Yesterday, during the Nintendo Direct stream, a new title from Bayonetta and Nier Automata developer Platinum Games was revealed. Titled Astral Chain, the game is set in a near-future city known as the Ark, where giant creatures, somewhat reminiscent of the angels from Neon Genesis Evangelion, appear to have run amok.
It’s a classic story: Citizens of a multi-cultural futuristic city are going on about their lives when a dimensional rift opens up letting giant scary creatures in to wreak havoc.
To combat this, the police force creates a special police unit known as Neuron. And that’s where the players come in to take on the role of an officer who is literally connected to a living weapon known as Legion by an astral chain. This weapon can transform into various mech types, two of which we’ve seen in the debut video, one more humanoid and another more dog-like.
The astral chain keeps them tied together so that they may execute moves that involve one of them tossing the other at the enemy, or working together to wrap their opponent in a chain. Interestingly, the combat seems inspired by an old PlayStation 2 game called Whiplash. Although, in that, you play as a weasel chained to a rabbit, and you can use the chain for more than fighting.
The game’s unique combat allows players to direct Legion to attack specific creatures during battle. This means that the duo can attack a single entity together or they can fight two different opponents.
For the more strategically minded, there’s also the option to send Legion in to do all the heavy lifting while the player character stands back and doles out support items.
For those wondering: Yes, you can choose your player character. At the beginning of the game, you can pick between a male or a female. Whichever character you don’t pick appears in the game as a member of Neuron and as your younger sibling.
The game also includes a two-player option for those wanting to bring along a friend.
Astral Chain is slated to launch on Nintendo Switch on August 30.
