I’m overwhelmingly glad that I stuck with this game through to the end, because I very nearly didn’t. True to what other people have said - Eastward is glacial; largely disinterested with stringing the player along with explosive story beats, overarching goals and villains. While the game shares many similarities to Zelda: Minish Cap and Mother 3 in its aesthetics, dungeon schema and quirky ensemble cast, it feels closer in spirit to Moon: Remix RPG. Eastward is primarily a story of a journey, a potpourri of emotions and vignettes, and it expects you to inhabit the communities of the microworlds you visit on your trip. I wish I had known this going in, and I’d like to start my review by stating as such as a primer for anyone reading because when I clocked what Eastward’s intentions were and met it halfway, I finally found myself sinking in.
Eastward is an adventure RPG revolving around the story of John, a stoic, taciturn miner and his mysterious wide-eyed adoptive daughter named Sam - each born into an isolated town deep beneath the surface. The narrative is ostensibly a one-way ticket on a train powered by Sam’s positive energy and curiosity as she yearns to see the sun for the first time with a thoroughly convincing and endearing childlike wonderment. Upon reaching the surface, I was right there with her.
The world is presented through the dichotomy of John and Sam’s polar opposite personalities. Sam is contagiously cheerful and childishly chatty, but she often fails to perceive the more adult dramas and contradictions. Despite John being ghoulishly silent throughout the game, he exhibits warmth and intelligence at points that the player can fill in themselves. This is particularly noticeable in moments like when Sam and John encounter incubators for artificial human beings hidden deep within ruins for the first time. For Sam, those seem almost like hyper-technological playgrounds, while for John, and consequently also for the player, their mysterious and threatening nature is very evident. It’s all surprisingly effective as far as Game Dad character interactions go.
Eastward is a post-apocalyptic setting fraught with danger, but dotted along the tracks are pockets of humanity small and large, towns and cities with cultures cultivated over time in isolation. Each is inhabited by characters that are of course quirky, but surprisingly fleshed out and genuinely memorable. It’s been a very long time since a game world has felt so alive and well-told down to its minute details, helped in no small part to the stellar pixel work in the meticulously realised characters and environments. Some of the best pixel art I have ever seen. Honestly, it left me genuinely inspired - to take in every inch of the world, but also to create for myself.
I often found myself thinking back to the steps on the path I had already walked, about the characters I could no longer return to, and wondering what they were doing while I was not there to watch. Personally speaking, I can ask nothing more of a game. Eastward acted as a beacon of positive vibrations and inspiration to me. As someone who has never grown out of pinning himself to a train window and imagining the lives of the people in the towns I zoom by, the experience of this game was incisive to something I hold dear. Favourite game of 2021 by far.
Eastward is an adventure RPG revolving around the story of John, a stoic, taciturn miner and his mysterious wide-eyed adoptive daughter named Sam - each born into an isolated town deep beneath the surface. The narrative is ostensibly a one-way ticket on a train powered by Sam’s positive energy and curiosity as she yearns to see the sun for the first time with a thoroughly convincing and endearing childlike wonderment. Upon reaching the surface, I was right there with her.
The world is presented through the dichotomy of John and Sam’s polar opposite personalities. Sam is contagiously cheerful and childishly chatty, but she often fails to perceive the more adult dramas and contradictions. Despite John being ghoulishly silent throughout the game, he exhibits warmth and intelligence at points that the player can fill in themselves. This is particularly noticeable in moments like when Sam and John encounter incubators for artificial human beings hidden deep within ruins for the first time. For Sam, those seem almost like hyper-technological playgrounds, while for John, and consequently also for the player, their mysterious and threatening nature is very evident. It’s all surprisingly effective as far as Game Dad character interactions go.
Eastward is a post-apocalyptic setting fraught with danger, but dotted along the tracks are pockets of humanity small and large, towns and cities with cultures cultivated over time in isolation. Each is inhabited by characters that are of course quirky, but surprisingly fleshed out and genuinely memorable. It’s been a very long time since a game world has felt so alive and well-told down to its minute details, helped in no small part to the stellar pixel work in the meticulously realised characters and environments. Some of the best pixel art I have ever seen. Honestly, it left me genuinely inspired - to take in every inch of the world, but also to create for myself.
