Astral Chain Director Talks Sequel Potential, Says Game Wasn't Intended To Be Beginner-Friendly

Have got the game gonna get switch lite. Looking forward to it xx

The game most certainly is not beginner friendly, and I'm okay with that.

You can do well enough and not die but you're score will probably stink until you nail down the mechanics.

I am only at file 7 but the game is fantastic. The investigation side can be a little long if you choose to complete everything, but I find the action part better than Bayonetta and NieR: Automata. Unless the second part sucks, I am 100% sure to buy the sequel if they make one.

Definitly not begginer friendly, yet really good. Bring the sequence. We want it!

Uh oh don't tell Forbes that. They aren't a fan of games that require skill and effort.

I dig it. With Bayonetta getting a 3rd act... whenever they finish the thing... they could use a new franchise

I just finished it. Really really great game. The regular, police work, investigation aspect was actually my favourite part and the location design and graphics were gorgeous. A sequel would be great

This is definitely one of PlatinumGames most approachable titles. It is notably less campy than their other popular titles and although it is designed to please hardcore gamers it isn't entirely designed around them.

@Kalmaro They did a good job of introducing the different main combat systems individually.

I had issues with the platforming, though.

I love this game so much! Its my favourite game on Switch!!!!!!

Weird...the game is easy as eff, once you upgrade a little. For any kind of challenge you have to replay levels at harder modes. Overall I feel like this game is the most beginner friendly of any Platinum titles I've played (including Star Fox Zero, lol).

@Galenmereth Same here. Total classic inverse difficulty curve in this game, and once you upgrade a little, it's really easy. To play it with any kind of challenge you have to replay levels you cleared and unlocked a harder mode for it. Director's comment is like a classic "whomever smelt it, dealt it" comment.

Would love a part 2!. Difficulty was fine - But really need to fix a few things.

@ballistic90 I did a fair share if falling off stuff!

I hated when I would zip to my legion or I'd dodge and go flying off the platform. Oh well...

@Dang69 Depends on how you define a challenge. For me, as this is a platinum game, I don't consider myself doing well unless I got perfect scores.

I got pretty much all Cs on the files. On one hand, it was easy as I didn't die much. On the other hand, I played like garbage, haha.

@BarefootBowser I liked both, and both are pretty hard but both also offer ways to make the game easy if you want to relax and just press buttons or whatever.

The second one was better imo but that's not to speak less of the first game. Both are good.

@Kalmaro Fair enough BUT BUT BUT, I'd argue the allowing of one to pass at all no matter what kind makes a thing beginner friendly. Right? Cuz there's parts in other Platinum games where you can def goof up, and escape by the skin of your teeth with a low rank OR see the death screen. Dunno why they didn't just include that harder mode you unlock after clearing levels from the get go. After I unlocked baton and Legion stuff a few times...it's kinda...eh.

@BarefootBowser Seriously I won't even play the first one anymore. Buy the second one and try it out, I find the second Bayonetta is vastly superior. I had very little fun in the first Bayonetta, some of the bosses hit like tanks. Which isn't a massive issue but it is once the cutscene finishes and I would get hit before I even knew the cutscene was over. Boom 50% health gone!

Bayonetta two is better in every way, shape, and form.

This game surprised me in the beggining, the combat was so crap that I was about to return it, but I dragged throught to File 2 and i'm glad I purchased it now.

If they do release a sequel then i hope they we can go to the outside world and I hope they give us more lore.

@Big-Pepsi Tbh I agree. I was scratching my head at first since they did say that the game would be slower. The combat just dragged at first, I kept asking myself, "is this all I am going to do the whole time." Yeah I was quickly reminded that this was a platinum game lol

@BarefootBowser Look up youtube videos about "dodge offset". Focus on practicing that one mechanic for a bit as it opens up a lot of gameplay avenues. Also, you may want to just start with Bayonetta 2 because it is easier to get into. It will spoil some things, but the story is nonsense anyway. Really no big loss.

@Dang69 I guess they viewed casual as the 'tutorial'

Now the real game starts.

