Astral Chain

Astral Chain is a curious action game, in which you basically control three characters at the same time during combat, but “action” is only a small part of the gameplay. The game is constantly mixing genres to try to offer something new, but suffers from too many underdeveloped ideas, and a story so shallow that makes Bayonetta’s feel like a masterpiece in comparison.

In Astral Chain, the protagonist  – which we can name and choose the gender, but has no personality or voice whatsoever – controls a monster called Legion, which is connected to them by a special chain. The characters live on an artificial island called The Ark, which was built to protect humanity from the sudden attack of monsters called Chimeras, which come from another dimension, called the Astral Plane. The protagonist is a cop who suddenly becomes the Ark’s only hope in defeating the Chimeras after the other policemen are viciously attacked in the Astral Plane.

The game’s story is not its strong suit. The protagonist doesn’t utter a word, their Legions follow suit, and the random Chimeras are the only antagonists for a good chunk of the game. Normally, the protagonist visits sections of the Ark – which is a richly imagined setting with its neon districts and contrasting shantytowns – to fend off the monster’s attacks and that’s basically it. The creatures are much like the protagonist, in the sense that they have no personality and voice. They’re all there just to function as a reason for the action. About the middle point, a human antagonist finally appears, but their motivations take a while to be uncovered, leaving them without any interesting characteristics until it’s too late for us to care. The story’s main problem, then, is that it lacks thematic conflict. It’s too simple: you just fight and defeat the monstrous bad guys to save the day. There are a lot of questions the narrative finds irrelevant: what the antagonists stand for, what you stand for, does anyone have a character arc, what’s the point of everything, and stuff like that.

This disregard for depth and complexity is reflected in the personality of the supporting characters: they’re all bland and shallow as well. Soon, we discover that the protagonist’s sibling has some daddy issues, idolizing their adopted father while trying to live up to his reputation, which inevitably leads them to anger and frustration. But the other characters also begin to show part of the same trait: they also idolize the protagonist’s father, always talking about how great, courageous, and strong that man is. The protagonist’s sibling, however, is especially problematic, gradually revealing to be a robotic, thoughtless person: “All we have to do is believe in him and follow orders,” they tell the protagonist at one point, referring to their boss, the shady Yoseph, who is another shallow character. He’s clearly up to no good, or at least hiding something, being shown early on talking to some strange beings. And he never shows empathy: after a Chimera attack or disaster, his speech is usually about what he had to gain with it, never touching on the lives lost in the event. “It’s breathtaking, we’ve got a tremendous amount of new data to consider,” he says at one point. However, his ultimate motivations are bizarre, and he grows to become an antagonist as shallow as the rest of the bunch.

Some of the characters indeed have an inspired design, but it is ultimately wasted on them. You meet a renegade named Kyle, for instance, who wears a black mask that shows a hologram that changes expressions on the fly, usually boasting two huge X for eyes. Kyle has an impressive look, but he doesn’t matter. There’s a whole subplot about a forsaken region of the Ark and a rebellion rising there, but it never goes anywhere, serving only to reinforce that there are grave social issues in the Ark.

Astral Chain is at its best when it is just being downright absurd, like when we are collecting different kinds of toilet paper to give to the precinct’s toilet fairy, or being creepily stalked by its happy mascot, Lappy. On the other hand, when things get serious, with characters getting angry because of obvious betrayals and revelations, the game stops being unique and falls into boring cliché territory. Bayonetta’s story was also shallow and badly written, with overly long cutscenes, but it at least had a memorable protagonist with a strong personality to carry the narrative on her back. Astral Chain switches Bayonetta with a mute character with nothing to say.

The game’s chapters, at least, are structured like a rollercoaster. We begin the slow ascend by investigating some strange happenings in the Ark to find that – surprise! – Chimeras are behind them. And then we have the rapid descend, as the action unfolds non-stop until it reaches a small climax – a boss battle – and, then, a bumpy ascent while traversing the Astral Plane, where we solve puzzles, face platform challenges, and fight brief battles until the final descent with the chapter’s final boss.

