I remember that February 2019 Nintendo Direct like it was yesterday. Super Mario Maker 2, Tetris 99, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening remake. So much good news was dropped in that direct, including the reveal of what looked to be a stellar cyber punk action game, Astral Chain, developed by the action wizards at PlatinumGames. Well, the game has released and the general consensus is that the game is a smash hit. However, everything is not sunny in paradise with.
This isn't the first time Astral Chain has been caught up in a storm of negativity. Why, not long before the game released, the game came under attack by some that hated the fact that you played as cops in this game. Yes, really, that was actually a thing. Because, you know, screw the police and all that, right? As long as the game delivers a dang good time, I could care less whether I'm a cop or a crook. We aren't here to talk about outrage over portraying cops in a good light. No, we're here to talk about outrage over Astral Chain being a Nintendo Switch exclusive. Yes, sadly, this is regrettably a thing.
You may find a few negative reviews from those that have actually sat down and played the game out there on the net, but for the most part, Astral Chain has received overwhelmingly positive marks from fans and critics alike. For those butthurt players that don't own a Switch and wish so badly that the game was on their gaming platform of choice, Astral Chain sucks.
PO'd gamers have taken to metacritic to review bomb Astral Chain in hopes of driving the game's overall positive user review score down. It really does bewilder me that one would give a game a negative score just because they don't own the system to play it on. I don't own a high end PC nor do I own any version of the Xbox one. Cuphead was one of the games I desperately wanted to play in 2017. In 2019, Hell froze over and Cupead ended up coming to the Switch. Now, granted all cases don't work out like that, but I saw zero point in giving Cuphead a bad review just because I couldn't play it.
Hideki Kamiya, co-founder of PlatinumGames, chimed in on Astral Chain's Switch exclusivity, responding to a Twitter poster wanting the game to come to the PS4 with the following:
Well... it would be great if Mario, Zelda and Metroid came out on PS4, too, but do I hate PlayStation? I'm just a developer who fulfills my contractual obligations, so I don't know, maybe you should try asking my publisher or Nintendo's investors.
With the business of Epic Games and how they've gone about obtaining exclusives, there is no doubt a sour taste in gamer's mouths over that E word. Exclusives games are just one of those things gamers are gonna have to learn to deal with. You aren't always gonna be able to own all of your games on one console or PC. Sure, some games will be timed exclusives, but some will not, especially when it comes to those Nintendo IPs.
As the case was with Bayonetta 2, Nintendo helped fund Astral Chain. Not only that, they helped with the development. It looks to me like Nintendo and PlatinumGames have a very good working relationship with one another. Heck, it was Nintendo that told Platinum to crank Bayonetta's over the top sexual charged antics up to 11. Do you think there is any way the Big N is gonna allow a game they helped fund/develop exist on rival systems? To quote Mighty Keef, boy, that's just crazy. This whole exclusive/review bombing is sure to crop up again when Bayonetta 3 drops.
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