On August 30, PlatinumGames and Nintendo will be releasing Nintendo Switch exclusive Astral Chain. That game features a “Synergetic Action” system that has players fighting with two different characters at once. As the simultaneous control of characters sounded a bit like the the core concept of Scalebound, Microsoft and PlatinumGames’ infamously canceled title, some people started theorizing that Astral Chain had some connection to, or at least evolved out of, Scalebound.
That being said, PlatinumGames Studio Head Atsushi Inaba recently confirmed that this is not the case to Video Games Chronicle. “I can’t go in to detail about how the different gameplay systems of Astral Chain and Scalebound work, but they’re both very different. Any feeling of similarity between the two projects is not true. It’s all in your imagination!” Inaba-san bluntly stated.
The game is quite different from Scalebound in several ways, so it makes sense that this connection would only exist in fan speculation. In the same interview, Inaba-san also asked fans not to solely blame Microsoft for the cancellation of Scalebound.
Elsewhere in the interview, Inaba-san highlighted what the actual focus for Astral Chain was. “We’re used to doing single-player character action games, but in this particular game you as the player also control a monster at the same time, so you have to split focus between control of two characters. That is really an evolution of some of the action games that weave built in the past,” he said. While there were “many different pitfalls and challenges along the way” PlatinumGames seems to be happy with where Astral Chain has ended up.
Inaba-san also complimented Nintendo as a partner for Astral Chain. ” Nintendo is a company that respects creators. From that perspective, it is a strong, organic fit for us…Weave been friends for a long time and through that cycle we’ve built up a lot of trust, got to know who that other company is and that opens the door to a lot of new opportunities as time goes on.” The studios previously collaborated on Star Fox Zero.
If you had not heard of Astral Chain and want to get a better idea of what it is, you can check out its reveal trailer below. Astral Chain is coming out for Nintendo Switch on August 30, 2019 and can be pre-ordered on Amazon.
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