Outside of the fact that it’s made by Platinum Games, I’m having a hard time mustering enthusiasm for Astral Chain. I’ve watched all the E3 Treehouse footage on it, and the Nintendo Minute Kit and Krysta recently did, and I have no idea what’s going on in the game.

Apparently, you’re a cop with some sort of metaphysical creature chained to your wrist that no one can see but you. Why this is, I don’t know.

There’s some sort of red goop in the city you’re supposed to clean up, almost like Super Mario Sunshine. Some people in the city are infected by this red substance who you can help. What this red substance is, and why are citizens infected by it, again, I don’t know. None of this is adequately explained.

Then you can go into another dimension and…fight. Who you’re fighting, and for what reason, again, I don’t know. You use the creature chained to your wrist to fight enemies, which somehow helps the city you’re protecting as a cop.

Also, you can pick up garbage in the city and do investigations. How that meshes with what is supposed to be the kind of hardcore action game Platinum is known for, again, I don’t know.

Nothing about this game makes sense to me. The more I see of it, the more it seems the main reason to be excited about Astral Chain is because of its developer, and that it’s a Nintendo Switch exclusive. It looks like a Platinum game made by their B-team, especially given that we already know their A-team, or at least one of them, is working on Bayonetta 3 for Switch.

I hope I’m wrong and Astral Chain ends up being as amazing as everyone thinks it’s going to be, but at this point, I’m not convinced.