Chains of Freedom Review: Tactical Promise Undermined by Repetition and Wasted Potential

In Chains of Freedom, you’re dropped into a bleak, dystopian vision of Eastern Europe, where mutants roam, the government lies, and survival depends on sharp tactics and scarce resources. On paper, it sounds like a turn-based dream: a strategic sandbox of grit and decision-making where you command an elite squad fighting back against a corrupt regime. And at times, it comes tantalizingly close to delivering that. But for every moment of tactical triumph, a misstep dulls the experience. Despite its potential, Chains of Freedom is a fine but frustratingly uneven tactics game.

Let’s start with what works. The fluid, gridless combat system is easily Chains of Freedom’s standout feature. Eschewing the traditional tile-based movement seen in most turn-based tactics games, this system feels liberating. Characters move and act within radius-based zones, offering more organic decision-making and clever maneuvering. It opens up fresh tactical opportunities, like angling shots through cover or setting ambushes with satisfying precision. The battlefield feels more alive and reactive, and when your squad’s positioning pays off, it’s genuinely gratifying. There are also various environmental objects, albeit different colored barrels, to shoot at to trigger fire or poison.

Equally compelling is the game’s biocrystal system, which allows you to customize characters with special modifiers and powers. Stack the right biocrystals with the right unit type, say, a crowd-controlling heavy with a counterattack and an armor buff, and suddenly you’re living the turn-based power fantasy. Watching enemies crumble under your perfectly teched-out setup feels great. There’s a real thrill in unlocking synergy between character builds and tactical planning. When the game’s mechanics line up, Chains of Freedom shines.

Unfortunately, those moments are too often buried beneath layers of design choices that feel rushed or half-baked.

For one, character progression is shallow and unsatisfying. Leveling up never happens. There is no XP, and instead you must find hidden nodes that unlock more slots to add biocrystals to really pump your characters up. It doesn’t help that one of your most interesting squadmates, who you’ve probably invested resources into, dies very early in the campaign, and not due to a tactical error, but via a scripted story beat. It’s a gut punch, not in a narratively emotional way, but in a “wait, did I just waste all my upgrades?” way. It undercuts your sense of control and investment, two things that are crucial in a strategy game.

This lack of control extends to the game’s mission design, which quickly grows repetitive. Despite the rich setting, the objectives mostly boil down to variations on “kill all enemies.” Combined with predictable enemy placements and uninspired map layouts, many encounters begin to feel like going through the motions rather than thinking several moves ahead. That initial excitement of learning a new system fades fast as you find yourself playing essentially the same fight with slightly different terrain. Missions can be fun when there are multiple factions, as watching two forces fight one another is exciting… but it doesn’t happen that often.

And then there’s the voice acting, which is, bluntly, distractingly bad. Dialogue is delivered in stilted, awkward tones that do little to sell the atmosphere or emotional stakes. It’s hard to stay immersed in a world of bioengineered horrors and shadowy conspiracies when your squad sounds like they’re reading lines off a cue card after pulling an all-nighter. It’s a shame, because the game’s setting has real potential to be something grimy, eerie, and distinct, but the weak performances keep pulling you out of it.

Visually, the game holds up reasonably well. The grimy industrial environments and mutant designs sell the dystopia, and the UI is functional if not elegant. The atmospheric score does a lot of heavy lifting, bolstering tension even when the narrative and dialogue fail to do so. And on Xbox Series X, the game runs pretty well (despite an initial game crash when saving for the first time; thankfully, the game also auto-saves). Controls are fairly intuitive and easy to get things done.

It’s frustrating because Chains of Freedom has real ambition. Its best moments are those perfect combat turns where you outmaneuver the enemy, or when your customized biocrystal loadout annihilates a threat in a single, elegant combo, and hints at the great game that could have been. But its flaws add up. Repetition, weak progression, undercooked story choices, and amateurish voice work chip away at the fun until all that’s left is a slightly above-average tactics experience held together by a few flashes of brilliance.

Chains of Freedom is a game that wants you to feel like a battlefield mastermind, but too often it leaves you feeling like you’re fighting the game itself. When everything clicks, the payoff is real. But getting there involves a lot of filler, frustration, and flat performances. A mildly enjoyable strategy romp, just don’t expect it to break your chains.

RATING: 3.0 out of 5.

Chains of Freedom is available for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S/X.
_{Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.game.press}

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