PlatinumGames is known for two things primarly: fast-paced, crazy action, and goofy, over the top storylines and characters. Well, Astral Chain definitely seems like it’ll be delivering in the action department, but with the characters part it seems they’re trying something a little different, specifically with the main character. Not only is the main character customizable, a first in their action games, they are also mostly silent. The game’s director says it’s intentional, and they want players to project themselves on the player character.
In a blog post from Animation Artist Takahiro Iwagam, he details what the game’s Director, Takahisa Taura, told him about the main character. He wanted to avoid giving the character a distinct personality so that players can connect more with them. Iwagam used this philosophy also to make expressions less photorealistic and more anime and manga inspired so as to not give the impression of a strong personality one way or another.
“I want players to be able to project themselves onto the player character, so they naturally feel like part of the game,” Iwagam was told by Taura. “So don’t give the player character any extreme expressions that might give them too much of a predefined personality.”
It’s interesting to see how the art style of the game was directly affected by the director’s philosophy on how the player interacts with the game. Astral Chain will release exclusively for Nintendo Switch on August 30th, and the pre-load for the game is up now.