Bastion

2011/10/30 in gaming, screenshots, spoiler

Bastion is an action role-playing game with stunning graphics, amazing artwork and an absolutely noteworthy, beautiful soundtrack. The player controls an unnamed hero, who can be armed with an array of different weapons, skills, passive enhancements (think of the tonics in BioShock) and could be influenced by idols in a shrine. Of course it’s up to the player, to select/mix weapons loadout and other equipment. The obvious mission is to gather certain items, which can be found throughout the game world/at the end of most levels. This principle is complemented by proving grounds for each weapon, which test the player’s skill with each and every one of them and a few extra tough challenges inside the Bastion (basically the base of operations).
The game doesn’t overexpose the player to certain effects, but uses those it has very effective. For example the whole game is basically narrated by just one character, but the slightly creepy voice overs always seem to know how to keep it interesting. There’s always a little suspense and the commentary is even triggered by the player’s actions.
The impressive environments were very diverse and the game had lots of different enemy types – some of them even required different tactics to beat them. :P In the end there are even some minor choices, on how to resolve the story, but I haven’t tried all of them. I might if I replay it in “game plus” where it’s possible to have all weapons and former experience right away.
Bastion makes me think of Infinity Engine games and is a good example of how brilliant such isometric games could look today, if done with current technology.
All in all I’d say that Bastion is quite unique and will definitely be something that sticks in my mind. Everyone who’s into “smaller” games besides the well advertised, so called AAA titles, should consider checking this out.