Space Grunts: Chrono Shard Review – A Tactical Gem for the Rogue-Lover With Time to Kill

One thing you can say unequivocally about roguelikes is that they refuse to stay in one lane. The genre has cross-pollinated with just about every style of play imaginable, packaging each experiment into a tidy, repeatable loop best described as addicting. Space Grunts: Chrono Shard nails the hybridization half of that equation. It’s the addiction half where things start to wobble.

Chrono Shard is the sequel to Space Grunts, the turn-based shooter from Orangepixel, the one-man Dutch studio of Pascal Bestebroer. Published by HandyGames, it landed on PC in late June, console versions to follow, wrapping the original’s snappy turn-based formula in an even more action-oriented shell. A sentient Ooze is chewing through the galaxy via a network of hijacked HyperGates, and as a Space Grunt, your job is to slam those gates shut before everything gets digested. Tactical prowess is your main weapon. The Chrono Shard, a device that lets you bend time, is your safety net, because you will lose, and you will lose repeatedly.

Visually, the sequel holds onto the chunky pixel aesthetic that charmed players the first time around. Each run sends you through a series of rooms aboard an infected vessel, where completing objectives clears your path to sealing the local HyperGate. Along the way you’ll level up, choose where to focus your talents, unlock new characters, and with a little luck, save the galaxy. Randomized items drop throughout every stage, and you keep them between deaths, which turns out to be the backbone of your eventual success.

Make no mistake, though. The tactical demands here run high, and if turn-based positioning isn’t your thing, Chrono Shard probably won’t hold your attention for long.

Finding Your Path in Space

Simply stated, the early game is rough. There’s no true tutorial to speak of, just a small control scheme flashed at the start of your first mission, which neatly crystallizes how punishing this roguelite intends to be. You will get a few tips along the way, but ultimately you’re going to be on your own, hopefully with some knowledge of the predecessor Space Grunts. Whether you’re new to the series or a veteran Grunt, you’ll want to study your surroundings constantly, and you should never walk into a fresh run assuming you know what’s coming. I ran into enemies that one-shot me on easy mode, so concessions for anyone hoping to learn the ropes on an easy-breezy run are few and far between.

Positioning eventually becomes the difference between life and a very short run. Using crates as a buffer between you and enemy fire, and shoving those crates around when needed, mitigates a shocking amount of unnecessary damage. Environmental destructibles matter just as much, and paying close attention to them is fundamental to clearing rooms that would otherwise chew through your health bar. Your inventory will also play a key role here, but we’ll touch on that later.

Strategy saturates nearly every facet of the game. Even walking across the map is a decision with weight. Warp pads let you fast travel and recharge your Chrono Shard, but hoofing it everywhere drains it, and an empty shard means your next death ends the run for good. Your reserves start dipping after roughly 50 turns, which sounds like plenty until you realize how fast turns evaporate in a firefight. Keep that in the back of your head indefinitely.

Your arsenal demands the same discipline. Blasting every crate that might contain something shiny is a great way to run dry on ammunition, so you’ll learn to crack boxes, and even certain weaker enemies, with crowbars and melee weapons while saving the heavy ordnance for problems that actually deserve it. Swapping weapons on the fly is painless enough, but you’ll still need to take regular stock of your inventory, lest encounters get far harder than they need to be.

No Rest for the Grunty

The biggest lesson from my play sessions was not to lean too heavily on a single playstyle. With The Captain I found myself trading blows toe to toe more often than not, while the Tech Junky had me falling back on the rocket launcher whenever an encounter looked like more trouble than it was worth. When ammo ran low, this turned into a liability more than anything else, and I had to start sifting through my inventory or fill up my Chrono Shard and take the L to start over. That flexibility produced some genuinely harrowing moments, like the time I popped a fire barrel in a room full of enemies and spent the next several turns dodging enemy fire alongside literal fire as it spread across the floor. For someone who generally enjoys the strategic side of tactical games, there’s a lot to like here.

You will also find plenty of items that you will need to use if you wish to truly master everything Space Grunts: Chrono Shard has to offer. Armor is indispensable at nearly every level of play. It can reduce damage significantly, with even low tier armor blocking 25% of what you would have taken from an attack. Gas masks and special shoes will prevent other environmental variables from causing unnecessary harm. Turrets and Ooze specific weapons will make life easier on difficult encounters, and you will even find some drones and cybernetic upgrades along the way to help you make it through. Breaking down what you don’t need to upgrade your items through crafting will also go a long way to your overall success.

What I didn’t enjoy was the sheer time it takes to get through a level. The turn-based combat mimics fast-paced action, but it truly isn’t fast-paced action. Movement means hopping from space to space rather than gliding anywhere smoothly, and because positioning matters so much, a level can easily stretch past thirty minutes unless you beeline for the door keys and avoid fighting altogether and that isn’t a guaranteed win condition in any case. Then there are the Ooze-infected enemies that simply cannot die. Play by every rule, clear the sector of everything else, find what you came for, and something immortal will still be trailing you around to ruin your day. It keeps you active even after clearing the level, but the dead enemies pop back up so quickly you barely have time to enjoy the area you just cleared.

That combination edges out a lot of runs for anyone hoping to sit down and finish a full loop before dinner. The good news is you can quit the game and pick up more or less where you left off. The bad news is that dying and repeating levels is the core loop, and despite some shuffling of enemies and drops, the repetition sets in fast, especially once you get lost.

All of which means Space Grunts: Chrono Shard isn’t for everyone. If you’re a patient, strategic rogue-lover who wants to take your time learning systems the game refuses to explain, and you enjoy wrestling with the randomness of the universe in the name of saving the galaxy from the Ooze, this might just be the game for you. If you’re after something easy to pick up and play that pays out satisfaction for every moment spent, it won’t be. The slow pacing and disjointed combat lean harder on RNG shots and wonky crate positioning than on your smarts, and for strategy players, that trade can feel far more frustrating than fun.