There's already a review for the game Bastion on TL, so I'm making this thread for general discussion/appreciation of the game - as it comes to PC today (Aug 16). In the interest of full disclosure, I loved this game so it'll be hard to summarize it without shouting its praises...
For those of you who haven't heard of it, Bastion is an action rpg by independent (and tiny) developer Supergiant Games.
Story In short, the game tells the story of "the kid," as he wanders what's left of his city (Caelondia) in the wake of the mysterious Cataclysm.
The narrator from the trailer is omnipresent throughout the game and provides everything from important lore and background to lines like, "the kid just rages for a while."
But I don't want to give away too much...
Art Much of the art for Bastion is hand-drawn and makes liberal use of a varied spectrum of vibrant colors.
There's generous attention to detail in the scenery (often destructible) as well as the vast landscapes that stretch below the constantly materializing winding streets of the city.
Gameplay
Bastion has the familiar feel of classic action-adventure games like Link to the Past, crawling through dungeons and finding new weapons and items.
The tech trees of the various upgrades for the weapons you find aren't too complex, but there are enough weapon pairings to suit a number of tastes.
There are also a number of proving grounds to practice with the weapons and unlock rewards, as well as the ability to play through the game multiple times while retaining your weapons and experience.
Music As a man who likes to dick around the guitar and sing every now and then, the quality of the game's soundtrack stood out to me. While there's an obvious old western aesthetic (see: narrator), the musical influences are fairly eclectic, incorporating elements of from delta blues to electro to South Asian strings and drums.
Here are a couple samples illustrating this range:
So what do you all think? If you've played it, what did you like/dislike? If you haven't, are you interested?
On August 16 2011 16:44 procyonlotor wrote: I believe it is coming out today on Steam. I can't wait to play it and see what Greg Kasavin learned doing game reviews all those years.
Indeed it is! In glorious 1080p, no less. Just another game to make me wish I had a decent PC.
On August 16 2011 16:45 ChronoCat wrote: Does this game have bosses or anything similar?
Yeah, there's a boss stage at the end of each dungeon, though it's not exactly like the puzzle-solving boss battles of Link to the Past.
Also, you can boost your enemies' speed, strength etc. by invoking certain gods, to make it as challenging as you like.
Bastion rubbed me the wrong way. I can appreciate the art for its uniqueness and polish, but the style isn't to my liking and the mobs are quite limited. More than anything though, the narration style annoyed me and the shotgun reload sfx drove me crazy.
On August 17 2011 08:02 procyonlotor wrote: I got it earlier today and so far I have been enjoying it greatly. I'm not very far into the game, but so far I don't really have any complaints.
Haha well you can also comment on things you like, but enjoy! It only gets better :D
EPT
![[image loading]](http://supergiantgames.com/site/wp-content/uploads/Bastion_PC_0003.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://supergiantgames.com/site/wp-content/uploads/Bastion_E32011_0001.jpg)
