ChainStaff review: an ‘80s-art-inspired shooter with one brilliant idea

Part Strider, part Bionic Commando, with a splash of Turrican and a whole lot of ‘80s album-cover callbacks, retro-like shooter ChainStaff is one of those games that feels instantly familiar. But it does what many retro-inspired games fail at, and adds a genuinely new idea to the canon – the ChainStaff itself.

The first thing that impresses is the art, and honestly, it carries a lot of why ChainStaff is so fun, those hand-painted backdrops and creatures feel like they’ve crawled straight out of a battered old sci-fi paperback, all bold colours and weird textures, very Michael Whelan meets Chris Foss with a bit of Roger Dean weirdness layered in, and then suddenly you’re in a level that looks like a living organism, then floating islands, then something that feels like a nod to Frank Frazetta’s big blazing sun motif, it’s all over the place but holds together because its reference points are so dee cut, which kind of sums up the whole game. (While they share the same art-callbacks, this is way weirder than The Invincible.)

And then there are the bosses, which are easily the best thing here, Each creature is an imaginative, slightly gross, and a just unpredictable enough to keep you on your toes, one giant head sheds its skin, then its muscle, until you’re basically fighting a horrible bone sack before its slugs-as-eyes drop and you’re left battling the ick, another weird jelly thing is defeated in a way that’s… a choice, let’s say, and then you’ve got giant pelicans, crab monsters, a fur beast trying to trap you in a giant cage, it’s chaotic but in a fun way, and crucially they all make you actually use the ChainStaff properly rather than just button mash your way through.

The setup for this bug hunt is suitably retro, Star Spores are invading Earth and turning life into weird mutations, and you're not immune – while in combat, Sergeant Jesse 'Varl' Varlet is fused with a giant alien-mutant-bug, which sits on his shoulders and is gradually taking control. The upshot? This bug hates the Star Spores as much as Varlet, and wants payback, so it arms you with a bunch of powers and the ChainStaff, and you're let loose on the invaders.

And, that ChainStaff is the whole thing really, it’s traversal, combat, defence, all rolled into one, you’re swinging off enemies, cancelling momentum, blocking attacks, spinning through the air and occasionally just smashing something with a charged hit, and when it clicks it feels great, truly fluid, like you’re improvising your way through fights instead of just reacting, and it gives the game a sense of movement that a lot of retro throwbacks miss.

The problem is that everything around it doesn’t always keep up. Between those big moments, things can feel a bit… empty? Most regular enemies don’t put up much of a fight, especially later on when you’re loaded with weapons, and you start to realise you’re kind of overpowered for what the game is asking of you. Even bosses, as inventive as they are, tend to fall apart once you’ve figured out the trick, which is satisfying the first time but doesn’t always hold up.

There is some nice structure in there, though. Levels have multiple exits, hidden paths, bits you can’t access until you’ve unlocked new abilities, so there’s a light Metroidvania feel running through it, just enough to make exploration worthwhile, even if it never really pushes you that hard.

The in-between mission cutscenes are fairly basic animations, but they're worth watching for the dialogue, as a game that sees you pulling the innards out of a jelly creature via its swimsuit area to defeat it doesn't take itself too seriously, and every new scene lands its jokes nicely.

Ultimately, you come away remembering the feel more than anything else, the movement, the art, the sheer weirdness of it, and that ChainStaff does feel like something new in a space that usually just remixes the same old ideas.