I often found myself thinking back to the steps on the path I had already walked, about the characters I could no longer return to, and wondering what they were doing while I was not there to watch. Personally speaking, I can ask nothing more of a game. Eastward acted as a beacon of positive vibrations and inspiration to me. As someone who has never grown out of pinning himself to a train window and imagining the lives of the people in the towns I zoom by, the experience of this game was incisive to something I hold dear. Favourite game of 2021 by far.
Eastward, or "Eastbound" as it really should have been called, is so gosh darn pretty. It just looks real nice. It has a unique, detailed look. It feels alive, it moves, you might say it breathes, even. It has some frame drops on Switch here and there, but it is in the whole a visual treat all the way through. The music is pretty good, and the character arcs are nice enough. Unfortunately, the game suffers throughout from a pretty bad sense of pacing and overall odd or incoherent moods.
Eastbound takes a lot of inspiration from the Mother series, a series of JRPGs from the late 90s and early 200s. There's a pretty fun mini game based on classic JRPGs in Eastbound, and some important characters are referred to as "Mother" in the game. Eastbound also takes inspiration from these games by making you spend hours doing gopher tasks that don't really progress the story at all, and having a story that seems like it was only translated halfway. There were far too many moments where a serious plot point--a character death, or several character deaths--would get undercut by the cheery music cue and a change in topic. It seemed like the dissonance was intentional at first, maybe, but it never developed. I don't know.
I think if you really dig the story this game would be fun. I liked the characters well enough, and the gameplay was fine, it all just too way too long. And in the end it didn't really feel worth it. Still it looks nice, and gives very strong Miyazaki vibes. Or perhaps shitty Miyazaki ripoff vibes.
Eastbound takes a lot of inspiration from the Mother series, a series of JRPGs from the late 90s and early 200s. There's a pretty fun mini game based on classic JRPGs in Eastbound, and some important characters are referred to as "Mother" in the game. Eastbound also takes inspiration from these games by making you spend hours doing gopher tasks that don't really progress the story at all, and having a story that seems like it was only translated halfway. There were far too many moments where a serious plot point--a character death, or several character deaths--would get undercut by the cheery music cue and a change in topic. It seemed like the dissonance was intentional at first, maybe, but it never developed. I don't know.
I think if you really dig the story this game would be fun. I liked the characters well enough, and the gameplay was fine, it all just too way too long. And in the end it didn't really feel worth it. Still it looks nice, and gives very strong Miyazaki vibes. Or perhaps shitty Miyazaki ripoff vibes.
I've never before seen a game where the presentation is so leagues better than everything else it has to offer. Eastward is gorgeous in terms of graphics, music and art direction. Phenomenal. The gameplay, however, is bland and uninspired, and a story that starts pretty strong is bogged down by some absolutely horrendous pacing, and a lot of things which leave the player confused. So much of this game feels like nothing would be lost were it cut. Thanks to plot, characters met in one part of the game are often left behind to meet new ones. However, the main cast NEVER acknowledges the peiple they left behind with few key exceptions. WHY DID I SPEND FIVE HOURS IN THIS AREA IF NOTHING I DID THERE AFFECTS THE WIDER PLOT!?!? The gane also didn't feel well optimised for the Switch. This is ine of if not the only game I've played that just crashed decently regularly. There was also a weird effect where the game didn't seem to cover the screen at the edges for whatever reason. This game is frustrating, because there is a lot to love, but the pacing most of all made me avoid playing quite a bit. A 20 ish hour game should not take me ten months, but Eastward is one I couldn't bear to sit down and play regularly, and also one I think could have been five to ten hours shorter, making kt a much better experience. I will say I love the presentation, a number of characters, and the story's high points are pretty good, but I can't seem to ignore my issues.
Com um olhar puramente técnico, é o típico 7/10. Mas tem alguma coisa nele que mexe comigo, é como aqueles clássicos que, atualmente não são grandes jogos, mas tem algo ali que te marca.
Essa é provavelmente a pixel art mais linda que eu já vi. Fora isso, os puzzles e combate são simples, os personagens legais (eu iria adorar uma animação disso aqui), e a história mantém você preso ao mesmo tempo que é a parte com mais erros do jogo.
A história começa legal, mas desanda em alguns momentos, tem acontecimentos grandes que são completamente esquecidos, sem falar que dava pra tirar 50% da história e o jogo ficaria melhor. E lá pro terceiro capítulo é como se tudo fosse um grande filler. Os diálogos longos acabam cansando também, e lá pro meio do jogo eu nem estava mais lendo, só em momentos chave.
