"Chaosbane" is a by-the-numbers action RPG (ARPG) that plays it overly safe. It doesn't introduce anything fresh to the genre and, unfortunately, borrows some of the genre's weaker elements. That said, it can be worth picking up at a steep discount, especially if you're an ARPG fan who has run out of new titles to explore. I committed to beating the game and exploring its endgame before writing this review, and I'm glad I did—it nearly lost me during Act 1.

While "Chaosbane" is clearly not a standout in the ARPG genre, I went in with tempered expectations after snagging it for just a dollar in a bundle. Despite its flaws, the experience was... acceptable.
Background

The game is developed by a studio with a puzzling resume, including sports titles and even a PETZ horse game. Assigning them to develop an ARPG seems odd, but it’s worth noting they have a new title in the genre entering Early Access this year, which looks more promising.

For context, I’ve played nearly every major ARPG: Grim Dawn, Path of Exile (PoE) 1 & 2, Diablo 1–4, Last Epoch, Torchlight 1 & 2, Titan Quest, and Chronicon. I love ARPGs, but "Chaosbane" ranks well below any of these.


The lack of exploration is one of the game's most glaring issues. You start in a town hub, taking quests that send you into various zones. The loop involves clearing the zone, killing a boss, and moving on. Unlike Diablo 3, which at least gave a sense of progression and a journey through its world, "Chaosbane" feels static. Even larger maps offer little incentive to explore beyond the occasional chest. While I'm not big on lore, I value strong world-building, and this game doesn't deliver.

The game draws heavily from Diablo 3, but while I enjoy Diablo 3, I find its itemization and character-building less engaging than other ARPGs. Somehow, "Chaosbane" manages to feel even more simplified. Most skill upgrades are either straight enhancements or so unremarkable that they fail to excite.

The loot system is similarly uninspired. Gear is mostly "damage goes up" with no meaningful utility or variety. While the occasional good drop provides a brief dopamine hit, it pales in comparison to the depth offered by other ARPGs.

The graphics feel dated for a game released in 2019, and the animations and enemies often lack fluidity. While I didn't expect PoE 2-level visuals, it’s disappointing that "Chaosbane" looks worse than Grim Dawn, which runs on an older engine. The UI design is another letdown—ugly and unintuitive. For instance, there’s no option to display a health bar above your character, forcing you to constantly glance at the bottom-left corner.

Movement in the game feels unresponsive due to frequent body blocking by mobs, NPCs, and environmental objects. While point-and-click movement is standard for the genre, the jankiness here makes navigation frustrating at times.

The bloodlust mechanic, which serves as an ultimate ability, feels out of place. It wasn’t necessary in most encounters, and activating it disables your primary skills, making it more of a hindrance than a benefit.


Despite its shortcomings, the gameplay is functional. I played as the Slayer class and relied on a spin-to-win build, which carried me through the campaign. The game notably improves after Act 1, with mob density ramping up and new mechanics like gear upgrading becoming available by Act 3. Level 40 introduces unique items, which provide substantial power spikes and make progression more rewarding.

The inventory size is ample, and I never ran into space issues. Selling items in bulk is easy, and there’s a large cross-character stash for shared gear, which is a nice quality-of-life feature.

The boss fights are surprisingly enjoyable, with unique designs and mechanics. Even as someone unfamiliar with Warhammer lore, I found the monster designs impressive.

The endgame revolves around running maps to defeat bosses and collect loot. While the gameplay loop isn’t the most engaging, it’s decent for casual grinding, especially if you have a fun build. The boss rush mode, which lets you face act bosses on higher difficulties, adds some replayability.

"Chaosbane" is a competent but uninspired ARPG that might scratch the itch for genre enthusiasts looking for something new to play. However, its lack of innovation, dated visuals, and shallow mechanics make it a hard sell at full price. If you’re a die-hard ARPG fan and can grab it at a significant discount, it’s worth a try—but temper your expectations.

