Topic: Astral Chain - Slickest Looking Game On Switch?

Hi Everyone,

Over the last couple of days i have been playing astral chain and loving it to bits. Its quite intense and seems to have a lot of combos to master, but the gameplay is tight and really enjoyable. What I wanted to talk about was the graphics though. Not only does the mix of 2D and 3D cell shaped art style look fantastic but so far I have experienced no slowdown or frame rate drops during my playtime. I know the art style isn't to everyone's taste, but it definitely ticks all the right boxes for me, so I have to say that aside from BOTW I think this is one the slickest graphical games on the switch. What do all of you think? is it the most slickest looking game on switch, and if not which one do you think is. Let me know your thoughts below.

@Lotrobella It does look quite striking, and Breath of the Wild is definitely a very pretty looking game. The lighting at dawn is particularly good.

Other games that look really great on Switch.

Furi
Return of the Obra Dinn
What Remains of Edith Finch
Hellblade
Splatoon 2
Samurai Shodown
Xenoblade Chronicles

Platinum make great looking games generally and they've got a few more on the Switch. Wonderful 101 has a few issues with performance, but both Bayonettas are great and the second game would probably be my pick for the top spot. It's just got a wonderful aesthetic overall, and the character designs really mesh with their stories and voice acting.

The Xenoblade games look great, but suffer from frame rate drops, pop-in, and hefty resolution drops when handheld. There's also way too much fan service in the second game for its own good.

Crysis and Doom are visual benchmarks on everything that can run them. The Switch is impressive to be even able to play them handheld.

For cool visual styles among indie games, I'd recommend Gris and Hollow Knight.

I'd have Link's Awakening as the better looking of the Zelda games. It's just a shame that they couldn't get a solid 60fps out of it.

@Matt_Barber Yeah Xenoblade 2 looks alright, but I don't think it excels anywhere visually other that fight choreography. When I was thinking of Xenoblade, I meant the original. The scene in particular was Saturl Marsh turning from day to night. That was so cool and unexpected, the first time you see it.

Dragon Quest XI S is up there with some of the prettiest games. So is The Witcher III. The only proviso is that both look better on other platforms (especially the latter) - but they are still two of the best-looking titles on any handheld.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 also deserves a shout, as do Kirby and Yoshi. In terms of smooth action, though, Astral Chain is definitely right up there - maybe with Splatoon 2 in the mix.

Astral Chain is definitely one of the best-looking switch games, I think the only one that I would put near it is Luigi's Mansion 3.

Yeah, Astral Chain has really slick art direction (it also stands out as one of the few system exclusives with a heavy sci-fi aesthetic). My favorite Switch exclusive of 2019 for sure.

I hope I can get the hang of it. I got it on sale for $40 or something like that. Could not resist.

I'm torn on this game being better than Bayonetta2. Usually I don't like stuff that isn't playing the game, like say detective sequences, but the combat is so good.

Honestly, even the detective parts are reletively fun (k, maybe not for getting plat)

The intro is tits, and I'm even into the anime cop demons or whatever. The art is great, and the music is waaay better than Bayonetta2.

Keeping my physical copy for sure.

Yep.

...but yeah, to stay on topic lol, it looks great...it's not 60fps, but it's stable enough I don't care

It is definitely one of the best looking Switch games.

Honestly that's why I wish they could've pulled off 60 FPS. Not only would it play even better that way, but it would just look even smoother. People bring up 60 FPS for gameplay reasons and I'm not as hardcore as some people about that, but it is something more games should strive for. Because not only does it lead to an even better gameplay experience, but the smooth 60 FPS just makes a game that much more subtly impressive (less subtle if you really notice this stuff). Like if anything could've made the Wii U seem impressive and worthwhile to a larger audience, it would've been Mario Kart 8 at 60 FPS. Still looks incredible to this day.

All that being said, regardless, play Astral Chain, it's really good.

My take on frame rates is that I went from playing Nier:Automata on PC at a steady 60 to Astral Chain on the Switch at a steady 30 and it honestly didn't matter one jot. Hats off to Platinum for nailing it with the gameplay.