Mesmo com essas barrigas e problemas de ritmo na história, não foi um fator que me fez parar, valeu a pena, por que os personagens são carisma puro!
Essa é provavelmente a pixel art mais linda que eu já vi. Fora isso, os puzzles e combate são simples, os personagens legais (eu iria adorar uma animação disso aqui), e a história mantém você preso ao mesmo tempo que é a parte com mais erros do jogo.
A história começa legal, mas desanda em alguns momentos, tem acontecimentos grandes que são completamente esquecidos, sem falar que dava pra tirar 50% da história e o jogo ficaria melhor. E lá pro terceiro capítulo é como se tudo fosse um grande filler. Os diálogos longos acabam cansando também, e lá pro meio do jogo eu nem estava mais lendo, só em momentos chave.
Mesmo com essas barrigas e problemas de ritmo na história, não foi um fator que me fez parar, valeu a pena, por que os personagens são carisma puro!
Ah, how many games I have lined up on my list to play by year's end, a list full enough it's likely I won't even get to all of them even if I tried! Yet, here I was, seeing the Nintendo Switch Online offer to play Eastward--for free! For a week! A game I've heard fairlyyyyy good things about before! How could I say no to that? On a whim, it was written, Poochy is playing Eastward.
God I wish I liked it.
Eastward is a post-post apocalyptic adventure game that, like many of its kin, explores that value of human connection. Kinda. It's depiction of the world is so rich, both in terms of the ideas presented in each area and the . Just look at any screenshot of the game, it's got some of the best pixel art work I've ever seen, with a ridiculously level of animation work and lighting that makes everything feel so alive. My Switch album is filled to the brim capturing every luscious landscape and setpiece it has in store. For that alone, it made my time in the world not regrettable.
Prior to finishing, I was under the belief every other element of the game besides its aesthetics and world design undershot what they really should have been by like 20%, but unfortunately then the ending happened. The game makes a really dangerous gambit, by spending almost the entire game setting up question after question that are all loaded onto the final act to pay off. Plenty of my favorite games go forward with this structure and are so beloved precisely because of their gambit. Eastward, however, does a number of things throughout that makes its story not just rote but kind of actively bad!
Its compulsory need to layer on mystery after mystery without explaining even fairly rudimentary things that happen. Stuff as simple as how the two main characters met each other, or basic character motivations are barely touched on and the game just treks along as if it doesn't matter. Major characters, including who could best be called the primary antagonist of the game, drop in and out of the story without much elaboration on what their deal is, and then reappear way later on having undergone radical changes that still are barely given any elaboration. So often, the perfect opportunity for characters to discuss what their deal is with each other is set up and then they just... walk away? For no real reason???
In place of focusing on its story, the game loves sending you on adjacent objectives with side characters that don't really amount to much of anything, like the beginning section of Twilight Princess strung out across an entire 20 hour adventure. In general, the game's pacing is totally fucked, with a largely nonsensical chapter structure and a really bad gameplay-to-cutscene/fetch quest ratio. There is an entire chapter where basically all you do is go through an entirely inconsequential dungeon to save two completely inconsequential NPCs, something that in any other game would be a side quest. At another point, you're going through a section about cooking food, then while you're in the middle of cooking the food the characters decide to fuck off and do something completely unrelated. Then, when they get back, the food is, predictably, ruined! So much of the game feels like its strung together via a series of disconnected "and then this happens..." instead of being based in the realm of cause and effect. It results in a story experiencing experience that often feels like pulling teeth.
Then, I reached the final chapter, the game rapidly approached the end, and... as you can probably imagine, did not stick the landing as I hoped it would. The ultimate answers to the questions it proposes are either the most obvious ones they could be or left more or less unanswered. It ends up being so frustrating to see these scenes with some absolutely jaw dropping, beautiful visuals play out with amazing music accompanying, and yet I just don't care for the emotional beats they depict. It hits all the story beats you would expect a game like this to hit, but the game hasn't done the work needed to really make me character about these characters. And the unanswered questions... I did a bit of digging afterwards to make sure I didn't just miss out on elements of the game's story, but no! The subreddit is filled with people left confused about fundamental aspects of the world and characters with responses that amount to "well I think it might be this but idk that's just my best guess".
