Overview
- Number of Players
- 2
- Genre
- Release Date
Nintendo Switch
30th Aug 2019, $59.99
30th Aug 2019, £49.99
- Tags
- Official Site
- nintendo.com
Reviews
Review Astral Chain (Switch) - Platinum's Best Game Ever? You'd Better Believe It
In the chain gang
With games like Bayonetta, Vanquish, Wonderful 101 and MadWorld in its back catalogue, it's little surprise that Japanese developer PlatinumGames has gained a reputation for tight, action-packed titles that mix stunning visuals with intricate and rewarding gameplay mechanics. While its games haven't always been the commercial smash...
Screenshots 51
Astral Chain Guides
Guide 25 Games That Are Better On Switch OLED
Games at their very best on Switch OLED
Nintendo released its first major Switch iteration in over two years back in October 2021 with the Switch OLED model. It has a few benefits, like an improved kickstand, a bump in portable audio quality, double the internal storage and a LAN connector on the dock, but the main feature is in the name. Yep, it's...
Guide Upcoming Nintendo Switch Games And Accessories For August And September 2019
In the middle of an Astral Chain reaction
Blimey, it's August already? We're well into the second half of the year and while Summertime might be a quiet period for the games industry, Nintendo still has lots of goodies coming up for us to spend our cash on in the next couple of months, so there's no shortage of games to be playing on the beach this...
Guide Upcoming Nintendo Switch Games And Accessories For July And August 2019
It's another big month!
Can you believe it's July already? Where is the time going? E3 is now but a distant memory, but there is lots to look forward on Switch this year. Anyway, another month means more lovely stuff to buy, which is presumably why you clicked this link. June saw the release of the lovely Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled and the...
Astral Chain News
News Digital Foundry Hails Luigi's Mansion 3 As The Best-Looking Exclusive Switch Game
Lean, green, and mean
Digital Foundry has put out a new video taking a look at some of the best-looking Nintendo Switch exclusives since the console launched in 2017. There are some pretty obvious choices here that won't come as a surprise to regular readers, including the likes of Metroid Prime Remastered, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Zelda: Tears of...
News Platinum's Switch Exclusive Astral Chain Celebrates Its Third Anniversary
Director shares a special message
It's now been 3 years since PlatinumGames released the hack and slash Astral Chain exclusively on the Nintendo Switch. When the game originally arrived on the scene in August 2019, we praised it for its amazing visuals, presentation, varied gameplay, and rewarding combat. If you haven't already played it, we would...
News PlatinumGames Hires Nintendo Veteran, Signalling 'Significant Change'
Takao Yamane becomes Vice President
PlatinumGames, known for its work on the likes of Bayonetta, The Wonderful 101, and Astral Chain, has hired Nintendo veteran Takao Yamane in a move that is said to bring "significant change" to the company going forwards. Yamane will join PlatinumGames as its Vice President and Chief Business Officer. The news...
News Astral Chain's "Superstar" Director Is Working On A New, Unannounced Game
"He’s working on something, but we can’t say what it is"
PlatinumGames' boss Atsushi Inaba has recently been speaking to VGC (alongside Hideki Kamiya) about a wide range of topics – including Star Fox Zero and Bayonetta 3 – and another subject that has cropped up is the current work status of Takahisa Taura, the director of the Switch...
News Platinum's Switch Exclusive Astral Chain Celebrates Its Second Anniversary
Is it time for a sequel?
Just over two years ago, PlatinumGames released the Nintendo Switch exclusive Astral Chain. We praised it at the time for its amazing visuals, fantastic presentation, varied gameplay and rewarding combat - awarding it nine out of ten stars. It was one of the Switch's stand-out hits at the time and is still one of the best...
News Astral Chain Is Now Fully Owned By Nintendo, Says PlatinumGames
Nintendo takes ownership of the IP
One of 2019's standout Switch games, Astral Chain was a bold and exciting new release from PlatinumGames. Directed by Takahisa Taura, the game sold above expectations and showed fans that the studio's relationship with Nintendo was as strong as ever – the game was, after all, co-owned by both parties. We say...
News Hideki Kamiya Was "A Shoulder To Lean On" During Astral Chain's Development, Says Director
"I don’t think I’ve ever felt a sense of distress like that before"
Takahisa Taura has worked on plenty of amazing video games, including Madworld, The Wonderful 101 and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, but Astral Chain was his first time working as a director – and he's been speaking to Famitsu about th
Soapbox Astral Chain Was The Game Nintendo Needed Most In Its 2019 Switch Lineup
And Platinum, for that matter
Astral Chain is now a year old. In this soapbox piece, Mitch Vogel explains why he thinks it's one of the most significant Switch titles yet. This past weekend marked the first anniversary of the release of Astral Chain, the latest product of the long-standing collaboration between PlatinumGames and Nintendo...
