ChainStaff is a Metal Album Soaked in Alien Guts

You’ve got an alien parasite bolted to your skull. It wants you to eat human organs. Yup. ChainStaff doesn’t care if you’re comfortable. It gladly gives you a Swiss Army knife made of alien bone, but then it fully expects you to survive a 1980s heavy metal album cover come to life.

It is loud. It’s definately gross. But most importantly – It’s really fun!

The Gimmick on Paper

One Button, Infinite Bloodshed

ChainStaff pretty much does everything. It’s a spear, yes. But it’s also a shield. And then a grappling hook. The coolest part? They mapped all of it to a single button. And it works like a charm. After a while.

It can be a mess at first. You try to vault over a mutant space-bug, but you easily misread your momentum. You, then, accidentally plant your staff into the dirt like a shield right before getting chewed in half. For the first hour, you will die. Often. Well, you will die a lot. All them freaks on the screen will gladly mash you to pulp.

But then, hopefully, your muscle memory kicks in. The game-feel turns electric. You swing across mossy cliffs. You throw the staff to slice a screaming alien in two. You yank it back just in time to pry open a boss’s massive jaw. It’s a frantic, gory puzzle. Spacing and timing are everything.

Decisions, decisions

Then there’s the upgrade system.

You find stranded soldiers out in the wild. You could, you know, white knight the situation and play the hero. Or, you could listen to the parasite whispering in your ear, rip out their organs, and feed your secondary tech tree? The choices you make define the game that you play.

Chaistaff is a short, nasty ride. Six to eight hours tops for a first run. But you experience a lot in that time. Three endings. New Game+. Zero bloated crafting menus.

How does ChainStaff channel 80s heavy metal into indie gold?

We asked the man himself. Nathan Fouts joined us to talk artistic grit, brutal gameplay, and what it takes to thrive for over a decade and a half in the indie scene.

Don’t miss this one—read the full interview here!

No Handholding Allowed

Chainstaff is a 2D Unity game. Hand-drawn. Because of that, performance on PC and consoles is a non-issue. The framerate sings.

But it isn’t flawless. The UI might feel rigid, like it’s built for raw function, not slick navigation. And that one-button control scheme that we mentioned earlier? Double-edged sword. It demands strict input timing. The game is brutal. It cares more about frame-perfect hitboxes than modern quality-of-life handholding. If you die, it’s your fault.

Hey, did you know that:

A Velvet Painting of a Flaming Skull

This isn’t a game for everyone. It refuses to apologize for what it is. A tight, fast-paced bloodbath wrapped in screaming guitar riffs.

Narrative (7/10) The story is mostly an excuse to kill things. But the choice between saving soldiers and ripping out their organs adds a nice, nasty bite to your playthrough.

Gameplay Mechanics (8/10) The single-button ChainStaff is a brilliant, volatile tool. It severely punishes button-mashing and heavily rewards actual mechanical rhythm.

Audio (9/10) Deon van Heerden delivers a blistering, cowbell-laced classic metal soundtrack. It hits exactly as hard as the on-screen gore.

Graphics (7.5/10) The hand-drawn 70s rock aesthetic drips with style, even if the visual chaos occasionally hides incoming enemy attacks.

Overall Score (7.8/10) A grotesque, uncompromising action platformer that knows exactly what it wants to be.

ID Card