Astral Chain

While the majority of PlatinumGames fans are eagerly anticipating the release of Bayonetta 3 on the Switch, the next title the Japanese company is actually releasing on Nintendo's hybrid platform is the synergetic action game Astral Chain. It's being directed by Takahisa Taura, who was the lead designer on NieR: Automata.

During the Nintendo Treehouse: Live at E3 2019 earlier this week, Taura provided a little extra insight about the company's next release, where you take on the role of a rookie officer who is part of an elite police task force known as Neuron. At one point during the gameplay demo, though, a toilet was found, so he decided to add some context to a joke made by the Treehouse staff:

“So the toilet that you just saw is hidden in every stage, there’s a different a toilet, they’re a hidden element and if you find them all then something good will happen.”

So, just to make that clear – toilets are a "hidden element" in Astral Chain and you can even use them.

If searching for toilets isn't your kind of thing, then perhaps you would prefer to seek out cats. We're not joking about this, either. In a video posted over on Nintendo's of America's Twitter account, Taura briefly touched on all the cats in the game:

“Lots of cats appear. Various kinds of cats appear and you can find them in all kinds of places. And so searching for them is fun."

If at this point you're trying to make sense of what the hell Astral Chain is actually about, here's the rundown from the official Nintendo PR:

In this new synergetic action game from PlatinumGames, humanity’s last chance against an interdimensional invasion is a sentient weapon called the Legion. As a rookie officer in an elite police task force, players will work together with their Legion to solve cases and save humankind. Players can change Legions on the fly to vary their style and unleash stylish combos. As they save the world from extradimensional invaders called chimeras, they’ll also interact with citizens, question suspects and team up with members of their task force to solve cases.

Taura briefly explained the premise himself during the Treehouse:

"The game is set essentially in the near future on earth and all the land of the earth is under attack from another dimension, where's it's being polluted by this mysterious matter."

As the director puts it, clearing up the "red matter" in the game is actually as addictive as collecting coins in Super Mario:

“You can use your Legion to steer it around and clear up the red matter that’s scattered around, and that becomes kind of like using Mario to collect coins”

So, what do you think about Astral Chain now that you know you can search for cats and toilets? Is this a title you were already looking forward to playing? Share your thoughts below.

[source youtu.be, via twitter.com]