ChainStaff embraces the past to fuel its patently insane premise, execution, and creature design. This is one weird game that, through its minor annoyances, should delight retro fans seeking an 2D shooter that frequently surprises.
You need to play ChainStaff just to see the crazy shit developer Mommy’s Best Games cooked up.
Level after level I was astounded at the visual barrage of inventive, weird creatures and worlds on display. Would I have a back of the box quote it might simply be “What the fuck?” in italicized Comic Sans with maybe a Wingding or two to obscure the expletive.
My dudes, ChainStaff is such a videogame-ass-videogame with highs and lows that are typical with the 2D action platformer/shooter genre. And at multiple points in the five hours of my first playthrough, I experienced a range of emotions both familiar and not.
Part of me wants to do an experiment where I staple the names of 75% of the games I’ve ever played even remotely similar to ChainStaff to a wall, get drunk, spin around a few times, and throw a dart at that wall to see what I land on. Guaranteed there’s a bit of ChainStaff in there. Bionic Commando, Earthworm Jim, Super Metroid, Metal Slug, Contra, Vectorman, Sunset Riders, Gunstar Heroes. Okay maybe that list doesn’t seem like a lot but come on, my brain’s Rolodex memory doesn’t account for the bevy of games I’ve played in my 40 years of life.
Sometime last year when I saw ChainStaff for the first time, I knew I needed to play it because it looked so absolutely weird. The art style was a demented kid’s sketchbook done with colored pencils and magazine page cutouts. But really, it was the creature design that hooked me. Never before had I seen such grotesque, alien, wacky things that the player was supposed to kill. And then time passed and I kind of forgot about ChainStaff until it came across my path again. Life is busy like that.
A platform shooter isn’t rocket science. Contra mastered it in the 1980s and numerous developers here and there tried their hand. Mommy’s Best Games has a vast library of inspiration to cull from and it shows in ChainStaff. It’s why a game that looks so foreign can feel anything but.
When the Star Spores arrived on Earth, they spread a parasitic infection everywhere. Alien creatures roamed the mutated lands and showed no signs of stopping. Referred to as “The Encroachment”, soldiers and scientists were sent in to combat with this unknown threat and put an end to it.
Sergeant Varlette and his men were all but wiped out in a fight but Varlette was lucky, an alien parasite had attached itself to him, keeping him alive after a grave injury. The sergeant–now with a bug-like thing linked to his body–possesses newfound strength and a psychic link to the ChainStaff. Varlette can use the ChainStaff as a tool and a weapon and hopefully stop The Encroachment and find a way to retain his humanity.
Much of ChainStaff is the player blasting the hell out of alien beasts while navigating levels. Being able to hold down a button and constantly shoot without hesitation brings back satisfying memories of not having to mash a button every time I needed to fire a bullet. The gun has this crunchy quality in the way it sounds and squelches into fleshy bits and carapaces. Players can press a button to engage in an aiming stance where they can precisely point the gun and fire. Doing this is a great way to act as a bastion and pummel targets as they try and close in on Varlette or hit weakpoints that require a bit of accuracy.
Wielding the ChainStaff acts as the game’s foundational mechanic because it becomes a crucial element to how the player approaches combat and exploration. The ChainStaff is capable of being used as a grapple hook that latches onto virtually every surface and most enemies, allowing the player to swing and hang with ease. When hanging by the ChainStaff, players can fire their weapon, extend the length of the tool, or contort it to manually raise and lower and adjust their positioning.
The ChainStaff can also be charged up and thrown like a spear. When used as a weapon it inflicts severe damage to enemies but may also be required to stun them or knock off a hard piece of armor. Players can also use the ChainStaff to block enemy projectiles, acting as a thin shield. And, weirder yet, the ChainStaff is strong enough that when it is slammed into the ground it can temporarily sustain the weight of crushing objects or pry heavy objects open. In one boss fight, Varlette keeps himself alive by using the ChainStaff to stop a gargantuan monster mouth from crunching down on him while he blasts away its teeth, dodges fire, and tries to shoot a pulsing weakpoint.
