ASTRAL CHAIN (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.0.1 Update

ASTRAL CHAIN, In this game you will be a part of a unique police unit that fights against enigmatic extraterrestrial beings who have infiltrated our planet. The setting of the game is Ark, a multicultural metropolis set in the not-too-distant future. Recently, a portal has emerged from an alternate dimension, giving rise to perilous creatures that attack humans, polluting the environment. This is a 2019 action-adventure hack-and-slash video game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Nintendo for Nintendo Switch. It was directed by Takahisa Taura, who was previously the lead game designer for Nier: Automata, under supervision by Devil May Cry and Bayonetta series creator Hideki Kamiya, and character designs by manga artist Masakazu Katsura.

GAMEPLAY

Astral Chain is an action-adventure game where the player assumes the role of a detective from the “Neuron” special police task force, who is tasked with solving cases and investigating incidents that take place in “The Ark”, the game’s main world. Exploring the world, questioning non-playable characters, and examining evidence yield clues and logic puzzles that become “leads” which further the investigation process. During the game the player will access the “Astral Plane”, an interdimensional area where they must traverse hazardous terrain, solve puzzles, and battle enemies, similar to traditional video game dungeons.

The player can summon a tethered familiar known as a “Legion”, bound by a chain that is the game’s namesake. Legions come in various forms sporting different abilities that are used both for puzzle-solving and combat. These include: a sword-based Legion with swift blade attacks that can be used to sever circuitry and interrupt enemy attacks, an archer Legion that can target weak points and distant switches, a Legion with powerful punches that can move large objects, an axe-based Legion that generates a shield and can destroy breakable objects and enemy shields, and a K9 Legion that can track scents, unearth hidden objects, and also be ridden for added mobility and evasiveness.

The player begins the game with the Sword Legion, capturing the other four throughout the game. Legions can be swapped at any time during battle, and can also be upgraded via experience points and unlockable skills. On top of the player’s health, Legions have their health meter that gradually depletes while they are summoned, and they are also susceptible to enemy attacks, which depletes higher amounts of their health. Their health regenerates automatically when they’re not active. If the entirety of a Legion’s health is depleted, the player becomes unable to utilize it until it has restored all of its health.

Combat takes place in real-time, both melee and ranged weapons are used to fight enemies, predominantly the malevolent race of “Chimeras”. The player can summon the Legion during combat to have them automatically fight with the player to create combo attacks. The Legion can be manually directed with the right analog stick, allowing the player to position the Legion for more specific maneuvers. Each Legion also has a unique “Legion Action” that allows the player to take direct control over a Legion’s signature ability, such as manually aiming and firing projectiles with the Archer Legion, or using the Arm Legion as protective armor that can hover over hazardous terrain and attack with a flurry of punches.

Additional skills include being able to perform powerful health-restorative finishing moves, unchaining a Legion to summon multiple at once, using the chain that connects the player to the Legion to bind enemies—referred to as a “Chain Bind”—and also using the chain as an arresting wire on enemies that attempt charging into the player—referred to as a “Chain Counter”. The player is also able to utilize the chain to zip line out of danger through enemy crowds, as well as crossing gaps and bottomless pits between buildings and platforms.

Completing combos, interrupting enemy attacks, restraining enemies, dodging, and deploying a Legion at the correct moment will offer the player a chance to perform a sync attack, requiring the player to press the left trigger at the right instant, similar to a quick time event. Sync attacks can extend combos, trigger special attacks, bind enemies, and help the player recover from a fall. After performing a large number of sync attacks, the player may fuse with their Legion for a short while to recover health and deal large amounts of damage.

SETTING AND CHARACTERS

Astral Chain is set in the year 2078 when humanity is on the brink of extinction. The remnants of the human populace have retreated to a megacity called “The Ark”, which rests on a massive artificial island. The world is under attack by interdimensional lifeforms called “Chimeras”, which reside in the “Astral Plane”; a vast parallel dimension composed of crystallized data that is uninhabitable to humans. The Chimeras cause destruction, drag civilians into the Astral Plane via wormholes, and spread “red matter” that corrupts living things and humans. To combat the Chimeras, the “Neuron” Police Task Force is employed. They utilize “Legions”—subservient Chimeras that have been tethered to an officer via a psychic chain—to assist with combat and investigation.

