One of the reasons I like the Steam platform so much is that it offers opportunity for development teams to release early access versions of their games.
Of course some games never get out of early access for many reasons or the dev teams take little notice of the player base that are effectively 'testing' EA/Alpha/beta versions and the player base walk away.
Chronicon is a perfect example of Early Access done well.
I believe the earliest version was 5 years ago.
I picked the game up back in November 2017 and looking at my Steam logs played it for just a couple of weeks.
I saw potential in the game back then but it had a lot of work still to polish up and it could not sway me away from Diabolo3 that i was into back then.

Yesterday i saw a notification that Chronicon was finally ready to leave early access for a main release this weekend.
I was intrigued and fired up the game once again.
Wow ! The dev team have done an amazing job in the 3 years since I last visited !
This is an absolute gem of a game for anyone that likes ARPG with lashings of loot drops and destructable scenery.
You start of as a very humble warlock, templar, warden or berserker.
An explanatory but unpatronising helping hand for beginners exists by way of text prompts from the npc's in the starting lobby.
Very quickly you will be familiar with the basics of the game and itching to start slaying mobs and destroying the scenery.
There are questlines that dictate the progression through the various dungeons and zones several of the quests are optional but anyone that likes these style of games will not be satisfied unless they complete them all.
One thing you will notice very quickly is that you become overwhelmed by the loot.
Chronicon provides a decent solution to the abundant loot drops in that it has a built in filtering system that can be found in settings.
Simply filter the quality that you no longer wish to see dropped and it will bug you no more.
You can also filter other class items if you so wish.
There is also and option to set an 'auto loot' radius that appears on the screen as a circular overlay and all dropped items within that circle will be auto looted. This is a wonderful Qol feature and was definitely not in the earliest version I played. Bravo.
The combat difficulty curve is also good.
Enough to boost your confidence to a point of 'invincible' and then you meet a mob of 'crowned' beasties that proceed to remind you of your mortality. 'crowned mobs' are Chronicons version of 'elite' mobs.
many of the weapons have ability to summon companions and certain jewelry/accessory can also provide you with circling spheres that attack when an enemy is in range.
There are backpacks to collect and boost your inventory.
There is a shared stash as well as personal stash...brilliant for your other character classes.
The crafting system is great with gem socketing and enchanting.
A complex skills/resistances/mastery tree set is core to your characters progression. As with other games similar there is always discussion on the best builds and inevitably 'cookie cutter'builds but the skill tree is diverse enough for you took literally play your character how you want to.
As you start to progress past the first bosses the packs of mobs become rather unforgiving and if you are to have a chance at survival you will be using everything at your disposal close range melee attacks-ranged attacks-companions-spheres....... the screen can at times resemble one of the 'bullet hell' games and it is always a relief when you finally clear through the hordes and are then met with a popup notification plus a reward for the size of your kill streak.
Waypoints exist at progression points of the maps and there is also the ability to buy (cheaply) return trip to town portal scrolls. these portal scrolls are 2 way and a perfect way to empty your bulging inventory and then jump back into the action where you last left off.

I have just spent several hours today smashing through a thoroughly enjoyable 18 levels with my Templar.
I guarantee that anyone that enjoys games such as diablo3, fight the Dragon or enter the gungeon will love this game.
the current reduction in price during the 'Leaving Early Access' promotion is nice but the game is worth much more than its intended full price.

Great job Dev team !
This game is now a must have for any ARPGer.
5 years in early access development and it is now an absolute gem.

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