“The sinner shall be atoned. Even though no punishment will be enough for your sin.”

What is the worth of this experience we know of as life? There is a popular response to this question that has persisted throughout human social understanding. That the purpose of life is to be judged. That this existence we are experiencing is merely transitory. That it serves as a filter to determine which of us are worthy to behold the infinite love of the universe or to instead suffer in ceaseless unfathomable torment.

Seig Wahrheit is a condemned man. A character awaiting judgment. It does not matter to Seig that the sins on which he is accused are not the ones that he actually bears any guilt for. He is guilty all the same and knows it. Yet most insidiously still, despite the nigh certainty of his ultimate fate, he must ensure he persists until his day of judgment. To expire prematurely would disservice those whom have allowed him to prolong in this existence, this torture that is being alive. Such is his belief in life’s purpose as he has been taught to perceive. It is a trial to be endured, to exist is to be in pursuit of a knowingly futile atonement. To become a lamb marching willingly to their own slaughter.

Chaos Legion is a game that distills this idea of self-flagellation into essence. The struggle of life and existence is brought up, but extracting meaning from it is not to be sought. It is an answered question after all. Rather this game seeks to revere in the struggle itself. Absolution for Sieg is not even on the cards, he is to suffer eternally. This game seeks to beat you down and beat you down and beat you down until you understand you only exist to be beaten down. Yet you must get up each time. Powerful obstacles will incrementally show up to crush you. Through both perseverance and gradual acclimation towards these inferno legions in which you are eternally bound you will eventually overcome them. Your reward in doing so? More frequent and harsher trials. The challenge which you struggled to overcome repeated until mundane. Despite statistically growing over the course of the game, it never quite gets any easier. Rather you merely build up a tolerance to the pain. Even this is not ideal. The pain is all Sieg has after all to remind himself that he is in fact, still alive.

So, what awaits you at the end of all this? What is the final verdict in this perseverance that embodies Sieg’s existence? What reprieve will he be granted in death? You poor naive fool. You will never have been made to suffer enough. A judgment postponed. You get to be alive in this living hell for a while longer.

How cruel the creators of such a world must be.

(Chaos Legion is a game entirely dedicated to its mechanical nuance and is tightly crafted to be as such. Despite my framing its story and narrative elements is incredibly minimal. In its international localization it has been finely retuned in response to criticism of the Japanese version being boringly easy. The result of which is this game made for the sensibilities of sadomasochists. It demands mastery of obtuse systems that you will likely need to consult external references to truly understand. but feel ‘satisfying’ once mastered. If you are more inclined to experiencing it for its cool vibes you can forgo this suffering and should seek out the original Japanese version instead. Myself though? I think it is only through this pain it afflicted upon me that allowed me to connect to it at all)