 When I sat down to write this video, I didn't really know where to begin. I found myself sitting there staring at a blank page wondering what to talk about first. I mean heck with the way YouTube works and everyone's short attention spans these days You'll probably click off the video five minutes in and miss some awesome thing I talked about six minutes in but then if I take that and put it at the start so you don't miss it Whatever I was gonna talk about you'll end up missing that instead and we're right back at square one So I can't win. Well wait no I know how to solve this It's so obvious. I'll just talk about everything first at the same time Okay, clearly that's not going to work So you're just gonna have to promise Pinky swear to me that you'll sit through this entire video because it's the only way I'm gonna get through all of it sanely also part of the deal here You kind of gotta smash that like button and have flip on the subscribe button I would do it, but I'm way down with chains. I'm kind of choking. Ah Subscribe. All right, let's just get the music in this game out of the way first since I'll only take a couple seconds The music is um, how do you put it really really freaking good? Every song on this soundtrack is an absolute banger And if you don't believe me boot up this soundtrack on YouTube and pick any one of the 31 songs And I guarantee you you'll want to start opening up that mosh pit in no time It's no surprise really considering the lead composer is the same guy that did bayonetta 2 and near automata These kick-ass tracks will pump through the entire game and that is a perfect companion to the entire adventure Amping you up for fights or just chilling you down as you run around the precinct It's just a really freaking cool soundtrack And that's a perfect segue than any into the next part of this review and that's that this game It oozes cool from the story to the settings the characters the animations the fights the gameplay the visuals the colors Obviously the music being able to pet your legions like it's a freaking Pokemon I mean there isn't a single part of this game that couldn't thump on a broken jukebox to fix it Honestly think that the only real way to describe this game It's just in one word and that's cool and then maybe like a nine out of ten stars next to it I'd give it a ten out of ten, but the platforming did my head in All right the story so it has you playing either as the guy or the gal depending on your preference You're one half of a set of twins twins that harness the ability to chain and control legions now All of this plays out like the best anime you haven't watched yet like seriously This has to get adapted into an anime at some point It's just too good of a concept the world has gone to hell in a hand basket And there's only a few human survivors living on a man-made island called the Ark and now the astral plane is being torn A new one and the world is under attack once again by Khmeras. This is where you and your chained Legions come in to save the day. Wow, it's all like it's coming together now, and I still can't freaking breathe man Like come on a few people left alive in the world have the ability to catch the things Destroying the world and use them for good and they're attached by a freaking chain There's even a nifty animation for when you catch one akin to something like the Sailor Moon transformations I don't know what I look forward to more watching these characters pull off crazy moves in the cutscenes are actually getting to Do them myself while I play. In fact, you know what? I'll show you exactly what I mean Honestly, this was just an excuse to sit down. Oh Man stuff to put my switch in the dock Leave it to Platinum games to somehow re-innovate the genre with entirely new gameplay mechanics You would think literally being chained to another character would be restricting in some way You would think that would be restricting but rather they managed to open doors to all new possibilities Not only can you simultaneously control both yourself and your legion But the actual physical chain between both of you can and should be used as a weapon And trust me I wouldn't want to get hit in the face with this and I know that because I've hit myself in the face with This multiple times well-filming with the old one two chain yank You don't physically attack as your legion unless you're triggering a combo or using an ability the legions will seek out enemies on their own You have quite a few options in the gameplay here You yourself can switch between a sword a baton and a gun as well as being able to dodge and if timed right You can follow up into a heavy attack Then you have your legion and depending on which one is active at the time will change up how you play again For example your sword legion will favor being up close, but your arrow legion will favor hanging back Personally, I love having my sword legion break his chain and rush in with a flurry of attacks Well, I sit back with my gun and arrow legion and help him by firing off into sidelines Then of course as I said we do have the chain and they can be used in many different ways The main one will be tying up the bad guys if you run circles around them with your legion They'll get trapped this can help stun enemies during battles or capture near-do wells escaping on foot Your legions can also yank you towards them using the chain which can be used in the battles or in the before mentioned platforming Which we'll get to My favorite use of the chain though is when an enemy is charging at you You can create a trip wire and send them flying back in the direction they came from you can also unlock abilities That will trigger your legions to do things like electrify the chain or rain arrows down along it There's more on top of all of that, but you get the point It's up to you to invent your own style with the mechanics they give you also apparently the cute cuddly koalas are all dead in this universe So that's a negative although if you've ever actually heard a koala before Maybe it's not all that bad, but this game isn't all my hero Texas smash moments and fast-paced gameplay That would make Dante's head spin. There's a whole nother side to this game That's actually pretty chilled out and methodical You're also giving Batman a run for his money here on with gadgets such