Bayonetta & Bayonetta 2
If you’re looking for combat similar to Astral Chain, the best title you can possibly play is PlatinumGames’ poster series, Bayonetta.
While the first Bayonetta is great, Bayonetta 2 is easily one of the best action games ever made, and luckily you can play both of them on your Nintendo Switch.
The two games were made under the supervision of Hideki Kamiya, the creator of Devil May Cry, and they sport similar combat mechanics.
You play as a powerful Umbral Witch named Bayonetta, who gets caught right in the middle of a battle between Paradiso and Inferno, basically heaven and hell.
The character action title has you pulling off crazy combos using Bayonetta’s four guns, two in her hands and two strapped to her feet. There’s a huge emphasis on timing your dodges, just like in Astral Chain, but there’s even more of a benefit to doing so.
Pulling off a perfect dodge will let you enter “Witch Time,” slowing everything to a crawl except for you, thereby letting you unleash some massive combos on enemies.
The Bayonetta games are filled with crazy over-the-top battles and set pieces, and Bayonetta herself is an extremely likable character, hence why she’s featured in Smash Bros.
Bayonetta is the quintessential PlatinumGames experience, and it should absolutely be at the top of your list if you enjoy Astral Chain.
Devil May Cry V
Considering we just talked about Hideki Kamiya, it only seems right that a Devil May Cry title is on here, and the latest entry, Devil May Cry V, might be the best of them all.
If you’re looking for stylish action, Devil May Cry invented it, and boy does Devil May Cry V take it to a whole other level. There are three playable characters in the game, Nero, V, and Dante, each of which have their own incredibly distinct fighting style.
When a demonic outbreak happens in Red Grave city, the three demon hunters all arrive to investigate, for their own reasons.
Nero’s unique ability lets him equip different arms on his prosthetic, each of which have unique abilities. V summons and controls demon familiars in combat, and Dante can switch between four different fighting styles on the fly.
Devil May Cry V’s combat flows absurdly well, and there’s a huge emphasis on stringing combos together and getting your style rank up as high as possible.
The game consistently introduces new enemy types, and some of the boss battles are truly something to behold.
There are very few games that can match the sheer style and scale of Astral Chain, but Devil May Cry V is one of them.
NieR: Automata
It would make the most sense for you to go right to NieR: Automata after Astral Chain, as the two games have a ton in common.
Takahisa Taura, the director of Astral Chain, served as Lead Gameplay Designer on NieR: Automata, so combat feels distinctly similar.
In Automata you have multiple weapons to swap between, and there’s a huge focus on timing your dodges just right, as well as enemies that launch diverse kinds of attacks.
You even have a helper in combat with your Pod and the other character that accompanies you, although it’s not quite as involved as Astral Chain’s Legion.
Similarities run deeper than combat, however, as Automata also takes place in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by machine lifeforms.
You play as two combat androids, 2B and 9S, as they fight to take back the Earth while humanity lives in safety on the moon.
As you might imagine, there’s a lot more to the story, and Automata is filled with multiple layers of twists and themes to uncover.
It’s a phenomenal story, one of the best of modern games, and Automata has the gameplay chops to back it all up to.
Metal Gear Rising
Yeah, you should have expected to see PlatinumGames on here a lot, as no one really makes games like theirs. Metal Gear Rising: Reveangence is yet another of their titles that shares a lot of DNA with Astral Chain.
As an offshoot of the Metal Gear Solid series, this title focuses on the combat cyborg Raiden, as he confronts the private military corporations, Desperado, and discovers a massive government conspiracy hidden underneath.
Rising does away with the stealth-based gameplay of MGS in favor of absurdly fast-action combat. While it’s similar to Bayonetta in how Raiden uses different combos and dodging mechanics, there’s one big gimmick that separates it, slicing.
At any time Raiden can enter a slicing stance where time slows down and a line appears on the screen, letting Raiden slice in any direction you want.
This mechanic can be used in some brilliant ways to sever limbs off of enemies, take down projectiles like rockets, or even slice something a very specific way.
The slicing ability of the Sword Legion in Astral Chain is honestly lifted straight from Metal Gear Rising, and there’s quite a few story similarities as well.
Just like Astral Chain, Metal Gear Rising is heavily steeped in sci-fi themes and a bit of cyberpunk. The action is Rising can be insane, and the boss fights are incredibly memorable.
It’s another example of Platinum doing what they do best.
Darksiders
Darksiders takes inspiration from games like Zelda, God of War, and Devil May Cry, and combined that into one unique experience.
In the first Darksiders you play as War, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, who’s wrongly blamed for bringing about the apocalypse by the forces of heaven.
After he’s killed and sent to hell, War vows to find the one truly responsible and bring balance back to things.
While not necessarily an open world game, Darksiders features an explorable world similar to that of Zelda, with different zones and dungeons to explore.
Combat functions similarly to Devil May Cry or God of War, with loads of different combos and weapons you can use. It’s all pretty fast-paced and stylish, constantly keeping you on your toes with diverse enemies.
Darksiders has a super interesting world and lore, and if you enjoy the first one there are two more games to play that each does their own interesting things.
Ninja Gaiden 2
Ninja Gaiden is one of the original stylish action games, along with the likes of Devil May Cry, and its renowned for its almost satirical level of hyper-violence and gore.
The franchise focuses on the master ninja Ryu Hayabusa, and Ninja Gaiden 2 specifically has him stopping Greater Fiends from destroying humanity and the Earth.
The action in Ninja Gaiden 2 is absurdly fast, and the game is renowned for its intense difficulty if that’s something you’re looking for.
Ryu has a number of deadly weapons to use including his trusty katana, claw gauntlets, and a massive scythe, all of which lop of limbs like they’re made of butter.
The original Ninja Gaiden 2 on Xbox 360 is filled to the brim with blood, but an enhanced version of the game on PS3 called Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 toned down the gore a degree.
Ninja Gaiden 2 is easily the strongest of the series, with fantastic action and boss battles and a fun, if a bit ridiculous, story to play through. The first Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden 3 have their own strengths but pale in comparison to the second game.
If you like Astral Chain, Ninja Gaiden 2 is a great next step.
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