When Astral Chain was announced earlier this year, it was easy to forgive some mild scepticism from Nintendo fans. Wait, another anime-styled action title from PlatinumGames, and one that's less than a year from release? While the studio has built up an incredibly solid reputation with titles like Bayonetta, The Wonderful 101 and Vanquish, it has also produced the likes of The Legend of Korra and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan. Given the astonishingly short period of time between announcement and proposed August release, it's easy to see why some would ponder if Astral Chain is set to be another B-grade release from PlatinumGames; a filler title designed to slot into the development schedule in-between the real big-hitters.
Given that the announcement trailer gave us little to go on in terms of gameplay, such negativity was perhaps warranted, but we were lucky enough to attend a preview session recently that has totally flipped our expectations on their head. While we didn't dismiss the game out of hand following its initial reveal, we admit to being slightly underwhelmed; now, however, we're can help but feel supremely confident that with Nier: Automata director Takahisa Taura at the wheel and all-round gaming legend Hideki Kamiya supervising, Astral Chain is shaping up to be one of the best Switch games of 2019.
Platinum Games faces a talent drain as five senior developers, including directors behind Astral Chain and Bayonetta 3, reportedly leave the studio.
Even if they buy them, they'd be buying a shell of a studio at this point. Almost everyone that mattered to the studio is gone.
Never a good sign. They lost Hideki Kamiya, which was arguably the top tier of their talent list. So, seeing this is like the writing on the wall. They got Ninja Gaiden 4 coming, so hopefully that’ll deliver and keep them going.
VGChartz's Mark Nielsen: "The Nintendo Switch has been one Nintendo’s most successful systems ever, both measured by the number of units sold and the quality of its titles, but if there’s one thing this generation has been missing it would have to be the Nintendo Selects line, bringing existing titles that had paid their dues back at bargain prices. With the Switch now entering its twilight years, and there being few new titles in store for the foreseeable future, what better time could there be to bring back this tried-and-true tradition? While the actual realization of it may be doubtful given how rigid both hardware and software prices have become in recent years, that only gives us all the more reason to dream up a hypothetical lineup of our own.
For this article the specific focus will not be on those massive multi-million evergreens that the lineup would no doubt contain a few of to cement its value, but instead on games that for one reason or another fell short of their full potential the first time around and deserve a second chance to reach more players at an affordable price. Let’s get started."
I really want Xenoblade Chronicles X on the Switch, can't believe that hasen't been ported. I'm playing Skyward Sword at the moment and I'm almost finished, but it's so long and the controls are so bad, even without motion. Astral Chain is fantastic though, they should make a sequel.
Daily Video Game writes: "Today, Amazon has just kicked off a new digital sale on several games for Nintendo Switch gamers, offering up to 67% off on many popular first-party and third-party titles such as Luigi's Mansion 3, Cult of the Lamb, and many more right now!"