@Big-Pepsi Yeah, I was thinking to myself that the combat didn’t feel that good, and was getting worried. Luckily it turned around fairly quickly.

@Dang69 I don't know. I find the latter R3 missions on file 12 kind of difficult. Not super hard but making a simple mistake can cost your life and 20 minutes of your time. Some of those missions take me 30 minutes waiting for cooldowns like blue shield and being careful to dodge heavy enemy attacks with doggie.

Whether or not it was intended, I have no problem with games like this to be made more accessible for newcomers. I haven't played it yet, but if I recall, there are ways to adjust the difficulty.

to be honest Astral Chain is not a hard game its just the controls that take time getting use to the game itself is fairly easy also i do expect a sequel to happen seeing how the game ends

So, is this game actually fun? Some people seem to really like it, and others complain about it being 'blues clues' and lacking in whatever they think would make a good game.

I really need to get back to this game! Great stuff.

@B-Locks I'm not that far yet. So here's hoping

Astral Chain is for core action fans. This game takes real skill to play and I love it.

@Kalmaro agreed. I’m not that used to these kind of games and while I still made it to the end, my scores were poor for at least the first third of the game

Games should have difficulty settings capable of meeting the full range of gamers, obvs sometimes this can’t work it might break the core concept but most games can have a story and nightmare mode.

I'm right at the end, and I thought the game was... Okay. Definitely not what I wanted after playing Bayonetta and Nier Automata. I wasn't a fan of the detective segments at all, and the mute protagonist really took me out of the story.

I am doing pretty well imo but still getting D ranks. Keeps me motivated

Personally I don't find this game beginner friendly at all. The combat is way too complicated and just turns into a mash-fest, judging you all the while for not being able to navigate two characters at once while perfect dodging, aiming focus attacks, chain launching and whatever-else-have you...
Meanwhile when you're not in combat you're still in claustrophobic, walled-in environments with no realistic breathing space...
While playing as a personality-less silent protagonist who works for the bloody police... Arresting graffiti artists and such...
Still I'm keeping the game and I'm proud to have it on my shelf - the cyber style is laid on so thick it's very existence is an asset to the cool factor of the Switch itself.

I haven't played this yet, but 'not beginner friendly' is a big selling point for me.

@Peterjr1 Me too. So many people complain about the investigations but they were nearly my favorite part of the game. Now some of that platforming could use some work.

the final boss is really hard with his multi forms.

@derrin it’s fun, but for a action game the pacing could be better.

Bayonetta is better for this type of game. I'd rather mash buttons than remembering which Pokemon to use and which button to press.

If you put this game down for 2 days and played other games, it will be hard to continue. There's too much to learn and remember. FE:3H is the same but at least you can stop to think, Astral Chain is a fast pace action game with no breathing space.

I don't think it was easy, the last boss and some of file 12 I'm working through was pretty brutal for me. None of it felt cheap though, it's just a really cool combat system! The only thing I'd want to improve is make it easier to switch lock-on targets, I felt the same way about Bayonetta 1 (haven't played 2 yet)...

It's odd that he would say it wasn't intended to be beginner friendly when the game actually has two easy modes. I've never played a Platinum game before, or many games at all similar to this really, so I've been playing on casual mode and found it very approachable.

@Dogorilla Platinum games have been about the scores. Beating a level is usually easy. Beating it and scoring higher than a C, that's when things get tricky.

@JohnE I got a big kick out of chasing my 'dog' around. I kinda wish I could do that more often.

@Kalmaro Yeah that makes sense, but the fact they included casual mode and unchained mode (neither of which have ranks at all) makes it seem like they were trying to have an approachable option for beginners, so I'm a bit surprised the director is saying he didn't intend for it to be beginner friendly.

The game could be improved greatly if conversations were skippable, old tutorials stop popping up every time you replay a file, and quitting a file instead of being forced to complete it.

Astral Chain 2 sounds like a big probability considering the game has sold well. Can’t wait for Astral Chain 2 on Switch!

If it makes me almost throw my switch and makes me look up how to's, its definetly not begginer friendly. But a good game none the less