The Chameleon is a tense exploration game with stealth super-powers, set in the 70s.
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Having just played the (very good) 'No Sun To Worship' I went back through Antonio Freyre's catalogue and gave The Chameleon a try. In comparison, The Chameleon is significantly less polished and more janky - Controls arent always responsive. AI frequently bugs out or keeps chasing you after you respawned, and I got stuck in collision a few times.
None of that is my main issue with the game. My main problem with The Chameleon is its energy system and the fact that, suprisingly, The Chameleon is not entirely a stealth game? It certainly starts out as one, at the beginning your toolset is quite limited apart from a single one shot melee attack that consumes all of your energy, but the more powers you collect, the more it turns from stealth game into super natural power fantasy.
The problem is: All your abilities consume energy. Stealth kills consume 100% of your energy. If your energy is conpletely empty, it takes 5+ excruciating seconds before your energy even starts to recharge. This is clearly set up to disincentivice using the stealth kill, however, it is way too impactful for that.
What happens instead is a lot of sitting around, not moving, not using any of your cool skills, just waiting for your energy to recharge, because you dared a stealth kill. Really screwed with the pacing of the game, and made me never find my rhythm in an otherwise decent game
None of that is my main issue with the game. My main problem with The Chameleon is its energy system and the fact that, suprisingly, The Chameleon is not entirely a stealth game? It certainly starts out as one, at the beginning your toolset is quite limited apart from a single one shot melee attack that consumes all of your energy, but the more powers you collect, the more it turns from stealth game into super natural power fantasy.
The problem is: All your abilities consume energy. Stealth kills consume 100% of your energy. If your energy is conpletely empty, it takes 5+ excruciating seconds before your energy even starts to recharge. This is clearly set up to disincentivice using the stealth kill, however, it is way too impactful for that.
What happens instead is a lot of sitting around, not moving, not using any of your cool skills, just waiting for your energy to recharge, because you dared a stealth kill. Really screwed with the pacing of the game, and made me never find my rhythm in an otherwise decent game
I've bought the entire bundle of Antonio Freyre games including the latest 'No Sun to Worship' for a good price. Keep in mind that all games are meant to be short, experimental and offer simple gameplay. I'm starting with the oldest released game and working my way up to the newest one. The Chameleon has left a good impression for a first game while also finding some polish lacking.
Firstly, the game has a good style that looks very appealing. The PS1 filter can be lowered or turned off. The levels were well designed. I loved the little notes, pictures and recordings scattered to explain the plot or give context slowly. The recorded voices were performed well. The game is stealth mixed with 4 super skills that are really cool. Finding all the energy upgrades adds to the exploration. You can save your progress anywhere and load at the nearest checkpoint. Mouse & Keyboard controls felt natural for the most part.
In terms of feedback, they are minor in the grand scheme of things but we'll go through them. v-sync doesn't seem to work as I was still getting around 265 fps on a 165 fps monitor. When you're crouching and too close to objects, standing doesn't seem to work. The settings menu doesn't seem to come up right away, you have to press esc twice. The music doesn't seem to be mixed well as random ones were playing with no real transition or keeping the area you're in in mind. There were also some quiet moments I wasn't sure those were intentional. The 4 skills could have been used to flesh out the game more with additional areas but I know this is unreasonable considering the price paid.
The game is worth giving a try if you're curious as long as you're not expecting much. It took me 2.2 hours to complete the game and get all the achievements.
Firstly, the game has a good style that looks very appealing. The PS1 filter can be lowered or turned off. The levels were well designed. I loved the little notes, pictures and recordings scattered to explain the plot or give context slowly. The recorded voices were performed well. The game is stealth mixed with 4 super skills that are really cool. Finding all the energy upgrades adds to the exploration. You can save your progress anywhere and load at the nearest checkpoint. Mouse & Keyboard controls felt natural for the most part.
In terms of feedback, they are minor in the grand scheme of things but we'll go through them. v-sync doesn't seem to work as I was still getting around 265 fps on a 165 fps monitor. When you're crouching and too close to objects, standing doesn't seem to work. The settings menu doesn't seem to come up right away, you have to press esc twice. The music doesn't seem to be mixed well as random ones were playing with no real transition or keeping the area you're in in mind. There were also some quiet moments I wasn't sure those were intentional. The 4 skills could have been used to flesh out the game more with additional areas but I know this is unreasonable considering the price paid.
The game is worth giving a try if you're curious as long as you're not expecting much. It took me 2.2 hours to complete the game and get all the achievements.
Uma hora e meia pra zerar, perfeitamente dosado, tamanho de um filme.
Não se estende o suficiente ao ponto de ficar chato e enjoativo, um jogo simples de stealth com uma mecânica interessante de disfarce e com uma historinha bem interessante se for do seu interesse ouvir os áudios e ler os papéis e panfletos espalhados pelos cenários.
Não se estende o suficiente ao ponto de ficar chato e enjoativo, um jogo simples de stealth com uma mecânica interessante de disfarce e com uma historinha bem interessante se for do seu interesse ouvir os áudios e ler os papéis e panfletos espalhados pelos cenários.