as an iris scanner That works pretty much like Bruce Wayne's bat detective mode thingy it highlights things of interest collectibles mission goals people lost cats trash Yeah, trash this game has a lot of trash a Lot of trash. Oh, and I'm mad by the way because apparently finding lost cats is a thing And I didn't find out until halfway through the game Why did no one tell me about this like how many cats have I missed how many cats are out there in the rain and the dark and the cold Without a home nowhere to go because I didn't know I was supposed to be looking for them I just want to take care of them. I want to hug them. I want to hug them all, but I can't hug every cat I can't hug every kind of cat Anyway, other than cats and cans there's a ton of stuff You can interact with in the world while you're out talking to witnesses and solving cases like healing people who are down with the sickness or Buying ice cream that stacked unreasonably high and it's in the little details that this game really shines This isn't just a stupidly stacked pile of dairy It's a stupidly stacked pile of dairy that I have complete control over and need to balance using the motion controls while I walk There was no need for this, but they did it anyway Oh, come on you got to be kidding me these exploration parts of the game are great It really gives you the feel for this world they've built there are tons of side missions and optional things you can do you can explore Anyway, you want well almost anywhere. You don't want to go being all dr. Disrespectful But even the optional stuff is really fun and fleshed out Oh, and I think it's funny that abbreviated this game is AC You know like Assassin's Creed and there's an optional mission where you actually have to tail a guy and blend in with crowds Don't worry though. It's only like a one-time two-minute thing. It's not the entire game or anything like that Platinum decided to leave that so, you know every Assassin's Creed game after the second one There is a lot of cosmetic customization in this game as well from your outfits to the colors and even the colors of your legions I appreciated all of that now I can walk around with a crow on my head I was almost worried that I wouldn't be able to do that Astral chain is pretty sizable in length too much longer than your typical story driven action game Mostly due to how absorbed I became in all the optional stuff I would say a lot of my gameplay is spent digging in treasure piles and picking up cans. It's dumb how fun This is oh my god. Oh God a Home Depot I thought buy some chains I thought wear them for the video I thought it'll be funny It'll be a goof in a gap The only thing in this game that I don't like it is the platforming you can't jump in this game So the only way to cross gaps during the platforming is with the old one-two chain yank. Oh But while it works perfectly fine in combat for some reason it doesn't feel tight and responsive enough for platforming But the chain yank crank isn't something you really have to do that often So it's fine, but literally my only deaths in this game were caused by this thing Now something I do find hilarious All the salt over this game on the user reviews on sites like Metacritic Before this game launched and game reviewers had it in their hands and the review started pouring in it was like 9 out of 10 across the board which it fully deserves But then as of the time I was writing this video out The user score was very different It was at a 6 out of 10 and here is why actually I had to do research into this and I found out apparently after its release The game became a target of review bombing for reasons ranging from its nature as a Nintendo Switch Exclusive game in other words people were literally review bombing this game Because it's only on Nintendo Switch because it's and have they never heard the concept of exclusive game before But it actually looks like as of recording this now That Metacritic at least the site I was using Deleted a lot of those negative reviews and has boosted the user review up to 9 They didn't actually delete all of the negative reviews So what was it you might be thinking that made people rate this game a game That is an 8 or 9 out of 10 in my opinion a lot of people's opinions rate this game a lower score than games like Fallout 76 and No Man's Sky and the recurring theme I saw in all these reviews that rated at zero Was that this Nintendo Switch portable handheld game runs at 30 frames? No, what to say to that? And most of the other bad reviews were people complaining that it's a Nintendo Switch exclusive So they gave it a zero for that so naturally I wanted to go through some of these people that you know gave it a zero and see what it is that they Actually do like what games they actually enjoy, but surprise surprise Pretty much every one of these accounts giving it a zero out of ten or a one out of ten It's the only game they've ever reviewed it's like a throwaway account They made because they were upset they couldn't play it so I thought so I found this one during gamer 25 Who only seems to deal in absolutes everything he rated was either a hard zero or a perfect ten Like Crash Team Racing is a perfect game, but Sonic Racing needs some work And don't get him started with Mario maker 2. Wait a second. This guy's literally given a zero to every switch game He's reviewed And then there's this guy who actually did love Mario maker 2, but gave Mario 64 a zero because it um Aged badly, but Sonic Unleashed now. That's that's a perfect ten because it's pretty decent Breath of the Wild zero smash brothers ultimate zero red dead redemption on Xbox Crap, of course, but red dead redemption on PlayStation Now that's a game and this is why you shouldn't always listen to reviews or what people say or even what I say You make up your own damn mind and you try things for yourself Thank you platinum games because we all need more innovative and original IPs like this one that are just oozing with cool Astral chain is worth trying for yourself and as of right now It's in my top five favorite switch games what else is in my top five favorite switch games Well, not Super Mario maker because as we all know that game is a zero. Hey Subscribe or I'll wrap this chain around your neck next. I know that's aggressive, but that's you too. See you next time