At this stage, PlatinumGames have a reputation for making fast-paced, stylish action games, and while Astral Chain is a bit slower than their previous efforts, it still has that deep and engaging combat system that these developers are practically known for.



Astral Chain features a pretty good character creator to begin with. You play as one of two adopted twins, a female and male. Players can select their gender and then customize their character; something that I find to be a welcome addition. From here the stories premise unfolds: the year is 2078 and the world is in ruins. The last of humanity reside on a man-made island known as the Ark, which was created to protect humanity from the Chimera’s, an inter-dimensional species that corrupts all living things. This is where you come in - the Neuron special forces were formed to combat the Chimera’s by using Legions to aid them. Legions are basically captured Chimera’s connected to the player via a psychic chain. With your Legion by your side, you set out to protect humanity from all Chimera threats.

You basically control two characters at once. At times, it can feel overwhelming...

Astral Chain puts the players in control of both their created character and the Legion. While the Legions will attack on their own, you are in control of their movement and skill sets. You can move them freely around the area and use their skills during combat in conjunction with your own. You basically control two characters at once. At times, it can feel overwhelming as the game continues to add on additional skills and abilities, and even multiple Legions, that you can switch between, but the more you play the more fluid combat becomes. Combat does start off quite basic and boring, but the system expands and becomes rather deep and almost intimidating at times. The amount of options available to the player continues to grow as your progress through the game.



Minor control issues get in the way, however. Many times I felt like they had the Wii U design in mind with regards to some design decisions - some of the combat techniques felt unintuitive on a normal controller, and so I barely ever used them because of how cumbersome it felt, especially when the combat is so fast-paced and the game demanded I start maneuvering my Legion around. Techniques such as chain binds felt a bit irrelevant to me unless it was necessary to use. It felt easier to dodge attacks and land a perfect dodge counter instead of trying to maneuver my Legion around an enemy to draw a circle around them, and lock them in place for a few seconds while also looking after my own character and attacking as well.

When everything comes together, though, it feels like a graceful dance of destruction between you and your Legion as you take down everything in your path, leaving you with a very satisfied feeling. Legions, however, cannot be left out indefinitely, as they do have a time limit for how long they can be out by your side. Managing this in conjunction with everything else can become a test of patience.

There is certainly lots to do, unlock, and get to grips with as you play through the lengthy game.

Legions also come in various styles; a Sword legion plays vastly different to an Arrow Legion and players will gain access to various types that can be switched between on the fly. Each Legion also has its own skill tree and abilities, many of which can also extend to the player, providing additional damage output, defence, etc. There is certainly lots to do, unlock, and get to grips with as you play through the lengthy game.



Astral Chain is split up through missions which are called Files. Each file is a rather lengthy mission which will have you investigating scenes for clues, questioning locals about the events that occurred, doing some minor side quests, killing lots of Chimera’s (which usually results in you being transported to the Astral Plain). Completing files will not only advance the story but you will be ranked on your performance and receive experience points that boost your stats and rank. Getting new ranks also unlocks various items for customizing your character. Each File has various difficulty levels that can be unlocked and, in typical Platinum fashion, there are hidden areas that can only be accessed when you acquire certain Legions, giving the game some replay value.

I really hate silent protagonists in games, since it feels harder to get into their world when they are basically bland, emotionless boxes.

While the story is not particularly compelling, the art style that PlatinumGames has gone with certainly is. the game looks fantastic in motion and oozes a very futuristic and stylish world. Colours pop and the world feels alive. Many characters feel like old-school anime counter parts, each having their own unique traits and personalities. Sadly, the same can’t be said for the players character. The narrative is told through your sibling, so your customized character doesn’t utter a word except a few grunts and shrieks. I really hate silent protagonists in games, since it feels harder to get into their world when they are basically bland, emotionless boxes. What is even stranger is both genders become that reversed role, so they have fully voiced dialogue but for some reason, they decided to go with the silent approach with the character you play as, which is a shame.



A vibrant, futuristic world needs a soundtrack to back it up and Astral Chain certainly delivers in that department. While your character may be silent, the soundtrack is anything but. It complements the world and style of the game perfectly. Various genres are used which fit the environments of setting you find yourself in.

There is a lot that I have not touched on as that would be pages and pages of text, but I will say this: while combat does feel like typical PlatinumGames design, it also feels very different, the way the world is explored and the tools that you utilize during missions to advance the game feels very different to their other titles. It's in this that they lost me. I can appreciate Astral Chain for what it is, but it just didn’t resonate with me like other games from this developer did. They tried to take a different approach and I feel that it worked for them, but it just didn’t work for me. They created a stylish world that looks incredible in motion which can also easily be expanded on in future releases. I just hope that the next game scrapes the bland story and silent protagonist.