Shoot from the Hip – Astral Chain

Hello dear readers and welcome to another one of my quick-fire posts here on Shoot the Rookie! This week I’m looking at the super slick action game Astral Chain, so why not join me for a quick overview of it and see if it sounds like something you would want to play yourself.

What you need to know

Title: Astral Chain

Year of Release: 2019

Platform: Nintendo Switch

Developer: PlatinumGames Inc

Publisher: Nintendo

Director: Takahisa Taura

Genre: Action

What’s it about?

Astral Chain is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi action game made by PlatinumGames for Nintendo. You play as a silent protagonist who is part of a police task force called Neuron who are responsible for protecting the remaining human population from creatures called Chimera that usually exist in a different plane of reality but have found ways to cross into our existence. Luckily you’ve learned how to cross realities too and there you fight for humanities survival tethered to a variety of strange creatures called Legions who all have different abilities. Back in the ‘real’ world you visit different locations, talking to civilians, investigating crimes and solving mysteries. Aside from your duties there is a lot to do back at HQ like training, chatting to your colleagues and cleaning your Legions, as well as getting to know the force mascot – a very unlikely character called Lappy…

Should you play it?

Yes. Unless you hate action games. If you’ve played Platinum games before (Bayonetta or Metal Gear Rising for example), you will have some idea how it may feel to play, but much about the gameplay is unique and well worth exploring. With the Legions you have a lot of options of how to play the game, so there may be something to suit everyone style wise, and the way the game uses the action features outside combat – in puzzles and world traversal – are really innovative additions. It is a stunning looking game which is excellent at building a compelling world through its visuals and character design as well as its story, and the soundtrack is an absolute blast. The fact that it has a mute protagonist is probably my biggest criticism as for me it takes something away from the player’s experience, and the difficulty spike for the last boss is a bit of a joke (although not one Platinum haven’t pulled before), but overall I think it is an exceptional game in almost all ways and I very much hope Nintendo will consider a sequel given its success.

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So that is my super swift introduction to Astral Chain. But what do you think? Does it sound like a game you would enjoy? Maybe you’ve already played it and have more to add on the subject? Either way let me know below in comments and join me next time for more ramblings about video games and anime.

Thanks for reading,

Pix1001 x