Astral Chain review

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When it was first announced, i knew that Astral Chain was gonna be one of those games i would like. Sci-fi setting? Check. Cool visuals and music? Check. Stands? Check. Having never played a game from Platinum before, Astral Chain was my entry point into this acclaimed developer. And did i have a good time? Yes.

While the controls do take some getting used to, Astral Chain is a game with incredibly satisfying combat and a natural learning curve. You start with one Legion (the Stands) and as you progress through the game, you gain new Legions, each with their own abilities. For the most part, the Legions were pretty much balanced. Each had their own valid uses, both in and out combat. I'd say my least favorite of them is the Beast Legion, since it's the only one that doesn't levitate, making Chain Jumps a bit of a pain for the occasional areas of platforming.

The actual difficulty of the game isn't really that hard for the most part. With the exception of the final chapter (more on that later), the actual difficulty of the game comes from trying to get the highest rank in each mission (both required and optional) as well as the chapter itself.

There is also a slower aspect of the gameplay as well. Since you are a policeman in this game, you essentially do police jobs in addition to your job to bust up inter-dimensional threats. Most of these side-missions include finding lost items/people and arresting thugs. It's definitely the time during each chapter where things are the slowest though thankfully, these side missions are always around the start of each chapter, so you can do these all before continuing the game or skip them entirely.

The game has a story and it's.......fine. It's really just there to give context to the things you do. Some likable characters but nothing i'd really write home about.

The game isn't perfect though. There are two categories of items: field and permanent. Field items are found scattered throughout the field and they can only be used on the field. Once the chapter is done, you lose these items. Permanent items are standard items that you can buy in shops. I never really understood the justification of the former but i guess they did it because i don't think permanent items restock. Maybe they do but i've noticed that some items were just grayed out, even after going to the next chapter. The game really wants you to use field items, leaving the permanent ones for last resort. Money isn't that hard to come by. In fact, it's incredibly easy to get. So i don't know why split items into two categories.

I also need to talk about the bullshit difficulty of the final chapter. Like i said before, the game is easy......until the final phase of the final boss. It's such a massive difficulty spike that i wasn't expecting. It's got insane amounts of health that you have to deal with while also dodging a constant barrage of AoE fuck yous. I will admit that i didn't have all my Legions fully upgraded (but you really can't fully upgrade all five without redoing missions) but that's because i didn't feel the need to, given how easy the game was before.

In conclusion, this is a fantastic game. Great gameplay, cool premise and a good soundtrack makes for a nice package. Some flaws in the gameplay but nothing that really sours the experience. This is definitely one of the best games in the Switch's library and an absolute must for any fan of action games. 9/10.

Side note: there is a post-game chapter. I have not done it yet.

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