Impressions
Chrono Odyssey Playtest: An Unpolished MMORPG With Both Potential and Problems
June 25, 2025
Chrono Odyssey's playtest reveals a game with a fantastic character creator and a solid crafting loop, but it's severely hampered by clunky combat, unresponsive controls, poor performance, and dated visuals that desperately need polish.
Chrono Odyssey is an upcoming MMORPG that presents a world with a dark, brutal aesthetic. Player agency is a key focus, with a robust character creation system that rivals the best in the genre, including Black Desert Online, allowing for extensive customization. The class system is flexible, offering six main archetypes, each with three distinct weapon specializations that players can swap between. This customization extends to the gameplay loop, which heavily emphasizes exploration, gathering, and crafting, drawing strong comparisons to games like New World.
However, the core gameplay experience currently suffers from significant issues. Movement and combat feel unresponsive and clunky, characterized by animation lock, inertia-based movement, and poorly telegraphed enemy attacks. While some classes, like the Swordsman, feature more agile dodge-rolls, the overall system lacks the fluidity and polish expected from a modern action MMO. This feeling of being unrefined extends to quest design, which often involves vague objectives within large map areas, and a user interface that feels cumbersome.
Technically, the game struggles with poor optimization and performance issues, even on high-end systems. Visually, the in-game graphics do not align with the high-fidelity presentation seen in promotional trailers, appearing dated with low-resolution textures and inconsistent lighting. While there is a foundation for an engaging crafting and exploration loop, the fundamental aspects of combat and movement require substantial refinement to realize the game's underlying potential.
