Chakan: The Forever Man - Gameplay

Gameplay

The player, as Chakan, starts off in a central hub stage, from which he can select one of four elemental-based stages of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. The player advances through that stage until completion, whereupon Chakan is returned to the hub to choose a new stage, either the same or a different stage. Levels within an element must be completed in order, but that is the only restriction on the order the player may do levels. At the bottom of the screen, an hourglass indicates how much time the player has to complete the level. If time runs out, the player is returned to the hub. If killed, Chakan is returned to the hub. Chakan starts out with his characteristic twin swords, but acquires four new weapons in the first stage of each element, which have many uses.

Upon defeating the three stages of each elemental plane and the enemy bosses for each plane, he clears the "terrestrial plane" and embarks upon a quest to defeat four "elemental planes of evil," each consisting of another three stages and a boss each for fire, earth, wind and water. These levels are considerably harder than the initial four sets of planes, levels that are extremely challenging in their own right. The later levels feature far greater incidence of traps and enemies that cause instant death or level restart.

Upon defeating this second set of levels, Chakan is treated to an ending in which his curse is not lifted. After the credits roll for some time, he is allowed to fight an extremely difficult enemy boss (consisting of an H.R. Giger looking creature on a throne carried by what appear to be dwarfs). The player only gets one try. If the player succeeds at this task, they receive the "real ending" which consists of the hourglass background used in the plot exposition screens but without any text. After a wait of fifteen minutes, a single line of text appears saying "Not the end" and the screen fades out, returning to the title screen.