TL;DR
A title of major importance for the evolution of indie games. Bastion is the debut of Supergiant Games and for good reason. It combined great isometric gameplay with a a cryptic story and a charming artstyle.
This Game Is Old, Aren’t Their New Games Better?
Bastion is already 9 years old (as of me writing this review) and it shows at certain aspects:
It is a little more clunky than the later titles from the same developer. Bastion is slower paced and feels conventional at times, but also very surreal and like a niche product.
Honestly: Nowadays it would not directly click with me from just seeing it in Steam and my initial playthrough was incredibly rushed and as such I missed the actual well designed core. It may not seem outstanding, but Bastion is well polished and has it’s own merits.
Recreating Atmosphere in a Bottle
(This is a link to a picture)
Thematic rich areas have become a staple of video games. The immersion should not break in any capacity as the session will be way more engaging, if you do not need to up your suspension of disbelief every second. And the world of Bastion has clear rules it follows and that is really interesting to pay attention to. Areas are divided in earth shards that flow around and have a somewhat specific theme. You can realize how the world changed and became different after the event of the calamity. And everything seems logical, if you are willing to puzzle through.
What a Story
Storywise Supergiant Games used a well known concept (the apocalypse), but gave it their own spin. A narrator exists within the game that comments whatever happens and is cleverly used to describe your surroundings and makes it possible to deliver some powerful lines.
Like:[spoiler]They didn’t make it.[/spoiler]
These makes the characters more believable and the focus on a small cast makes it more personal. Everyone has his own distinct background and they are indeed driven by their past.
And this combines with the superb gameplay.
The Actual Game
The gameplay is centered around the idea that there once was a somewhat realistic world that got broken down and you salvage what you can to survive. Every weapon you pick once belonged to someone else and was used before, they have their own stories to tell. Every mechanic except respawning is explained by the lore. The isometric perspective combined with the colorful arsenal and your big arsenal make it possible to absolutely have a blast.
Despite that enemy variance is not that high, but they fit into their respective areas and are challenging you in specific ways. Like testing your positioning with enemies in a small room that have AoE attacks and you have to plan how you are moving. Your arsenal includes many weapons, my favorite combination was a mortar (because I love big explosions) and a pike (because spears are the meta weapon in RL). . Many more different weapons exist and are all well balanced, nothing feels not viable.
And if you are seeking difficulty: try to activate all 10 difficulty conditions. These are incredibly
Things That Aged Badly
The game does feel a little sluggish and the restriction to not replay stages in Story mode makes sense from story-perspective, but farming currency in just a limited number of areas is just not fun. Also needing to rebuild certain buildings every single run is incredibly annoying and makes New Game Plus really off-paced. And the game is somewhat short, if you do not aim for challenge runs, you will not get much out of this game (in terms of playtime), but Bastion is really cheap on sales and absolutely worth it.
Fanboy Spoilers I Want to Discuss (Only read after the story)
[spoiler]
I absolutely enjoyed two scenes in particular: The moment you defend the Bastion with your animals is absolutely great and earns praise. This is their home too and you already became a family. Them defending it with all their power was a great conclusion to something I had thought to be a gimmick.
The second one is when you can safe Zulf and the Ura decide to stop attacking you and when someone breaks that quiet convention, the Ura stop him and let you pass. They are not evil and an act of kindness was something that could make a difference. Even this harsh world has humanity to offer and this is a great message.[/spoiler]
Conclusion
A somewhat timeless game that works perfectly fine and has great and well thought-out battles to offer, woven into an engaging story. A great game that should absolutely be played.
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author:
To be a little more direct: As of now meme curators dominate Steam. So consider following me for reviews that actually cost me some time (and effort) to create. I do not know, if this will change much, but the majority of my readers are not followers (I think? I just imitated a Youtuber I enjoy watching). I am still going to pump my heart into this reviews.
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/31884377-If-It-Is-Insane/