I want to make a particular shoutout to the bizarre lack of characterization given to John, the father figure in the main playable father-daughter duo. He's a silent protagonist, which I do not have any issues with on the face of it, but the game barely gives any texture to him beyond the first 10 minutes of the game outside of a sparse few scenes. Sam, the daughter of the pairing, is talkative as all get out though. The way this ends up playing out in the vast majority of cutscenes is John being a mindless automaton following Sam while she makes every decision, including several that a father figure really should provide at least a little pushback to her making! It's hard to shake the feeling he ended up being silent because it wanted to recapture the vibe of playing as Flint in Mother 3 and his legendary cutscene at the beginning of the game. Yet, much like Mother 3's handling of Duster and Kumatora, it feels like his silence just comes at the expense of having a character that's way less fleshed out than he really should be.
Anyways, as I said before, a far larger chunk of the game is dedicated to cutscenes and fetch quests than the quality of the writing mandates. When it's not that, however, the duo goes venturing into areas fashioned similar to Zelda dungeons--and they're pretty solid! It's a good enough time exploring each beautiful looking area, uncovering secrets, and going through puzzles that often rely on switching between the two different characters. None of it is particular novel, and I do wish the game had a few more tricks up its sleeve than the switch puzzles it loves so dearly, but it all remained fairly chill and just taxing enough on the brain to remain interesting.
The combat is similarly decent enough, but really starts to strain itself towards the end of the game. Your main methods of dealing damage are almost all short ranged or take an annoying charge up time until close to the end (and the option you do get then is... too weak to depend on). When enemies start getting more aggressive and agile, it becomes increasingly hard to keep up, especially considering that your hitbox consists of both the character you're controlling AND the follower. It's never frustratingly difficult with how many resources the game dumps on you, as well as a cooking system for more healing dishes I never really bothered with, but still. Why doesn't the game have a dodge roll or something? It would fit right in. Again, it's one element where it feels like the game falls 20% short of where it really should've been.
So here I am, left just feeling rather deflated by the whole experience. The most I dwell on it, the more frustrated I become with the story and writing. There's clearly a lot of effort and passion put in from top to bottom, plenty of stuff I enjoyed in the moment, but it just doesn't come together into a cohesive product. What a shame.
Adendum: I forgot to mention this, but the game crashed SIX! times over the course of playing. Fortunately, the game had a good autosave system that left me only losing ~10 minutes of game time total, but it was still a tad frustrating.
God I wish I liked it.
Eastward is a post-post apocalyptic adventure game that, like many of its kin, explores that value of human connection. Kinda. It's depiction of the world is so rich, both in terms of the ideas presented in each area and the . Just look at any screenshot of the game, it's got some of the best pixel art work I've ever seen, with a ridiculously level of animation work and lighting that makes everything feel so alive. My Switch album is filled to the brim capturing every luscious landscape and setpiece it has in store. For that alone, it made my time in the world not regrettable.
Prior to finishing, I was under the belief every other element of the game besides its aesthetics and world design undershot what they really should have been by like 20%, but unfortunately then the ending happened. The game makes a really dangerous gambit, by spending almost the entire game setting up question after question that are all loaded onto the final act to pay off. Plenty of my favorite games go forward with this structure and are so beloved precisely because of their gambit. Eastward, however, does a number of things throughout that makes its story not just rote but kind of actively bad!
Its compulsory need to layer on mystery after mystery without explaining even fairly rudimentary things that happen. Stuff as simple as how the two main characters met each other, or basic character motivations are barely touched on and the game just treks along as if it doesn't matter. Major characters, including who could best be called the primary antagonist of the game, drop in and out of the story without much elaboration on what their deal is, and then reappear way later on having undergone radical changes that still are barely given any elaboration. So often, the perfect opportunity for characters to discuss what their deal is with each other is set up and then they just... walk away? For no real reason???
In place of focusing on its story, the game loves sending you on adjacent objectives with side characters that don't really amount to much of anything, like the beginning section of Twilight Princess strung out across an entire 20 hour adventure. In general, the game's pacing is totally fucked, with a largely nonsensical chapter structure and a really bad gameplay-to-cutscene/fetch quest ratio. There is an entire chapter where basically all you do is go through an entirely inconsequential dungeon to save two completely inconsequential NPCs, something that in any other game would be a side quest. At another point, you're going through a section about cooking food, then while you're in the middle of cooking the food the characters decide to fuck off and do something completely unrelated. Then, when they get back, the food is, predictably, ruined! So much of the game feels like its strung together via a series of disconnected "and then this happens..." instead of being based in the realm of cause and effect. It results in a story experiencing experience that often feels like pulling teeth.
