There are 15 cats hidden throughout Astral Chain, and finding all of them gives you some fun new costume options for your character.
While your character in Astral Chain gets tasked with saving the world from an invasion of interdimensional demons, it doesn’t mean they can’t make time to rescue humble alley cats along the way. Scattered throughout the game are a bunch of stray cats that need your help. You can find one in each level (except for the epilogue, which has four), and collecting all of them gets you a unique hat, along with the affection of your new four-legged friends. We’ll run through the location of each cat by File.
File 01
The first cat you find is right out in the open; you need to know where to look. During File 01, you’ll get an objective to rescue a man on a burning highway bridge. When you find the man, look around for a bright yellow car amidst the burning wreckage. It should be between a flipped bus and a concrete barrier. This cat, named Kinder, is napping just in front of the car.
File 02
Near the end of the mission, you’ll be asked to protect a group of civilians on Grand Avenue. When that’s finished, you’ll have to look for survivors. Instead, go South from the objective marker, toward the end of the platform you’re standing on, and you should see an alleyway to your left. Head down the alley and use your Legion to lift and toss the dumpster at the end. You’ll find Walnut underneath.
File 03
After you finish a section of this mission that takes place in the Astral Chain, you’ll find yourself on a rooftop. Head to the Northeast corner of the roof and go down the stairs there, where you’ll find the third cat, Milky.
File 04
Downstairs from the spot where you find Jena in the Arc Mall, you’ll see a big chunk of debris next to the spiral staircase. Head around the stairs and to the other side of the debris to find a cat named Bran.
File 05
After receiving the objective to rescue civilians in the subway, starting from the yellow line platform of the Harmony Square subway station, head to the North of the map (the area will be highlighted for a side case if you haven’t completed it yet). From there, you can enter a subway car on the track to your right. Head through the train about halfway, and exit the door marked with a number 2. You’ll emerge onto a platform where you can find Smee the cat hiding under a bench.
File 06
While you’re pursuing Douglas for a mission objective, you’ll find Danny the cat hiding in some trash in a small corridor near the center of the most significant section on the west side of the map (Upper Camp Level – Building Four). This one can be a little tricky to find, but you can use your Iris to spot it a little easier.
File 07
This one takes a lot more maneuvering than everything else up to this point. While following the homunculus, you’ll eventually end up on the Rayleigh Plaza Roof map. Starting from the elevator bay, keep heading left past the helipad until you reach a point where you can enter a small passage between a low building on the right and a taller one on the left. On the side of that building is a yellow ladder, which you can shoot to bring down, then climb it. From the roof, use your Legion to hop to the taller building, then drop from the edge onto a platform where you’ll find the seventh cat, Nero.
File 08
Near the beginning of the level, you can enter an underground parking lot on Grand Avenue. Head inside, then stick to the right and go as far back as you can go. You’ll find an officer trying to get a cat out from under a car. Offer it some cat food, and your next cat, Chano, will join you.
File 09
Starting in Harmony Square, head south past the Harmony Media Center. To your left will be a row of red awnings, and you’ll find a cat called Mia near one of these awnings. When you approach Mia, she’ll jump backward, making her impossible to pick up. To collect Mia, you need to throw a can nearby, which will cause her to walk toward the sound. While Mia is distracted, you’ll be able to pick her up.
File 10
While you’re working to fix the broken gate detector, head to the Southeast end of the Lower Camp Level, where there’s a room that extends further down than anything else on the map. Talk to the Cat Lover you find there, and offer to help find Yuki, a cat she’s looking for. The Cat Lover will mark the places where Yuki likes to hide on your map.
Instead of checking them, head to the far Northeast of the map, where you’ll find the Cat Lover again in a blocked-off tunnel and acquire some catnip. Summon the Beast Legion and give it the catnip, then follow it as it runs after the scent. You’ll need to re-summon the Legion and show it the catnip again when it leads you up a ladder. Eventually, your Beast Legion will lead you to an area where you’ll need to enter the Astral Plane to rescue Yuki.
File 11
Finding Vanilla is a breeze after the challenge of the last few cats. Starting from where you emerge from the secret base on the Southwest side of the Lower Camp Level, head North up the alleyway on the far West side of the map. Climb the fire escape ladder you’ll see on your right and follow the walkway to the end to find the cat hiding in a cardboard box.
File 12 (R1-6)
You’ll find the first of the Epilogue cats in the Ark Sewer Management map. On the north side of the map, you’ll see a long hallway connecting two circular chambers. Just before the gate to reach that area is a corridor with a stack of cardboard boxes stacked up. You’ll find Nightshade in one of the boxes.
File 12 (R2-2)
The largest room on the ARI Legionis Lab is mostly inaccessible, only viewable through windows in the explorable portions. Enter the lobby of this room from the south side (from the room filled with large purple crystals), and you’ll find B.B. hiding under the desk farther to the left.
File 12 (R2-8)
On the south end of the Forgotten Rooftops map, you’ll find a ladder leading down in one of the metal pillars against the billboards on the right side. It blends in with the environment, but you’ll find it at the very end of the line of barbed wire on the roof’s edge. Dropdown here, and you’ll discover Theo under a tank just to your right.
File 12 (R2-B2)
Near the center of the Lower Camp Level map, in the alley on the west side, you’ll find a set of stairs leading up with a lot of red matter in the small area to the right of the stairs. At this end of this short path, you’ll see a dumpster. Use your Legion to pick it up, and you’ll find Amber behind it.
With that, you should have all 15 hidden cats in Astral Chain. You’ll get the Cat-Eared Headband just by finishing the order in your menu, and the Lazy Cat Cap by talking to Marie at Neuron headquarters.
