The 26 finest Nintendo Swap video games in 2025

Multiplayer: Y | Yr launched: 2019

I used to be on the fence about Astral Chain from the day the primary trailer got here out till a great few hours into my playthrough. All of it felt somewhat too generic, nearly a paint-by-numbers rendition of an motion sport. I needn’t have been so apprehensive, because it’s one of many extra authentic titles to come back from PlatinumGames, the developer behind the Bayonetta collection, in recent times.

In a future the place the world is below fixed assault from creatures that exist on one other airplane of existence, you play as an officer in a particular power that offers with this menace. The sport’s gimmick is that you could tame these creatures to change into Legions that you just use in fight. Encounters play out with you controlling each your character and the Legion concurrently to cope with waves of mobs and bigger, more difficult enemies. In addition to for fight, you will use your Legion(s) to resolve crimes and traverse environments.

Astral Chain sticks intently to a loop of detective work, platforming puzzles and fight — somewhat too intently, if I am being crucial — with the sport cut up into circumstances that function chapters. The story begins off nicely sufficient however shortly devolves right into a mashup of assorted anime tropes, together with twists and arcs ripped straight from some very well-known exhibits and movies. Nonetheless, the minute-to-minute gameplay is sufficient to hold you engaged via the 20-hour or so principal marketing campaign and into the pretty vital end-game content material.

Does Astral Chain attain the heights of Nier: Automata? No, under no circumstances, however its fight and environments can typically surpass that sport, which all-told might be my favourite of this era. Typically obtainable for below $50 as of late, it is nicely price your time.