Nathan Fouts, the founder and lead developer of Mommy’s Best Games, has been making games for a long time. After cutting his teeth with Insomniac Games — working on titles like Postal 2 and several Ratchet & Clank games — Nathan Fouts set out by himself. In 2008, Mommy’s Best Games released Weapon of Choice on the Xbox 360 (later Weapon of Choice DX, when it came to PC). This game featured physics-based ragdoll characters, psychedelic landscapes and visuals, and over-the-top, action-movie-esque action.
I give you this history lesson to say this: Nathan Fouts ran with this, and has been making steadily more polished versions of the same game ever since (at least, as it relates to my subject of interest). And this all culminated in ChainStaff, Mommy’s Best Games newest title, which I had the chance to play a demo of at PAX West 2024. Nathan was out to lunch, but after playing through the demo, I had the chance to talk with him briefly about his upcoming title, though Nick La Tona from publisher Null Games was happy to show me the ropes.
To give a short summary: the entire feel of ChainStaff mixes together 80s action movies, psychedelic album covers, and bombastic gameplay reminiscent of Contra (or, more recently, Broforce). Aside from the genre connection to those games, however, the experience is entirely unique.
The gameplay of ChainStaff is floaty and fast. The character you play almost feels like they are controlled via leash, especially once you start to use the titular ChainStaff to swing and leap around the environment, but the icy movement gives just enough leeway that it feels casual rather than difficult. It reminds me, suitably, of the kind of controlled chaos that Commando and the best Rambo movies contained. Despite the 80s-styled rock music, gore-fueled action, and heavy metal styling, there is a kind of grace to the game feel.
The actual meat of the game, though, isn’t the movement. It’s the killing. And I can confirm that both the gunplay and the ChainStaff feel great to use, and devastating against the alien targets that fill the levels. Of particular note is the ChainStaff itself, which makes full use of the game’s strengths: you see, all of the elements of the game are constructed with physics-affected, ragdoll-esque segments. And so, making the primary weapon of the game a whip-like chain that can harden into a pointed spear is a logical choice.
And using it feels so devastating and effective, I just couldn’t get enough. From using it as a spider-man-esque rope-swing, to tossing it on the ground to create a platform extending up, to putting it in front of you as a shield, to transforming it into a solid spear to lob at and instantly killing enemies (usually in a glorious explosion of blood), the ChainStaff is an exceptionally crafted weapon and tool.
And speaking of those enemies, and their version of reclaimed Earth (which might as well be an alien planet), they are perfectly designed. Constructed of the same piece-by-piece segments as everything else in the game, the creature designs in ChainStaff are a perfect mixture of hostile, fantastical, and captivating. And, of course, this extends to the bosses, or at least both of those that I’ve seen. The boss fights really are something else, pitting you against larger-than-life mutant behemoths with obvious strengths and weaknesses, making every boss battle a true battle of strength rather than wits.
And that’s good because while ChainStaff is a fun game, and a bombastic game, and a self-aware game, one thing it is not is a smart game. Nor should it be: you play as an alien-parasite-infested soldier whose only goal is to hit the ground and kill all the mutant creatures you find. There is a threadbare plot — one which sees a comically exaggerated general ordering you around on progressively more ludicrous missions — but nobody is playing this for the plot. The closest the game gets to any kind of narrative complexity is punishing you for eating the hearts or brains of friendly soldiers you come across (which you do get upgrades for).
And that means that ChainStaff really opens you up to experimentation and enjoyment, making the gamefeel and aesthetic the entire point of the game. Style over substance, in the best way possible. The game knows what it is — a send-up of 70s and 80s cinematic and rock-musical culture — and it lives with that. I mean, the soundtrack is comp composed by Deon van Heerden, who also composed Broforce’s and Warhammer 40k: Shootas, Blood & Teef’s music, and that should tell you exactly what the tone of the game is.
Before I knew it, my time with ChainStaff came to the end. I shattered my way through the teeth of a great monster (whose mouth took up the entire screen) and destroyed its… something (the strange anatomy of the creatures in ChainStaff is half of their appeal), leaving it butchered as my commanding officer congratulated me. There was a short amount more, but that’s what sticks with me.
It is about here where Nathan Fouts entered the PAX booth. After a brief introduction, and some praise for his work, I only had the chance to ask one solid question before heading off. In response to the question: “What, exactly, are you trying to accomplish with ChainStaff?”
“Did you kill the big monster?” He asked back with a smile. After I nodded, he continued: “Then you got it. You have a ChainStaff, and you use it to kill the enemies. It’s fun! That’s all, it’s fun!”
I couldn’t possibly give a better or more accurate endorsement than that.
If you are interested in bombastic action, then ChainStaff should already be on your wishlist. You can find it on Steam here, and while you’re at it, I’d highly recommend checking out Mommy’s Best Games other games, to get a taste of what ChainStaff will be on release.
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Graves
Graves is an avid writer, web designer, and gamer, with more ideas than he could hope to achieve in a lifetime. But, armed with a mug of coffee and an overactive imagination, he'll try. When he isn't working on a creative project, he is painting miniatures, reading cheesy sci-fi novels, or making music.
