Bastion (2011) is cool. i like it! it's got tight controls, it looks gorgeous, and the SOUNDTRACK goes sooo hard. seriously. there are some bangers. we need more sounds of hammers hitting anvils in songs, because that is the soundbite of my dreaaams.

by far the best part of the game is the soundscape: Darren Korb's sweet sweet bangers and Logan Cunningham's sweet sweet narration. the world of this game feels so full of life and yet so utterly ruined thanks to these two facets. the narration feels so natural and is so adaptive that it is almost as though it is completely tailored to your specific experience playing the game. if you fall off a ledge, the narrator will make a little joke about your journey ending there. there's unique voice lines for every combination of weapons you leave the arsenal with. in one area, the narrator even reminded me diegetically that i could use my specific special ability if the swarms of enemies were too much. it felt insanely organic, and as though it had to be planned that i would have that specific equipment in my loadout, but no! i could've had literally anything in that slot. the narration is so frequent that you may think it'd blend into the background, but i found it to be engaging the whole playthrough and it made me feel like the lore of this world was being transmitted into my brain via osmosis.

there's a pretty great sense of progression as you both build the bastion and build up your arsenal. there's always something to check up on, upgrade, or swap out every time you finish a level, which feels nice. there's a good number of weapons, and i'm partial to a good number of them. they're not all great, but i imagine there's some i don't care for that others swear by, so your mileage may vary. however, the final portion of the game where it forces you to use a different weapon was dreadfully boring and anticlimactic. it spits on all of that building up that i just gushed over and instead gives you the most clunky, unfun piece of equipment in the entire game.

the story and gameplay aren't all that crazy, but the narration and vibes are fantastic, and i would recommend this game based on those two factors alone.

The first project from Supergiant game and the last of their classic titles I personally played.

And I gotta be honest: maybe it's because I didn't play it at the time it came out, or maybe because of the quality of the other projects made by these developers, but... Bastion didn't hooked me as much as many other that tried it.

Don't get me wrong, I totally get the hype around it: especially for the time, Bastion has a timeless charm that it's hard to find even in other similar titles. It features an incredible soundtrack, a fantastic artstyle that literally lets you see the worlds being built around you, and a writing that is able to be melancholic, hopeful, sad, but also quirky and spicy, thanks to a sarcastic narrator that follows the adventure of the Kid.
The combats and puzzles I feel aged quite well, and while simple, can lead to a lot of customization and replayablity thanks to te ability to pick different weapons, buffs, entire styles of gameplay, and things that remind of the Pact of Punishment from Hades (which is a more than good thing). The attention oto details and overall cure for this projects are felt to this day.

I gotta be honest though and say that I didn't really grew attached to the overall story and characters. Not to mention that I felt the overall experience may feel a bit too short, especially considering the SUpergiant gems that came out in later years.

Despite my criticism, which can be considered harsh for one of the first big indie games, I cannot deny that Bastion is a timeless experience, and the people that consider it a cult classic and one of the pillars of the world of indie games are more than justified to think that.
Give it a try if you can. It's a great time!