where almost everything is a shade of red: it features red blocks, red backgrounds, and even a red filter over the screen. There’s some white and black in there for good measure, but mostly everything is red. Red, red, red! It’s a unique style choice, but it’s more of a gimmick than anything else.

You’ll move through the world of Chamber with all the grace of a goose, leaping over obstacles and avoiding sets of swinging axes that would make Poe proud. You might occasionally chain a dash jump with a wall hop, getting a brief sense of satisfaction before falling or dying from yet another awkwardly placed trap. The bright moments are few and the punishing failures are plentiful.

android-chamber-001

A Penchant For Fatalism

Chamber brings nothing new to the table in terms of gameplay. You know what you’re in for the second it starts. Button prompts on the screen tell you how to jump, dash, shoot, and there’s a d-pad to move. You’ll make your little fellow hop and run his way through procedurally generated levels filled with traps, spikes, and the occasional spider monster. You will also die. A lot. I played the game for six hours and racked up over 80 deaths.

Floaty controls killed me more than anything. The d-pad tries to mimic a thumbstick, but ends up missing the mark too often. The d-pad’s imprecise controls cause problems, especially when blocks are just barely big enough to stand on. You also have a wall jump ability, but it doesn’t help as much as you’d hope, often sending your character tumbling all the way down, forcing you to make your way back up again and again.

android-chamber-002

Swords & Spiders: An Unpredictable Adventure

Sometimes hidden swords come out of walls, just at the top, right where you need to wall jump. They’ll also pop out of the ground and ceiling, seemingly placed in the most purposefully anger-inducing spots. A small rubble animation, along with a sound effect, plays when you’re near them, but won’t if you’re off-screen. Most of the time you’ll never know they exist until you lose half a heart or die. In a game that seems to encourage fast and decisive movements, these things will make you play more cautiously, going against the nature of the game.

There are big spiders who, for some reason, shoot bullets at you. You typically won’t see them in the first two chambers, so they’re not too much of a problem until later. But later, you will almost certainly die the first time you encounter one. They make no noise while patrolling a room, moving back and forth, whipping around the second they see you and unloading a burst of three shots in your direction. If you’re lucky and spot them before they’re alerted to your position, it’s possible to jump over their bullets and kill them.

android-chamber-003

No Narrative, No Tips, No Problem

Why are there rootin’ tootin’ spiders? I don’t know. I don’t really understand anything that’s happening in the game. There’s no explanation and no real motivation for you to keep going. There are gems to collect, but they don’t seem to do anything, only acting as an arbitrary number to add up. Maybe they do in another part of the game, but the difficulty prevented me from getting further than the third level.

There are a number of things in the game that don’t seem to matter. Shooting is only good for destroying torches–which only gives you more bullets and hearts (a mechanic that is never explained)–or killing spiders. Chests appear, but also only have hearts and bullets inside. If you do it right, you can avoid most of the level and find the door to the next. It makes exploring unnecessary.

Wrap It Up!

I would’ve liked to see more motivation to play, a double jump or just a more stable jump in general, as well as more enemies. As it stands, the game feels half-finished and lacking. If you want a challenging game to kill some time, then it’s worth the $2.50, otherwise, Chamber will leave you seeing red (look, I had to).

 

Is it Hardcore?
1.5

No.

Weak controls, brutal gameplay, and a lack of narrative mar an otherwise stylish game.

Kevin Sanders

A cat dad with an MFA in creative writing. Lover of the arts, story, and a firm believer that potatoes are their own food group.

Previous Article
Idle Monster Factory-01
  • Simulation

Idle Monster Factory Review

  • March 2, 2020
  • Kelly Mintzer
View Post
Next Article
Dragon-Storm-Fantasy-00
  • RPG

Dragon Storm Fantasy Review

  • March 5, 2020
  • Jack Brassell
View Post
You May Also Like
Pinball Legends game cover
View Post
  • Indie
  • Miscellaneous
  • Reviews
  • RPG

Pinball Legends Review

  • Trevor Wells
  • March 20, 2023
Cat Snack Bar Banner
View Post
  • Reviews
  • Simulation

Cat Snack Bar Review

  • Mayra Reynoso
  • March 20, 2023
Sands of Salzaar 00 title
View Post
  • RPG
  • Strategy

Sands of Salzaar for Android Review

  • Daniel DeAngelo
  • March 6, 2023
NBA All-World featured banner
View Post
  • Action
  • Adventure
  • Miscellaneous
  • Reviews

NBA All-World Review

  • Dave Weber
  • March 2, 2023
Mighty DOOM Official Poster Screenshot
View Post
  • Action
  • FPS
  • Hardcore
  • Hardware
  • News

Mighty Doom Opens for Pre-Registration

  • James Bell
  • March 1, 2023
Magic vs. Metal Title image
View Post
  • Action
  • Reviews
  • RPG

Magic vs. Metal Review

  • Dave Weber
  • March 1, 2023
SAO VS feature image
View Post
  • Action
  • Reviews

Sword Art Online Variant Showdown Review

  • Trevor Wells
  • February 25, 2023
Idle Pocket Planet Official Title Artwork
View Post
  • Free Games
  • Miscellaneous
  • Reviews
  • Simulation

Idle Pocket Planet Review

  • Michael Licon
  • February 23, 2023
The Latest
  • Pinball Legends Review
  • Cat Snack Bar Review
  • How Have The Best Betting Apps Evolved in 2023?
  • Best Offline Android RPGs
  • Android Has Transformed the Mobile Landscape
  • Scary Hospital 2 Horror Escape Launches on Google Play
  • DevilutionX: Play Diablo I on Android
  • Sands of Salzaar for Android Review
  • Best Offline Strategy Games for Android
  • NBA All-World Review
Meta
  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
Hardcore Droid
  • Reviews
  • Spotlight
  • Hardcore
Core Gaming on the Android OS

Input your search keywords and press Enter.