Publisher Null Games and developer Mommy’s Best Games have announced ChainStaff, a side-scrolling action platformer featuring a transforming spear. It will launch for PC via Steam in 2025, with other platforms to be confirmed.
Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:
About
ChainStaff is a brutal action platformer with a transforming spear and grappling hook, blazing weapon upgrades, and a rocking soundtrack. Aliens have taken over the Earth! Swing, shoot, and spear your way through hordes of mutating monstrosities and bone-shaking boss fights.
Our planet is under attack from the Star Spores, and they’ve warped life on Earth into ferocious uber-bugs.
Even worse, a nasty alien has made its new home directly attached to your head.
But It’s not all bad news—your new best friend has provided both the strength to fight back against the mutated horde, and control over a weapon that can tip the balance of the battle in humanity’s favor: the ChainStaff.
As you traverse the surreal landscape, you’ll encounter your fellow soldiers, stranded in harsh environments. Do you rescue your comrades, or listen to the alien voice in your head and harvest them for upgrades?
If you can persevere and defeat the Star Spores, perhaps you can save everyone… including yourself.
Key Features
- Master the ChainStaff – Hurl it as a spear and slice aliens in half. Throw it to the ground as a shield to stop incoming attacks. Grapple and swing on anything. The transforming ChainStaff does all this and more, and all with one button. It’s all up to you.
- You Died – Pounded to mush. Stabbed through the heart. Sheared in two. Prepare to meet your doom in a myriad of disgusting ways. All deaths are avoidable, but some dangers may require special strategies.
- Ferocious Foes – The creatures of Earth have been mutated by the aliens: you’ll come across dozens of unusual creatures, and once you get past those, you’ll have to fight against the screen-filling monstrosities.
- Grotesque Upgrades – Stranded soldiers dot the landscape of ChainStaff. You have to choose whether to rescue them or devour their organs; each option has unique benefits and will lead to different endings.
- 10 Wild Levels – Mist trails around rocky crags. Wind blows over icy, moon-lit hills. Water streams down mossy cliffs. Fully hand-drawn art immerses you in a living world inspired by album covers of the 70s and 80s.
- Killer Soundtrack – Scorching riffs and peals of thunder. Pumping beats drive you ever forward. Rock out to the classic metal soundtrack by the award-winning composer Deon van Heerden of Broforce and Warhammer 40000: Shootas, Blood & Teef soundtrack fame. There’s some lighter interludes with 70s synth, catchy melodies, and even some cowbell. Now it’s back to the heavy tracks, where it’s time to bang your head while smashing skulls.
Watch the announcement trailer below. View the first screenshots at the gallery.