At its outset, Astral Chain looks set to be a typical character action game. Having selected your character from a pair of identical twins, you’re thrust into a motorcycle chase, the titles still rolling as you blast through a tunnel, gunning down flying hostiles while sliding your way around abandoned vehicles. That sequence transitions to a cutscene where your twin of choice smashes the bike into the last surviving enemy, commando rolls from the resulting explosion, then whips out a baton ready for another fight, this time on foot.
What awaits, though, is not an enemy but a medic, administering first aid to injured civilians. The medic asks for a hand helping them onto stretchers so they can be airlifted to safety. Such acts, you learn, are as central to your job as dishing out beatings. You are a police officer, with every duty that entails.
By the end of the first chapter – or ‘file’ as the game’s terminology has it – you’ve been inducted into a crack crimefighting unit named Neuron.
