Astral Chain is the latest from PlatinumGames, the same company that brought the likes of Nier: Automata and the two Bayonetta games to the world. Toted as a Synergetic Action game, Astral Chain gives gamers all around even more reason to get a Switch, if they haven't already done so.
For those who have played any of PlatinumGames previous games, they'll know that their games focus on high-speed, evasion based gameplay. Astral Chain doesn't disappoint here and even brings a lot of unique new mechanics to the forefront, most notable of these is the solo/co-op gameplay. But not all of these new features and as upfront. So here are 10 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do In Astral Chain.
10 Revisit Old Files
While there's nothing wrong with following along with the story in one large chunk, it's nice to be able to revisit old cases. This is doubly important for those of you who are completionists, for those who cannot bear to leave a game at any less than 100% complete. Astral Chain, just as Nier: Automata and others of PlatinumGames, allows you to revisit previous Files/Chapters.
This takes a lot of pressure off of the player's who strive for 100% and hey, if you miss an item somewhere, no worries, you can revisit that File again later. All you need to do is head on to Neuron HQ, log onto the interact-able PC and find the File Select option at the top. Now you can replay any old File you want.
9 Perform Sync Attacks
Initially, the combat in Astral Chain can feel very spammy and unsatisfying but as you unlock more tools it becomes that much more impressive. One of the most important of these tools is the sync attack. At the end of a combo, your screen will flash and your legatus will flash bright blue. Simply hit the ZL button to successfully perform a sync attack.
What type of Sync attack you do will depend on which legion you have equipped and which sync attack you've unlocked by this point. Another point towards how useful the sync attack is, during the special little cut scene that plays you are invincible.
8 Combo Legion Attacks
If you ever want to achieve the highest ranks in the game, you're going to need to be sure you know your combos. This isn't just limited to what you can do with your legion and character together, though that's important too. Instead, learn your legion's skill trees and how they can work together.
A skill that every legion can learn is the ability to break the chain and act on their own, while this doesn't seem useful at first, it does allow you to summon another legion right away. This can help you get out of a tough situation and refocus your efforts. One more thing, once you get access to multiple legions, you can switch to them by way of both a radial wheel or just tapping a button. Tapping is faster and if you organize your legions right, you can create your own interesting combo attacks.
7 Overheat Your Legion
An important aspect of the combat is keeping watch of your legions energy meter, if this hits zero, your legion will overheat. This means you will have to wait a much longer amount of time before you can summon it again. If you have a specific attack combo for your legions then you'd better hope the legion that did overheat isn't part of it.
So long as you're paying attention, this really shouldn't be an issue. You can dismiss your legion early and while the energy won't immediately return, it'll be much faster. Furthermore, as you upgrade your legatus, your legions will be able to stay out for much longer.
6 Cleaning Your Legion
In-between missions and when you return back to base, you may notice that a lot of the red junk you find has gotten all over your legions. This leads to a little petting mini-game in base where you can clean it all up. It's very much in the same vein as the petting from the pokemon games.
In that, it means that it doesn't really do anything except give you a slightly stronger connection to your legions. There has been speculation about whether this does anything because the game informs you that "A clean Legion is more cooperative and mobile" but nothing has been confirmed so far.
5 Photo Mode Is Useful
It seems like every major game nowadays has a photo mode for all of those gamers who just like appreciating the finer parts of in-game life. Now, there's nothing wrong with taking a picture of some cute animal, horrible monster or taking a selfie with either of those but it doesn't hurt to have it do something more as well.
In Astral Chain every photo you take of an enemy or NPC will be recorded in the games database along with additional information on said character. This can be invaluable for times when you take a break from the game and want to remember why a certain NPC was important or on what an enemy does.
4 Visiting The Toilet Fairy
As absurd as this might sound, there's a character in a bathroom stall that calls themselves the Toilet Fairy. Whether you choose to believe that they are a fairy or not doesn't matter. What does matter is that you get stuff from doing this kind of absurd side-quest. You find the Toilet Fairy in Neuron HQ and they ask you if you have any toilet paper they could have.
Depending on your sense of humor, you'll either find this to be funny or stupid. Regardless, you get loot from giving the toilet fairy toilet paper. There are hidden toilets in each File where you can find toilet paper to give. If you've been thorough with this and given every piece of toilet paper possible, you will complete the Sweet Release mission.
3 Jump
While the game very clearly teaches you how to chain jump, that's more of a horizontal thing. Throughout the world, you can use this chain jump to reach distances you might not think possible but doesn't exactly let you get to a higher level. For that the game expects you to use ladders.
However, there is another kind of jump you can do using a series of commands. Thanks to reddit user Smalten for this one. Pressing Back+Forward+ZR will allow you to gain that extra bit of height you need to ignore certain ladders. Once you've got it down, it's just a matter of finding out how many places this technique can be used.
2 Practice In The Training Room
This one can be overlooked pretty easily because there is a certain point early in the game where it becomes inaccessible. It doesn't take long to regain access but even then, it's almost hard-coded that, for these kinds of games, tutorials aren't necessary. But Astral Chain is a game that has some very unique combat features.
If you do decide to skip past the training room you can find yourself struggling to progress through the story as the enemies beat down on you. If you find this happening, take this a reminder to go and visit the training room. Not only will it teach you more about the combat but it can also just be a nice place to have fun with the combat. Not having to worry about progressing the story is nice if you find yourself with little time.
1 Collect Cats
Another fun and much less weird thing you can do is to collect cats. To actually access this you need to advance the story to the point where you unlock the cat sanctuary. If you're worried about missing it, don't, you'll know it when you see it.
There's a hidden cat in every single File, including earlier ones. This means you'll need to revisit old Files to collect them. The one exception to this is File 12, which has four hidden cats. If you're not a cat lover and instead prefer dogs, well, you're not out of luck. You do get a legion which is a dog and you can pet it.