For a game that is relatively short and breezy to get through, ChainStaff‘s nine main levels are quite vast. Over the course of the game, a suite of new abilities can be discovered that allow for further exploration. A piece of equipment lets the player travel up and down waterfalls. Gun attachments can shoot fire that burns away obstacles or merely raise damage. One baffling ChainStaff extension causes these bugs to emit a glowing light that lets Varlette float upwards as long as the ChainStaff is being charged.
Scattered across levels are pieces of ChainStaff and when four are collected, players can extend its length, shorten the charge time, or increase its damage output. Stranded and wounded soldiers can be found in tucked-away locations, giving players the option to rescue them, or eat their hearts or brains. The latter options will boost Varlette’s health and gun damage but also lead towards a bad ending and the growing influence of his alien parasite. Saving soldiers awards tech points that can be used to purchase and upgrade shield charges–which soak up hits from enemies–and weapons that fire alongside the base gun, such as homing rockets or a bomb that fires in a parabolic pattern. None of these upgrades are particularly outstanding but it all constitutes towards that constant onslaught players are meant to contend with.
ChainStaff can sometimes feel like a ruthless game. Its levels are aesthetically creative and often feel quite different from each other. Having the ChainStaff means that threats can often be swung past in comical ways but there’s also a tendency to feel a bit lost or confused. Trying to figure out where to go can be tricky because ChainStaff has a lot of vertical height to it. Players can swing up and around many obstacles and it can feel like there’s no logical cap. I wanted to lower into a pit to perhaps find secrets but there usually weren’t any.
Some of it can be a bit excessive. Enemy volume can be so dense that the player is bound to take a few hits trying to melt down one group while another closes in. Or maybe a potential escape leads to being struck from an out of sight foe colliding out of nowhere. ChainStaff isn’t an overly difficult game but it’s certainly chaotic. Death can happen because the player simply doesn’t have enough health to contend with everything going on. Taking it slow is the natural course of action but having the ability to move so fast feels counterintuitive when you could swing right into trouble.
A handful of times I also ran into enemies that seemed to force damage onto the player. One boss literally doesn’t trigger combat until you get close to it and initiates its first attack by shooting its head right at you, meaning you need to find the sweet spot and immediately turn away to avoid damage. In ways, it’s taking notes from something like Limbo where the player is expected to “fail” in an attempt to learn and then use that knowledge when they return to the level or respawn.
Had ChainStaff been a longer game, these frustrations would have compounded more frequently, dulling the overall experience. Thankfully, with the first run taking around 6 hours to do almost everything it’s not intimidating. For more incentive, players can opt into a New Game+ where they retain upgrades and potentially seek out other endings and dispatching injured soldiers in an alternate way.
What sets ChainStaff apart is its world. It’s one thing to have a run-and-gun action game with a few light Metroidvania elements and some goofy action. But Mommy’s Best Games has embraced a kind of 1980s hair metal vision with its simple plot and tropey characters. A soundtrack by Broforce composer Deon van Herrden tells you all you need to know with epic guitars and, at one point, a full rock song with lyrics that had me grinning the entire time.
Most importantly, however, is the stunning creativity on display here. Director and game designer Nathan Fouts has slayed. Like I said at the top, you keep playing ChainStaff just to see the next batshit crazy thing. There were countless times a new enemy pissed me off but before and after that encounter I couldn’t help but be in awe. Amidst the deluge of viscera that shoots out of these creatures, they are animated and drawn in a way to show increased amounts of damage. Some designs have analogues to Earth–showing how the alien infestation has taken over–but there are dozens of weird enemies that didn’t need to exist but simply do. It honestly feels masterful in both quantity and quality that so many enemies look so different and also have unique attacks. Mopping these freaks up is a blast.
ChainStaff is a game of excess. And that excess is packed into a tight package of constantly surprising and bizarre creatures that often defy explanation. Enough creativity is stretched over the surface of the game to forge its own direction. Using a parasitic alien’s veined weapon as a tool to Tarzan past grotesque worlds and entities is nothing you can say about almost any other game. It may get chaotic and illegible at times but when it’s so gnarly, who cares?
