Astral Chain Has An Unconventional Co-op Mode

The stylish, cyberpunk-infused Astral Chain is coming soon, and the game’s developer, PlatinumGames, is on the marketing path for its launch. We’ve learned quite a good deal about the game since it got shown off the last time at this year’s E3, such as how it was originally envisioned as a fantasy game. Now, though, something more gameplay-focused has come out about the title. It has a co-op mode, but it’s not exactly what you expect, and it will also make the game that much harder.

In an interview with Kotaku, Director Takahisa Taura shared that the game does in fact have a co-op mode, but it isn’t traditional. The core gameplay revolves around your character having a Legion, an interdimensional being, at their disposal. You control both at the same time whenever the Legion is active. Taura says it’s entirely possible for you to split the joycons between two players, with one controlling the Legion and the other the player character.

He captured it to Super Mario Galaxy 2‘s unconventional co-op, where one player controlled Mario and the other the Star that followed him. He did warn, however, that playing the game this way would make it much more difficult, as “both players actually have to put effort into controlling the characters and playing the game,” meaning that you’ll have to be almost perfectly in sync with the other player.

Astral Chain will release exclusively on the Nintendo Switch on August 30th. Check out the extended gameplay demo in the meantime.