ASTRAL CHAIN

Developer PlatinumGames Publisher Nintendo Format Switch

This has been a testing generation for Platinum, the master of balletic Japanese action. The Osaka studio’s foray into licensed tie-ins may have given us the pleasantly surprising Transformers Devastation, but it also netted us the forgettable Legend Of Korra and nightmarish TMNT: Mutants In Manhattan. Scalebound, Hideki Kamiya’s much-vaunted Xbox One exclusive, was cancelled; two years on from its announcement, we’ve seen nothing of Bayonetta 3 but a logo. The studio’s sole success this generation, Nier: Automata, would have been half the game without the services of on-loan game director Yoko Taro. Given recent history, our hopes were not exactly high for Astral Chain; given an almost total lack of promotion – it wasn’t playable at E3 this year, despite being weeks from release – we feared a stinker.

Rarely have we been so happy to be proved wrong. First-time director Takahisa Taura was lead combat designer on Automata, and it shows in a game that’s better at story, sidequests and world-building than his employer’s previous work. But it’s a Platinum game first and foremost, with a deliciously deep combat system that, while remaining faithful to house style and borrowing specific ideas from the studio back catalogue, has an identity all its own.

The reasons are legion. Well, Legion. Half a dozen summonable beasts, switchable in realtime and attached to the protagonist by the titular chain, afford tremendous flexibility in a combat system that pushes Platinum’s flair for melee action to even greater heights. Each has a unique ability for use off the battlefield, too, which allow Platinum’s level designers to add a new dimension of puzzling to proceedings. Oozing cyberpunk style, it’s as easy on the eyes as it is thrilling for the thumbs. Platinum, we’re sorry we ever doubted you.