Bastion Review

Piecing Together a Good Game

I like pretty games. I can't help but want to play a game simply because it's pretty. This becomes a problem when the pretty game is just not the type I would play or excel in playing. Bastion, developed by Supergiant Games, manages to exist on the periphery of games I would normally enjoy. It is an action RPG, whose gameplay straddles a fence between old school 3/4 perspective shooting games and grind-and-loot fests like Diablo or Torchlight, neither genre of which I'm a huge fan. Thankfully, Bastion manages to be pretty and fun to play with enough character to stand apart from games it resembles.

One of the immediately unusual elements of the game is its twist on the trope of the silent protagonist. Indeed, the Kid never utters a word, and the only sounds to escape his mouth are grunts typical of (adult) Link in the 3D Zelda games. Rather, the events that unfold are described by an ever-present narrator as you proceed through the game. Amusingly enough, the narrator does not just droll on and on in the background; he only describes what's happening on the screen whether it is a scripted encounter, switching your weapons, or following an alley off the beaten path. At one point, when I noticed that the weapon I had could destroy walls and barriers, I spent a while smashing everything around me, and the narrator said, "The Kid just rages for a while." Touches like this, where the story is partly dictated by player action, add a level of interactivity that encourages the player to do as much as possible if only to hear what the narrator has to say.

The next unique characteristic is the way the world puts itself together as you play. The Kid wakes up on an island floating in the middle of nowhere after an event known as The Calamity happens, and as he proceeds through the levels to discover what happens and how to fix it, the pathways build themselves as he approaches. Certainly, it's not the first time I've seen a path build itself, but this is the first time I've seen an entire game built around the concept. Much like the narrative, the world builds itself only in areas you come across. Though mostly linear, each level features short branching paths to find health, currency, and power-ups, which only appear if you bother to seek out those extra corners of the map. It's a fascinating play on the idea of secret areas, suggesting that they don't even exist if you don't seek them out purposely.

The Kid vs. Scumbag

Once you get past the novelties, the gameplay becomes pretty standard. You find a large variety of both melee and ranged weapons during your progress, and there are combat and secret skills, which act as super moves, to discover. The Bastion itself acts as a hub for upgrading the player and weapons and selecting the next level to traipse. The map also reveals areas where you can test your skills with each of the weapons to find. These proving grounds provide bonus upgrade materials for weapons and additional combat skills doled out in three tiers depending on the player's performance. The drive to complete all of these comes from the fact that they each contain an upgrade material for another weapon, so chances are if you want to customize your old standards to be awesome, you'll be practicing with the other weapons the game offers. It's a smart way for the developer to say, "C'mon. Just give it a go." As you complete levels, you are given the opportunity to upgrade the Bastion by building structures that allow you to change your loadout, upgrade your weapons, and even purchase items. If the game isn't challenging enough for you, one of the buildings in the Bastion allows you to invoke gods who buff the enemies in a variety of ways, but this extra challenge comes with extra rewards, typically more experience or currency. For those seeking even more challenge and backstory, I recommend traveling to Who Knows Where, which is Bastion's version of survival mode where you must survive 20 rounds of enemies coming at you. On top of an easy way to gain some currency, the narrator provides history for three main characters in between each round, which increases the player's ability to empathize with them. (Note: You enter these arenas via objects in the Bastion, which are easy to investigate by accident…which I did…twice. Proceed with caution.)

There is a good amount of enemy variety in each level, and the game tosses things up now and again. Although most of the Kid's trials take place walking down the yet-to-be-beaten path, there are some boss fights, times when you need to travel by floating raft while under attack, and even areas where the bushes and trees obscure your ability to view what is happening. Strategy is definitely required to proceed here as the combinations of enemies on the screen keep you on your toes in later stages. Initially, smaller encounters allow the player to button mash to some extent, but eventually, it becomes a huge risk to attack everything head on, and both your shield and evasive roll become vital to survival. It feels overwhelming at times, but the game is good about dropping health or skill tonics at the right time to recover before the next onslaught. I played the game on the Normal difficulty setting, but the easier setting does not adjust the challenge of the enemies. Instead, it allows the player to recover in place an unlimited amount of times instead of being required to restart the area. Thankfully, for someone who's not amazing at confrontation, I only had to restart a few areas and never to the point where it became annoying or dismaying. I appreciate games where failure can usually be attributed to the player's lack of strategy, and Bastion mostly fits this description. The only annoyance arises out of the fact that all the levels are basically giant islands in the sky, and trying to avoid evasively rolling off a ledge or mistaking a gap for a platform can sometimes grow wearisome. The cost is health, but admittedly, this cost can be tempered by tonics applied in the Bastion. There is definitely nothing mindless about the combat in this game, which prevents it from ever becoming boring.

This game reaches Uncharted 2 levels of beautiful junk to stare at.

All these layers of weapons, upgrades, gauntlets, and challenges are presented to you via absolutely gorgeous visuals. The levels and objects are made up of wonderfully illustrated sprites mapped onto 3D objects, while the characters and enemies are crisp and cel-shaded. The amount of detail that went into the graphics is astounding and noteworthy. The game is just so pretty, and it's worth taking a restful moment to just stare at it sometimes. Although sound effects do not stand out, the soundtrack is also quite fantastic. The background music is an eclectic blend of moody guitars and electronica, which stands out as atypical for the action RPG genre. There are also some breathtaking moments when the ambient music cuts out and is replaced by haunting vocal tracks, which anchor the gameplay to the story lest the player forget there is purpose to the Kid's actions. It is also worth mentioning the gravelly voice of the narrator, whose calm and tempered delivery is continually entertaining without wearing thin or becoming too dramatic. My only complaint would be that there is sometimes too much going on to pay attention to him, so it's disappointing to think you missed an interesting tidbit.

Bastion is not just a pretty game. Although that is initially what tempted me to play it, there is enough good and deep game here to please any gamer. It only offers a few new mechanics, but the effect of the presentation combined with the gameplay ends up being greater than the sum of its parts with a narrative that remains important and relevant till the last minute. This game is definitely easy to recommend.

He looks crazy and is crazy to fight.

All images obtained from the Bastion website, linked above.