News Platinum Celebrates The First Anniversary Of Its Switch Exclusive Astral Chain
But what's this about a sequel?
It seems like a lifetime ago (at least to us) since the action-adventure hack and slash Astral Chain arrived exclusively on the Nintendo Switch, but this week it's only just reached the one year mark. To celebrate the game's first anniversary, PlatinumGames prepared a special Lappy cake for the occasion, and Platinum...
"too early to say"
Now that a Kickstarter campaign for a remastered version of The Wonderful 101 has been officially launched, there's talk about what other Platinum-developed Nintendo exclusives could potentially be released on other platforms. One game that many people would like to play (who don't seem to own a Switch, we might add) is Astral...
Previews
Preview Astral Chain Mixes Bayonetta, Wonderful 101 And Metal Gear Rising, And You'll Love It
Trust us on this one
You’d think it’d be a little easier to relax when you’re lounging inside a hotel suite playing a video game, Platinum Games’ Astral Chain, to be exact. High above Comic-Con, Seagulls were flying face level to the glass panes of the room, while sailboats were lazily drifting off in the San Diego bay; yet all anyone could...
Preview Astral Chain Is The 2019 Switch Game Everyone Should Be Talking About
Off the chain
When Astral Chain was announced earlier this year, it was easy to forgive some mild scepticism from Nintendo fans. Wait, another anime-styled action title from PlatinumGames, and one that's less than a year from release? While the studio has built up an incredibly solid reputation with titles like Bayonetta, The
About The Game
ASTRAL CHAIN is a new action game from PlatinumGames, directed by Takahisa Taura, known for his work as the game designer on NieR:Automata, and supervised by Hideki Kamiya, creator of the Bayonetta series. As part of a police special forces unit in a multicultural futuristic city, players work together with a special living weapon, the Legion, in a synergetic action system of battle and exploration. More details about this Nintendo Switch exclusive will be revealed in the future.
Where To Buy
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Comments 11
Am I the only ome excited for this?
@ryancraddock @Liam_Doolan This launches on August 30th.
@Matthew010 Thanks! Not sure why it said April, but it's now fixed 🙂
Watching the E3 Treehouse presentation add another game to my want list.
@ryancraddock @Liam_Doolan
Shouldn't this be stated as 2 players? After you got the Legion you can go to the menu and start the co-op mode.
@siebenzehn Yup! I've updated that. Cheers 🙂
@ryancraddock
@siebenzehn Yessssss...but idk why it didn't say so
It’s difficult to place Astral Chain into a single game genre since each level presents a slightly different challenge. It’s part 3rd-person action, part on-rails shooter, part "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" combat (ie: Driver/Blade team), part detective RPG, part “Luigi’s Mansion” (though the Legions are much cooler than the Poltergust), part interactive story, and somehow it throws in part “Frogger,” as well. The game reminds me a bit of the WarioWare series due to the sheer variety presented to the player.
It’s such a random collection of activities that the default playstyle (ie: difficulty) is set to “Casual,” meaning that you’re basically free to button-mash your way through the game. Worrisomely, this setting can only be changed after the first level is completed. While there are tougher difficulty settings, the unfamiliarity of each new scenario basically means you’ll need to already be familiar with the particulars of each level before attempting them at higher difficulty settings. (For the true movie-watcher there’s also a story mode that has the game play itself for you completely.)
Astral Chain is a game that’s so “outside the box” that I won’t even attempt to give it a score. All I know is that it’s not for me, and I caution anyone thinking of buying it to get a physical copy in case you discover the same thing--then at least you can re-sell it and get some of your money back.
Score: WTF
Just finished the game and I have mixed feelings about it. Game was very cinematic and fighting alone was glorious. Sadly I found story somewhat lacking that spark. I expected more. Side quests or cases were very repetitive and to be honest - boring. However I guess this game is a must play if you’re platinum games fan.
I liked parts of this game as it looked really nice and the idea is cool but at the same time I think the story is slow for how long the game Is and I personally find the game hard to control in some aspects which makes it less fun personally. If you like JRPGs i think its worth a shot but It has not really gelled with me after my 10 hours of play.
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