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Background

So, I am not someone who posts reviews for games on Steam. As of me writing this, I have not reviewed any other game, however I feel notably compelled to for Chrono Ark. This is a very interesting game and I am mainly writing this review in the hopes that it will convince at least one person to check it out, just like others reviews did for me. If you want the short of it, I love this game and I think it's both wonderful and unique, but it's not a "for everyone" game.
Overview
Chrono Ark is exactly what it says on the tin, a Party Based Deckbuilding Roguelike, think like Across the Obelisk. There are 20 characters in the game, along with Lucy herself acting as a sort of pseudo 21st character you always bring, though she takes the role of a team leader (in narrative too) and engine who propels the characters along via mostly draw power. You travel through each area, fighting enemies, doing events, visiting the shop, the usual things you'd expect, up until you fight the boss at the end of the area. You unlock things throughout the game as you do each run to expand your list of equips and Lucy cards.

The Positives

Gameplay and Characters
Each character has their own unique deck lists to pick from throughout the game, leaving each character feeling fairly unique to the others. You have your standard playstyles, like just hitting things with big damage, DoT damage, straight forward tanking and healing, but there's also some very unique playstyles as well. There is no character in the game that I feel is too similar to another, along with a good amount of easy to use and harder to use characters, which shockingly enough, they are quite balanced despite being so unique and having a wide ease of use gap between the easier and harder to use characters. Overall that's left me feeling pretty happy with all of them and I personally enjoy using everyone.
Writing
Despite being a Roguelike, which typically don't have much in the way of stories or writing in general, Chrono Ark decides to travel off the beaten path and actually have it's story and characters be of notable importance. A large majority of the story is told through listings found in the Archive, which you can visit between runs. As you go through each run, you will eventually unlock certain listings and can then view them whenever you please. Other than the Archive, you will find the rest of the story put right in center stage after what I will describe as "certain conditions" for the sake of not spoiling the story. To put it simply, I love Chrono Ark's story, and I enjoy most of the characters. It goes over many unique topics including a decent chunk of deeper philosophical topics, which really caught me off guard, but in a good way. Additionally, since a majority of the story is optional, and all of the cutscenes are skippable, if you aren't enjoying the story, you don't have to interact with it and can just play the game.
Music
There really isn't a ton to say here, but Chrono Ark's music is really good. I would say for me personally it's the best ost out of any other Deckbuilding game out there. Most bosses have their own unique themes as well, instead of it being an area by area thing like you'd expect. The music helps elevate the stress of being put in a bad spot, or making certain moments all the sweeter as a good piece of music should. It's truly some solid work and it has me humming along all the time, notable songs are the optional Shiranui boss fight and the penultimate boss fight.

The "Dependents"

Difficulty
Chrono Ark I feel falls under the category of "Schrodingers Difficulty." What I mean by this, is that people who have played other Deckbuilding games will likely do just fine and not find the game to be that hard until they start pumping the difficulty up, but people who aren't too familiar with games like these will likely struggle. For me, it sits pretty firmly in the area where I like a games difficulty, however this might not be the case for everyone. Thankfully, if you care a lot about the story or just want a bit of assistance as you improve, there is a mode that eases the game up for you while still allowing you to experience the story, so it's not a huge problem.
Story Delivery
As I mentioned earlier, much of the games story is told through the Archive, which does mean the story is told in a very fragmented manner. Not everyone will click with this manner of storytelling, however I would personally say this improved the story for me by keeping me on my toes about certain characters or plot developments. Also, it's sorta hard to tell a story in a game like this through other means, so I feel this was likely the best way to handle it here, but I still feel the need to mention it.
Management/Learning Curve
This segment sorta goes along with Difficulty to a point. What I mean by Management, is how many things you are required to juggle and think about during a game. Chrono Ark has MANY mechanics, and a lot of cards have multiple effects and/or purposes. Alongside that, you have to understand what the enemies, usually regarding bosses, do and how to fight them. This isn't a game you're meant to no brain, it wants you to read and think and learn how it ticks. Going into a boss fight without learning what they do beforehand is a surefire way to get you wiped, with you likely thinking it was bs or unfair. You are given no shortage of plates to spin and tough choices to make. Personally I love when a game like this gives me a lot to manage, because it makes the game (usually) more unique and makes victory (also usually) all the sweeter. Despite having defeated every boss in the game and understanding what they do, I still find squeezing out a victory very satisfying, with a big part of it being the management needed to do so, but not everyone wants to need to learn a bunch of effects or spin a bunch of plates. Additionally, as you play it does get much easier to manage everything and leaving the unique things much more natural, thus the learning curve.

The Negatives

Nothing?
I truly do not believe Chrono Ark has any bad aspects. It is of course not a perfect game, but anything negative that I can say about it end up just being nitpicks or small things that don't really change how I feel about the game overall. If you are on the fence about this game still, I would recommend going back to the "The Dependents" segment and reading over that again, as that is what will make or break the game for a very large amount of people.
English Translation
So, Chrono Ark is made by Korean Developers. In fact upon opening the game, it will be in Korean and you will need to change the language. Do not worry, this is very quick and easy. Because of this, they did need to translate it obviously, the translation isn't bad, but it's not perfect. You can go through the entire game and completely understand what's being said, but it does have the occasional strange wording, or a character will mention someone by name directly to the character being named as if they aren't the one being talked to. Again, it is 99% of the time perfectly fine, just the every-so-often oddity.
UI
Not a lot to say to about this, I just find the UI of the game to be very plain and uninteresting. It's not really intrusive or anything, just uninspired. It feels like the UI you'd see in the beta of a game rather than the full release.

Overall

This game is very very good, and might actually be my new favorite indie game, but it is a touchy recommend due to mainly the learning curve and means of story delivery. I would still recommend anyone who is on the fence to check it out though, as I was also on the fence before buying it, and was left very thoroughly satisfied. I don't usually give games a number score rating, but if I had to here, it'd be a very solid 9.25/10.