Game is bloody good! A solid or 7 or 8/10 for this i'd give! Chaosbane is a great arpg, don't compare it with diablo, grim dawn or POE! But this good on its own, nice storyline and quality is life wonderful, it doesn't rush you into the action but at your own pace!

GO PLAY!

I typically play turn based or more casual games. This was surprisingly enjoyable and easy to pick up. It's somewhat repetitive, but you advance quickly and the main story is fairly short. At the time, I have 17.7 hours played, and likely won't exceed 20 on this. One character, no significant post story stuff, but honestly that seems the right length for a game like this. I bought the game on sale, and its great in 1 hr increments.

Story, dialogue, etc isn't much to write home about, but this is the perfect game to turn the game music off, throw on some metal and bam, demon killing time. I appreciated the variety in the enemy's. Chaos gate really bugged me that the entire story was only about Nurgle, and in this you encounter all 4 chaos cults and they for the most part aren't just reskins.

I played as the empire soldier, and man does everyone die easy without focusing on any specific build or anything. I mean at level 30 you basically get an automatic shotgun and its pretty much game over from there. Highly satisfying, but if I were to replay it ever again, I'd play on a higher difficulty than normal. I think you can change mid game, but I never bothered.

Pros:
Easy to pick up
Variety in Enemy's
Reminiscent of mindless arcade side scrollers
Short campaign - not going to get bored before you finish the main story
Re-playable - Feels like something I could play again in 3-5 years with a different character

Cons:
Maybe too Easy? I never bothered changing the difficulty thought, so that's probably on me.
Short Campaign? Might be a con to some, if you play a lot games in this genre.
Story is not fantastic, but also not necessary. You could have just told me I was on a mission from Sigmar to lay waste to the great enemy and had no other dialog after that and I'd be fine.

To be clear, my positive review is only for the single-player campaign ; I cannot review the end-game nor coop.

I appreciate that the lore is very in line with Warhammer fantasy and the stories are put at the forefront: easy to follow (there are no walls of text) and it is all voice-acted. High quality voice acting too.

You can play it just once for the main story, casually, or dive deeper in the extra challenges.

It is an action-RPG, which does have a lot of repetitive maps and enemies. It is not a full RPG with any dialog choices, etc.

Game design : I like the general design for skills/passives/perks and it is very user-friendy. You select a few active skills/passives and "divine perks", among many, BUT you can change them freely anytime. You can also restart a mission without losing any items or experience (see below).

I am not a big fan of purely actionRPG; I am more a classicRPG player, so the campaign of six chapters is plenty for me. I did a few extra missions nonetheless. It took me 26 hours, but most people report finishing all chapters in around 20 hours.

Difficulty : I played it once, as a Slayer! Dwarf, just for the Warhammer experience on Hard, Very Hard, up to Chaos 2 (Hard and Very Hard actually feel like the normal/casual difficulty). If your character becomes tough or you are good, Chaos 1 and Chaos 2 difficulties also become easy.

Based on both my 25 hours playing and on reports from other players, I am convinced something is wrong with the loot/item drops. Meaning you might never complete the set you are looking for and very often the loot quality was abnormally low though I was playing on Chaos 2 with many Loot Quality bonuses (2500+: Lucky Blessing, passive skill, etc.). Of course, that is NOT a problem for one compaign playthrough. I was powerful enough to destroy everything on Chaos 2. The problem is they will clearly not update/fix this game anymore, as is evident from the timing of past patches (2020) and discussions. So I am not sure you should hope or plan to play a lot of end-game and coop, but that is just my impressions (to be verified with those who tried).



- Important tip : if you maintain a button pressed, you will repeatedly do the attack/skill as fast as possible. I mark this as important, as otherwise clicking/pressing 100 times a minute can get painful.

- You can easily retry a mission : If you want to retry a mission, simply do not exit the map, hit Escape, and select to leave the area to retry immediately. You retain all your loot and experience (!), so there is nothing to lose if you are willing to spend time. There is only one mission where I restarted a few times to improve my success (to save 100% of prisoners), but I am describing the method here as it is not obvious in my opinion.