If you ever played or at least heard of Bayonetta than you are familiar with Platinum games. Astral Chain is the newest title from this crew. With intense action and an over the top story, this is traditional Platinum games and with no surprise they hit it right out of the park.
Astral Chain is set in the year of 2078 and perfect with the times of today, is in a world with a global pandemic with the human population on the brink of extinction. Astral Chain is set in a world called “The Arc” which is a city that rests on top of an artificial island. “The Arc” hosts the remaining human populace and the reason the human population is so small is because of monsters known as Chimera. These Chimera reside in a place known as the Astral Plane; however, these Chimera are able to come to the human world, as well as drag people into their world. This is where the Police force come into play. The Police force employ legions which are subservient Chimeras that are tethered via a psychic chain.
The player can control one of two twin officers that are new recruits, either male or female. This is one of my biggest drawbacks to Astral Chain as the character you choose will be a mute protagonist, while the opposing twin will have all the dialog. This makes your character incredibly emotionless and was really a big missed opportunity.
The gameplay is the real selling point in Astral Chain. The main character you choose can command a legion and as you progress throughout the story you gain more new legions. The legion fights alongside you, but is controlled by the A.I. However, you can also do certain moves to combine with your legion for devastating combos. This offers a vast amount of customization in the game as they all play differently.
This is most evident in the combat as each one plays differently; I would use the Arrow Legion for aerial enemies and the Arm Legion for the bulkier enemies. In addition, similar to the Bayonetta series, the combat is focused around dodging enemy attacks at exactly the right moment to momentarily slow down time. This is the crux of the combat and perfecting this skill is what will allow you to succeed. I really enjoyed this as it really showcases the skills of a player.
So, I mentioned how your character is attached to your legion via a chain, but this is where Astral Chain is different from any other game out there. You can do so many combo attacks just by using the chain which was just so unique. Some include wrapping up an enemy with your legion to bind them with the chain momentarily and even use the chain as a clothesline when certain enemies rush you. There are so many more combos you can combine with the chain that just make the game one of a kind and you just have so many options to find your playstyle.
One thing I do recommend is playing on the hardest difficulty. The game gives you three options: unchained, casual, and standard PT. Unchained is where the game takes care of the combat and all you do is worry about the story essentially, casual is what it sounds like; you get 6 lives and will be pretty easy, standard PT is what I played on, it gives you 2 lives, letter ranking and offers a good challenge. It is more like very easy, easy, normal instead of the traditional easy, normal, hard. However, each time you do beat a level you unlock ultimate difficulty for that level which is far more difficult.
Astral Chain does a great job in the difficulty scaling, although I did play on the hardest difficulty available, it never felt too hard. Every battle was within my grasps and it did a great job of gradually getting more and more difficult. The more I played Astral Chain, the more comfortable I got with managing my legion and the enemies and bosses scaled to this. If you enjoy action games I do recommend playing on standard as it will give you a good challenge and letter ranking is a great bonus, gives real Devil May Cry vibes.
Another thing I real loved is the design. First off, the Japanese voices are so on point, I mentioned that I wish the main character wasn’t mute, but it still doesn’t take away from the other characters in the game. Voice acting is done perfectly in the original Japanese, straight from an Anime. The next is the character designs, if the voice acting is like it’s from an anime the character designs are from the most elite artists. I cannot emphasize how much I loved the character models in this game. However, the star of the show is the monster and legion designs. The vast variety of these are insane and not a single one looks sloppy, from humanoids, flying enemies, beasts, and so much more. Finding a new enemy type left me going through the index to examine the character models after every encounter.
The story of Astral Chain in my opinion is the weakest point. The scenario is great, but I just don’t think it is done the best. The story starts off incredibly slow, it eventually does pick up, but I just don’t think it every really reaches its potential. A part of this could be the mute protagonist, but I just don’t think a lot of the questions were answered with a lot of the characters, hopefully a sequel can explain some more.
One of my favorite parts of the game is the non-combat moments. You are detective so there will be points where you have to survey the scene of a crime and find a bunch of clues and talk to witnesses. This was a welcome addition to slow down the game and be much more relaxed. This was even evident when using your legions with all the puzzles. As I mentioned there are different legions, however they each have a signature ability that can be used to solve a puzzle. For example, the sword legion can do a slash that you will need to angle perfectly to cut 3 wires at exactly the same time or the beast legion will let you track a scent. Using each legion to solve a puzzle was amazing and super innovative. However, my absolute favorite was the stealth mechanics, it felt like playing the Arkham games and I really enjoyed the stealth missions, the only downside is that there were very few stealth missions to use this great feature.
PROS
- Great fast paced combat
- Innovative use of chain
- Good partner mechanic with legion
- Several different legions for customization
- Fun puzzles
- Great Stealth moments
- Difficulty scales at good rate
- Great character and monster designs Easy combat to understand, hard to master
- Non-combat missions are relaxing
CONS
- Slow Start
- Average Story
- Not enough stealth missions
- Mute protagonist
CONSENSUS
Albeit a weak story, the combat and the uniqueness of Astral Chain really save it. The combat is exquisite and Platinum games has done it again, this will hold you off until Bayonetta 3.
RATING:
8/10: GREAT
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