Bearded Ladies describes Miasma Chronicles as a “story of chosen family, mutant killers, sweeping post-apocalyptic American landscapes and powergloves”. Like Mutant Year Zero, the studio’s acclaimed game from 2018, it’s another turn-based tactical RPG. At the very start of the story, players meet Elvis, a young man brought to the mining town of Sedentary, Kentucky as a baby, where he was left by his mother.
Miasma ChroniclesPublisher: 505 GamesDeveloper: The Bearded LadiesAvailability: Coming to Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC (Steam and Epic), 23rd May
Elvis has a ‘brother’, a robot named Diggs, who was reprogrammed by Elvis’ mother before she left her son in his care. Together, this duo will have to solve the mystery of the Miasma, a strange entity that I’m told “threatens the last vestiges of humanity and turns all who come in contact with it into barbaric corruptions of their former selves”. As the brothers make their way through the world, they will be joined by a motley crew of outlandish characters. Additionally, Elvis has use of that mysterious powerglove, left to him by his mother, that can control the Miasma.
Set in New America, some 200 years in the future, Miasma Chronicles is clearly engaged with the climate crisis and late capitalism of today’s world. “There are a lot of things that are related to ecological storytelling, and the current status of the earth’s ecology,” Miasma Chronicles’ lead producer Mark Parker says, while showing me the game in action. “The planet, at one point, was a perfect place, where there was no pollution, and there was no hunger and the world’s problems were solved. That was called The Great Stability… but something bad happened, and the world looks like it does now.”
The most obvious example of these themes is the presence of plastic, which is this world’s currency. “We talk about plastic in the lore,” Parker tells me. “You can see that undamaged plastic is very valuable, because it’s very rare and it’s a hint towards what the Miasma might be. We thought it was funny to have an ironic element but also touching on an important issue.”
It is all undeniably bleak, yes, but this does not mean Miasma Chronicles is devoid of warmth and humour. As with Bearded Ladies’ previous work, Miasma Chronicles is laced with a sly, dark wit that engages you almost immediately. You can see this in the game’s cast of eclectic and oh-so-endearing characters, something Bearded Ladies has shown a knack for in the past. Even Diggs, with his robotic and almost tin-can aesthetic, is someone you will want to protect as you fight your way through Miasma Chronicles’ landscapes.