Few people know how to weave together a combat system like Platinum Games. The folks there have been dazzling with spectacle fighters for years on end, and Astral Chain looks to continue that proud tradition with style, as new content for E3 has showcased more of the gameplay and what we can expect from PG’s latest.
First off is the trailer shown during the E3 Direct, which is primarily story-focused – and thus, difficult to parse in full. With some added context from the later Treehouse segment, however, the full concept of the game becomes clear. In the near future, extradimensional monsters called chimeras have begun invading the Earth, pulling unaware victims into their own twisted dimension. Only the player and their allies, who command chained chimeras known as legions, can dispatch with the cross-dimensional threat and bring peace to the world – with showy gunmanship and giant anime weapons, of course.
During the Treehouse segment, we caught a wide variety of what gameplay we can expect from Astral Chain, which appears to be more than just the typical hack-and-slash fare. After customizing your protagonist, the game opens with a gun-toting motorcycle chase that seems fast and fluid. Investigative segments pepper the game as well, where your character will utilize a technology known as Iris to examine crime scenes and determine the sequence of events, adding a slight neo-noir flair to the sci-fi setting.
Of course, we’re mostly here for the combat, and the game seems to innovate on that front as well. Your legion, when deployed, will automatically attack foes within range, though it can only last a certain amount of time before you need to recall it. By changing its positioning with ZL + the right stick, you can not only affect who and what it attacks, but the chain connecting you, which plays into combos and special tricks you can pull off. And as always, you get scored by how well you do, meaning that if you want that S-rank, you’ll have to coordinate your own attacks alongside the legion’s to dish out the most damage you can.
The Treehouse segment goes into full detail, so I recommend checking that out if you can get the chance. It appears that there might be more Treehouse gameplay later today, so we’ll update the article if anything new gets revealed.
Written by Amelia Fruzzetti
A writer and Nintendo fan based in Seattle, Washington. When not working for NinWire, she can be found eating pasta, writing stories, and wondering about when Mother 3 is finally going to get an official localization.
