The year is wrapping up, and with the end of the year comes the usual onslaught of the biggest video games on the market. All of the usual suspects are present, as well as some brand new triple-A titles entering the fray.Call of Duty: Vanguardis the latest in the annual first-person shooter franchise.Far Cry 6has been well receivedas another solid entry in Ubisoft’s open-world franchise, while other shooters likeHalo: InfiniteandBattlefield 2042are sure to also gain a good amount of time in the spotlight. With all this competition, it may be difficult for some outside the norm titles likeChorusto stand out on their own.
Deep Silver, the publisher behind other popular franchises likeSaints Row, first announcedChorusduring an Xbox showcaselast May. The game is essentially a third-person space combat title featuring blistering action and slick sci-fi visuals. Gameplay footage and teaser trailers for the game so far have shown off the fast-paced combat and a surprisingly dramatic narrative to go alongside it. Unfortunately, despite an otherwise solid presentation to the media,Chorusseems to be flying a bit under the radar when compared to other games this year. With a release scheduled for early next month, this is one to watch for fans of space-combat simulators.
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The Flight Combat Genre
Genres in gaming all have time to shine. Platformers were all the rage during the ’90s, while first-person shooters took the industry by storm by the mid-2000s with franchises likeCall of DutyandHalo. When gaming was slowly making the transition from 2D to 3D, no other genre was perhaps as well suited to this new dimension of freedom as flight simulators. Allowing players to take the skies (or stars in this case) was a hugely compelling concept at the time, bringing a sense of freedom not seen in games prior to that point.
Ushering in that era were games based on established franchises, as well as brand new IPs created to take advantage of the hype. Theoriginal SNESStar Foxgamewas a stunning display of 3D technology at the time, whileStar Wars: TIE Fightertranslated the epic dog fights of the film franchise into an accurate video game form. The popularity of this genre continued into the 2000s, with continued support from a galaxy far, far away in games likeStar Wars: Rogue Squadronas well as theAce Combatfranchise.
Everything has its time and place, however, and as 3D gaming continued to grow and evolve over the years, the novelty of the genre seemed to wear off a little. TheStar Foxseries has been mostly dormant in recent years, while last year’sStar Wars: Squadronswas the franchise’s first foray back into the genre in quite some time. The safe bet nowadays for studios are first-person shooters and battle royale experiences, which is whyChorusis such a surprise offering fromDeep Silver. Despite this promising new entry into the flight sim genre, making spectacular use of building on established ideas, the title still seems to be lacking the attention it deserves.
Star Wars: Squadrons Meets Star Fox
Based on thegameplay forChorusshown off so far, it looks to be a cross between the aforementionedStar Wars: SquadronsandStar Foxfranchises in terms of the overall style and feel. This means that the game looks to have the same all chaos seen in the “all-range mode” sequences fromStar Fox, mixed with the tight, customizable functionality inStar Wars: Squadrons.
Players take control of a starship called the Forsaken, which can be modified to use different weapon load-outs, bringing a layer of strategy and choice to each mission. Once in flight, space combat looks to be just as relentless as the two other games mentioned above, with a variety of goals to complete, enemies to fight, and a stunning display of on-screen destruction. As an added bonus,Choruswill be open world,allowing players to freely explore vast reaches of space for side missions and other unlockable goodies. It seems to be a molding of the best of both worlds, so for fans of either space combat series,Chorusis more than worth a look when it flies onto the scene.
Chorusis slated to launch on June 28, 2025 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
