Bastion – Video Game Review

First video game review on this blog! Today I finished Bastion by Supergiant Games, and I loved this game so much. I haven’t loved a game this much since Undertale.

So this first part is going to be spoiler free so I can convince those who haven’t played the game to play it.

Bastion is an indie rpg set in a world right after a great calamity. You’re a kid who is still alive, but you’re all alone as most people have been turned to ash. You decide to head to the place where everyone is supposed to go when there is a disaster.

Through the game, you get to carry two weapons at a time, but the weapons change constantly (but you get a place to choose which weapons you want to carry!) and I loved the variety. The world is floating and paths appear as you approach. However, you can fall off the edge!

This game captures your attention right from the beginning. The art is beautiful, the soundtrack is amazing, and the story is intriguing (I mean, do you really need more convincing adjectives?). The narration comes from an old man, as your character doesn’t talk. I really enjoyed this; I found the narrator funny and not overly intrusive. He gives you the information you need to get through the game so you don’t have to read things.

I would highly recommend this game! Right now I can’t think of a game to compare it to, but if you like rpg games with pretty artwork, cool weapons, and an amazing story, then you might love this.

This part is where it becomes nonspoiler free. If you haven’t finished the game, stop here and go to the very end of this post! So, **Spoilers!

At first, it thought it was going to be a pretty quick game because of how quickly I was getting all the cores. And then when the bastion gets destroyed, I realized there was still more to go, which made me happy. I felt like there was a complete story that was a good length. It only took me about six hours to complete, but now I get to play the plus mode. I’m glad there’s more to do after the first play through.

I loved the buildup that led to the last level. I had to stop playing right before saving the girl and it was so hard to walk away; I was so hooked on finding out what happened. I also liked how the game began to get harder towards the end as I found it wasn’t all that difficult at the beginning. I loved the last weapon too. So powerful, and the way it slowed you down really added to the suspense.

I had no clue until the end that there was going to be a choice. I sat there for at least five minutes wondering which one to choose. In the end, I chose the evacuation (which gets you a hidden achievement on steam btw). I also loved that the girl talked at the end! It was nice hearing another voice. I feel like by the end of the game most of the story had wrapped up and almost all my questions were answered.

My one critique of the game (at least that I can think of now) is that they waited until the last level to add in a jump element. In a world that you can easily fall off of, I feel like it would have been interesting to add in earlier.

Last thoughts – Spoiler free

I played this game on my windows computer with an Xbox 360 controller. You can get this game on different consoles (Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Mac computers, I’m not sure if there are more). I bought it off of steam. I got it on sale back in June, so right now it is at its regular price of $14.99. I honestly think it’s worth that much, but if you’re tight on cash like me, put it on your wishlist and wait for a sale (Christmas time!). If you don’t trust me, just check out all the amazing reviews it has on steam!

The developers have another game out called Transistor, which I am going to play next. They also have a game set to come out next year and I can’t wait!