Astral Chain is a game exclusively for the Nintendo Switch game console. The game was created by PlatinumGames and was directed by Takahisa Taura who designed other popular games such as Devil May Cry and Nier: Automata. It has been stated that the game would have sequels since the game ended out 2019 selling over a million copies worldwide. The original production took five years to make.
In a post apocalyptic world, the police fight monsters that came to earth called Chimeras who came from a place called The Ark. Two twins who just joined the force under the direction of their father, are thrown into this war when tragedy hits close to home. More secrets surround the two than they know and maybe a trip into the place in-between called Astral Plane will have the answers they need.
The game itself has a lot going for it once you see all there is to do outside of fighting Chimeras on your missions. You can find and take care of cats, change your wardrobe, investigate, train, and even more that I can't think of at this moment. Your rest point is the police station where you get to upgrade your equipment and buy items. Some side quests also occur while interacting with people in the station on top of being able to clean your Legions as you gather them. I was never sure if not cleaning them affected them in any way but I always made sure to because they clean up a lot of corruption out in the world. When you go out on missions you have to investigate using IRIS a device that allows Police to find information using only the naked eye. It's cool to use the first few times when your out in the field until it gets old. Astral chain's fun comes from the combat that uses the L and R buttons at the top of the console or on the detachable sticks depending on what version of the Nintendo Switch you have. Players have to do a lot of button mashing as well as be quick acting in order to switch weapons and use the correct Legion depending on the enemy you're facing. The gaming experience to me will be different depending on if you have a switch lite or the first switch because I had pain in my hands if I played Astral Chain for a long period of time. I also had a hard time controlling the game during certain mission dealing with balancing ice cream. Other than that, the game has a fun energy involving battling strategy that you won't find in any other JRPG game.
The story starts out interesting but doesn't live up to the imagery that accompanies it. One reason is the story becomes a bit too cut and dry. Even the twist was something that any player who loves stories could have figured out eventually. Many of the characters are well thought out however, I don't think it was fair to put the burden of creating a well rounded main character. The character doesn't speak at all so you don't feel much emotion from him outside of facial expressions. Emotional connections end up falling on the other characters who are exciting enough to keep things going. After all that happens, the ending isn't that satisfying either and it very open ended. If there will be other games in this series then that might make up for the weak storytelling. I mean- Astral Chain has one of the hardest final bosses that gamers have seen in recent years. What's really sad is that the ending on the other side of the boss isn't all that exciting.
Astral Chain is a beautiful game to look at as well as play. Just don't expect too much substance in story or much else for that matter. The game still is one of the best for the Switch Console nether less.
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