Chakan: The Forever Man
1992
- platform
- action
- horror
- single player
The story
Chankan: The Forever Man was an Action Platformer for the Sega Megadrive/Genesis. The game featured an uncommonly dark premise for the time of its release, which saw the home console market flooded with licensed platformers based on family-friendly media. It is based upon a comic book by Robert A. Kraus and was produced by Ed Annunziata, who met Chakan's creator at a convention and was impressed.
What it’s like
Dark, bleak side-scrolling with a gothic palette of bruised purples, sickly greens and stark whites, and stages that shift into frozen ice caverns and crumbling ruins under a flat, oppressive sky. The skull-faced hero's hunched, swaying animation and the grotesque, grinning monsters give it a macabre, illustrated feel, and the synth-heavy Genesis score loops with a hollow, mournful pulse. Its vibe is grim and mournful, a kind of cold, weary dread, and it suits a late night alone with the lights off or a cold-weather stretch of quiet play. The rhythm is deliberate rather than frantic: a ticking hourglass pushes you forward, jumps and grapples demand precision, and bosses are tense, set-piece standoffs. Its arc is that of a cursed warrior who cannot die and is trapped in an endless cycle of fighting. Violence is constant and stylized, with swordplay, blood and creatures that are unsettling more than explicitly gory, and the horror is supernatural and atmospheric. It is for players who want a challenging, moody action platformer with a bleak, mythic edge.
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