An indie stealth game with a lovely low-poly aesthetic and a slightly camp horror edge to it. It's very simple and more than a bit jank, but overall good fun!
A short (and dare I say) basic third person stealth game.
The premise is pretty simple; escape a facility using what tools you have at your disposal. You start with a noisemaker (your whistle), a disguise and your fists. Later on you get the ability to slow down time and dash, but those are mostly techniques to unlock further game progression.
The game mostly consists of exploring, activating terminals and picking up keys to progress. You have to stop and observe guard patrols on the way to these points of interest and can eliminate any guards you manage to isolate with a single punch.
Visually it's quite tight. There's a 70's esque warmth to the game and it's presented in the (perhaps now overdone) PSX style. The tone of the game reminded me of the movie, "Beyond the Black Rainbow" or the Netflix show, "Maniac".
The soundtrack was a little sporadic, but whenever it popped up it was welcome. The audio was a tight match for the aesthetics. I liked this stuff a lot.
Positives:
Fun little story that can be finished in a single sitting
The punch attack (when it lands) is extremely satisfying
While tired, the PSX style is well presented (and can be toned down in options)
VIBES - the aesthetics and music are tight
I thought the leaning on 1/2/3 keys worked quite well despite not needing it very much in gameplay
Rat boids :)
Negatives:
It's pretty raw; the character controller is quite clunky and inputs are often lost leading to frustrating moments
There are also quite a few bugs around the energy system - I was often stuck waiting around for long periods before I could do anything
The rules of stealth were not especially clear (this would have been much more serious in a longer game)
Often felt like enemies were alerted to me through walls - perhaps this was due to sound propagation?
Speaking of sound, while the sound design was quite strong, the implementation was a little rough - there seemed to be a lack of any audio occlusion
Miss-clicks resulting in punching thin air drained energy completely which was brutal in the early game (resolved in the late game with upgrades)
Overall I felt that The Chameleon needed a little more time in the oven. But despite the lack of polish and bugs I did enjoy the game. It's a short and sweet stealth romp that won't demand too much from the player but will entertain those willing to give it a try.
This shows a lot of promise, so I'm really looking forward to what the developer does next!
The premise is pretty simple; escape a facility using what tools you have at your disposal. You start with a noisemaker (your whistle), a disguise and your fists. Later on you get the ability to slow down time and dash, but those are mostly techniques to unlock further game progression.
The game mostly consists of exploring, activating terminals and picking up keys to progress. You have to stop and observe guard patrols on the way to these points of interest and can eliminate any guards you manage to isolate with a single punch.
Visually it's quite tight. There's a 70's esque warmth to the game and it's presented in the (perhaps now overdone) PSX style. The tone of the game reminded me of the movie, "Beyond the Black Rainbow" or the Netflix show, "Maniac".
The soundtrack was a little sporadic, but whenever it popped up it was welcome. The audio was a tight match for the aesthetics. I liked this stuff a lot.
Positives:
Fun little story that can be finished in a single sitting
The punch attack (when it lands) is extremely satisfying
While tired, the PSX style is well presented (and can be toned down in options)
VIBES - the aesthetics and music are tight
I thought the leaning on 1/2/3 keys worked quite well despite not needing it very much in gameplay
Rat boids :)
Negatives:
It's pretty raw; the character controller is quite clunky and inputs are often lost leading to frustrating moments
There are also quite a few bugs around the energy system - I was often stuck waiting around for long periods before I could do anything
The rules of stealth were not especially clear (this would have been much more serious in a longer game)
Often felt like enemies were alerted to me through walls - perhaps this was due to sound propagation?
Speaking of sound, while the sound design was quite strong, the implementation was a little rough - there seemed to be a lack of any audio occlusion
Miss-clicks resulting in punching thin air drained energy completely which was brutal in the early game (resolved in the late game with upgrades)
Overall I felt that The Chameleon needed a little more time in the oven. But despite the lack of polish and bugs I did enjoy the game. It's a short and sweet stealth romp that won't demand too much from the player but will entertain those willing to give it a try.
This shows a lot of promise, so I'm really looking forward to what the developer does next!
The gameplay is serviceable and a competent stealth action game but my god everything about the visuals and the audio is amazing. So creative and unique. I honestly didn't call that it was gonna be like this SCP type deal I thought I was gonna play as a Burt Reynolds or Tom Selleck Magnum PI fella trying to escape a terrorist robot compound or something. But what I got was also amazing. A couple of flaws - if you get captured and die and respawn, any keycards you found or terminals you activated would stay activated or found. So that just saves you the trip of sneaking back. and the way the level design is the safe point is like a mini hub world between the mini levels that have a powerup or the key at the end. IDK. And while the sound design was amazing, the footsteps were weird as I genuinely could not tell from where they were coming from. And sometimes the enemy AI would be a bit dumb and not see me even if I were clearly in their view and undisguised. The game is super short, like an hour or two and it does everything super well and wraps up. A good and nice short adventure. Great level design too. Fun, soulful and recommended!