Astral Chain keeps mixing genres, throwing puzzles, platform challenges, and even some RPG mechanics in the pot, but not all work very well. Most chapters have an investigative part, in which we must talk to NPCs to gather clues to find out what happened, and finally answer a quiz at the end to prove we got it all right. In other words, it’s basically just a way to contextualize exposition and not a very engaging one at that.

When inside the Astral Plane, things are much better, since there are puzzles that require the use of each of our Legion’s special abilities: the dog Legion can track scents and find hidden items buried in the ground, while another one is able to move heavy objects with its gigantic hands, and another can cut lines of energy with its sword. In this region, there are also some platform challenges: we to use the chain to jump through huge gaps or move fast between vanishing platforms, or use the chain to make our Legion float to a distant place where the protagonist can jump to.

But listing the things we can do in the game is a daunting task. We can save and adopt stray kittens, clean the streets from litter, find children who got lost from their parents, and, unfortunately, even arrest street artists. Astral Chain keeps presenting new mechanics to the player at a rapid speed, and even new legions are acquired periodically.

However, the Astral Plane is a paradoxical location. While it’s a place where the gameplay is very varied, it’s also the most visually generic location in the game. The Astral Plane is made of only obsidian blocks and blood-red crystals. It can be an oppressive location at first, but after the fourth visit, it becomes visually repetitive. And we have to visit it much, much more than four times.

Bu the game shines in the way that it gives different uses to the same object or element. Each of our Legion’s abilities, for example, have a specific function while exploring the environment, but also another one during combat: the dog Legion can find hidden enemies in battle, while the one with big hands can throw things at them, and we can change them on the fly. The chain that connects the protagonist to their Legion can also tie up enemies, repel some attacks, be used to dodge others, and even to jump on enemies.

Astral Chain is an action game where we control three characters at the same time: the protagonist, their active Legion, and the chain that connects both of them. The main character has just one attack button, but three weapons that can be switched on the fly. During combat, we have to perform a simple combo that ends with a synch attack with a Legion, while dodging incoming blows. But we’re also commanding the Legion, which thankfully attacks automatically, having to use their special abilities and attacks. And, at the same time, we are also moving the chain across the battlefield, tying up enemies, blocking attacks, and using it to send the Legion to attack specific enemies. The combat, therefore, is very complex, as the player has to manage a lot of things simultaneously while dealing with a lot of enemies.

However, not all things work in the game. The RPG elements, for example, are tacked on and feel like they have no impact whatsoever: each Legion has a small skill tree, which gives them new abilities and slightly better stats, and each one can equip the loot that the enemies drop to also boost those stats, but the practical difference all these things make is insignificant in the normal difficulty.

Between main missions, the player is also encouraged to “clean” their Legion from red matter, lest they become less effective. This so-called Maintenance is just busywork we have to do before starting each chapter: we hold a button while aiming at an infected spot in our Legion and pray the red matter is wiped out before the Legion decides to move. And it’s encouraged that we do this with every Legion after every chapter. If the goal was to make the player bond with the Legions, the effect is actually the opposite.

Talking about red matter, the acting of collecting them across every stage is also needless busywork, since they rarely challenge the player in the same vein coins in a Mario game do, although they try to, being placed in apparent out-of-reach locations – the problem is that most of them just require the player to extend the chain so that their Legion can reach those locations.

Finally, the level design is full of secrets to uncover, filled with hidden chests and portals to battles in the Astral Plane, which usually hides new enemies and even bosses. Sometimes, however, the artificiality of the design becomes very apparent: there is one moment for example, in which we must find higher ground so that we can send our legion to a far-away platform, but there is a staircase leading to that very platform, which we simply cannot use, although similar ones can be used just a few steps away.

Astral Chain may suffer from a poor story and some bad or underdeveloped ideas, but it manages to make up for it with its unique blend of genres and complex combat system.

January 30, 2020.