The player assumes the role of one of two twin police officers with the family name Howard, who joins Neuron early into the game as a recruit. The player-selected character has a custom first name and identity, whereas their opposite-gender sibling is given the name Akira Howard. The two twins were adopted by their father and current Neuron Captain, Maximilian Howard. Other characters include Neuron Commander and scientific genius Yoseph Calvert, Chief Medical Officer and scientist Brenda Moreno, fellow veteran officers Alicia Lopez and Jin Wong who assist the players on the field, Neuron Dispatcher and former TV newscaster Olive Espinosa, and the Neuron Office Manager Marie Wentz. The Neuron officers are also assisted by a hacker named Harold “Hal” Clark, who pilots a modified field drone.

STORY

The Player and Akira are dispatched to respond to an aberration attack but are quickly outmatched by Chimeras. The twins are saved by Neuron officers Max, Alicia, and Jin, who wield Legions capable of fighting them. Yoseph assigns Legions to the Player and Akira, enabling them to repel the Chimeras. Afterward, the twins are both formally inducted into Neuron. Their first investigation mission goes awry when the Player ends up being pulled into the Astral Plane, causing the rest of the squad to pursue them into the Astral Plane to save them. Due to prolonged Astral Plane exposure having the effect of weakening humans, the Neuron officers lose control over their Legions, causing them to break free and go berserk. In the end, only the Player is successful in subduing their Legion. Max battles the remaining frenzied Legions and sacrifices himself to allow the rest of the squad to escape. Meanwhile, Neuron’s Legion production facility is attacked and put out of commission, leaving the Player as the only officer with access to a Legion.

The Player is sent on further missions to respond to Chimera attacks, eventually recapturing the lost Legions in the process. During this time, the twins come into contact with Dr. Jena Anderson, a former pupil of Yoseph’s who is instigating Chimera attacks and bears a grudge against UNION, the Ark’s ruling government. She manages to critically wound Akira while evading capture and leaves behind clues for the Player to investigate Zone 09, a quarantined section of the Ark which Neuron officers are forbidden from entering. The Player goes undercover and explores Zone 09 with Hal, discovering that UNION developed a drug called Blue Evolve that could allow humans to fight Chimeras, which also carried the side effect of turning the users into Aberrations. After battling one of Jena’s chimeric homunculi, they are saved by a recovered Akira, who has obtained a new Legion. As a result of entering Zone 09 without permission, the Player is jailed for insubordination, and Hal goes into hiding to avoid arrest.

After another wave of Chimera attacks occurs, Neuron is forced to provisionally release the Player to combat them. Jena stages a large-scale invasion of the Ark, announcing her intention to save humanity by merging Earth with the Astral Plane, which serves as a collective memory bank of humanity. The skirmish leaves Neuron’s headquarters defenseless, allowing Jena to infiltrate it and take Yoseph hostage. The twins arrive to rescue Yoseph, causing Jena to power herself up with Blue Evolve before battling the Player. During the battle, the Player unwittingly ends up fully merging with their Legion and goes berserk, attacking Akira. Jena distracts the transformed Player and sacrifices herself in the process, warning them that this is the true form of their Legion’s power. Yoseph then calls in the Ravens—a newly created task force of Legion users—and orders them to kill the Player, causing them to fall off an overpass.

The Player wakes up back in their human form, having been rescued by Hal and Olive, and brought into a hiding place in Zone 09. Hal explains that Yoseph has largely replaced Neuron with the Ravens and is actively hunting the Player, accusing them of treason. While carrying out a covert rescue operation to retrieve Brenda from Neuron, the crew is confronted by Akira, who tries to convince the Player to return to Neuron, but they are ambushed by the Raven unit, revealing themselves to be clones of Akira. The Ravens attack Akira, causing Akira to inadvertently merge with their Legion and go on a rampage. To stop Akira, the Player willingly merges with their own Legion and manages to knock Akira back into their human form.