The 26 best Nintendo Switch games of 2025

Multiplayer: Y | Release year: 2019

I was on the fence Astral Chain until just a few hours after the day the first trailer came out. It all felt a little too generic, almost a paint-by-numbers rendition of an action game. I shouldn’t have been so worried, as PlatinumGames, the developer behind the Bayonetta series, has one of the most original titles to come out in recent years.

In a future where the world is under constant attack by beings from another plane of existence, you play as an officer in a special force that fights this threat. The trick to the game is that you can tame these creatures into legions that you use in battle. Encounters are played with you controlling both your character and the Legion at the same time, fighting off waves of mobs and bigger, more difficult enemies. For combat as well, you’ll use your Legion to solve crimes and traverse environments.

Astral Chain It sticks to a tight loop of detective work, platforming puzzles, and combat—a little tighter, if I’m being critical—with the game broken up into instances that serve as chapters. The story starts off well enough, but quickly devolves into a mish-mash of anime tropes, including twists and arcs ripped straight from some very famous shows and movies. However, the minute-by-minute gameplay is enough to get you through the 20-hour main campaign and some pretty significant endgame content.

Let’s see Astral Chain reach the height of Nier: Automata? No, not at all, but its combat and environments can often surpass that game, which is probably my favorite of this generation. Often available for less than $50 these days, it’s well worth your time.