Then, I reached the final chapter, the game rapidly approached the end, and... as you can probably imagine, did not stick the landing as I hoped it would. The ultimate answers to the questions it proposes are either the most obvious ones they could be or left more or less unanswered. It ends up being so frustrating to see these scenes with some absolutely jaw dropping, beautiful visuals play out with amazing music accompanying, and yet I just don't care for the emotional beats they depict. It hits all the story beats you would expect a game like this to hit, but the game hasn't done the work needed to really make me character about these characters. And the unanswered questions... I did a bit of digging afterwards to make sure I didn't just miss out on elements of the game's story, but no! The subreddit is filled with people left confused about fundamental aspects of the world and characters with responses that amount to "well I think it might be this but idk that's just my best guess".
I want to make a particular shoutout to the bizarre lack of characterization given to John, the father figure in the main playable father-daughter duo. He's a silent protagonist, which I do not have any issues with on the face of it, but the game barely gives any texture to him beyond the first 10 minutes of the game outside of a sparse few scenes. Sam, the daughter of the pairing, is talkative as all get out though. The way this ends up playing out in the vast majority of cutscenes is John being a mindless automaton following Sam while she makes every decision, including several that a father figure really should provide at least a little pushback to her making! It's hard to shake the feeling he ended up being silent because it wanted to recapture the vibe of playing as Flint in Mother 3 and his legendary cutscene at the beginning of the game. Yet, much like Mother 3's handling of Duster and Kumatora, it feels like his silence just comes at the expense of having a character that's way less fleshed out than he really should be.
Anyways, as I said before, a far larger chunk of the game is dedicated to cutscenes and fetch quests than the quality of the writing mandates. When it's not that, however, the duo goes venturing into areas fashioned similar to Zelda dungeons--and they're pretty solid! It's a good enough time exploring each beautiful looking area, uncovering secrets, and going through puzzles that often rely on switching between the two different characters. None of it is particular novel, and I do wish the game had a few more tricks up its sleeve than the switch puzzles it loves so dearly, but it all remained fairly chill and just taxing enough on the brain to remain interesting.
The combat is similarly decent enough, but really starts to strain itself towards the end of the game. Your main methods of dealing damage are almost all short ranged or take an annoying charge up time until close to the end (and the option you do get then is... too weak to depend on). When enemies start getting more aggressive and agile, it becomes increasingly hard to keep up, especially considering that your hitbox consists of both the character you're controlling AND the follower. It's never frustratingly difficult with how many resources the game dumps on you, as well as a cooking system for more healing dishes I never really bothered with, but still. Why doesn't the game have a dodge roll or something? It would fit right in. Again, it's one element where it feels like the game falls 20% short of where it really should've been.
So here I am, left just feeling rather deflated by the whole experience. The most I dwell on it, the more frustrated I become with the story and writing. There's clearly a lot of effort and passion put in from top to bottom, plenty of stuff I enjoyed in the moment, but it just doesn't come together into a cohesive product. What a shame.
Adendum: I forgot to mention this, but the game crashed SIX! times over the course of playing. Fortunately, the game had a good autosave system that left me only losing ~10 minutes of game time total, but it was still a tad frustrating.
im extremely dissapointed in this. i've been waiting for this game since 2018 cause the game grabbed my attention with its incredible graphics and top notch pixel-art. but beyond that, there's not much remarkable about this game. I'm not invested in any of the characters (except Sam), the combat is really boring (at least for me, it reminded me a lot to 2D zeldas, which i personally dislike. I don't think they're bad they're just not my cup of tea) and also i've encountered some technical problems such as frame stutters or some minimal graphical bugs. I'm not interested in the slightest on finishing this.
Really disappointed to have reached the point of having lost all motivation to continue further at this point after about 9 hours considering this was among my most anticipated games for the longest time.
This is probably the most beautiful sprite art I have ever seen in a game and the world oozes with life. Everything feels great to interact with, but there is just a lack of substance that really breaks my heart. It has tons of quirky characters that I stopped interacting with because the writing was just too bland to care. There are so many weird pacing decisions that grind the game to an absolute halt for 1-2 hours at a time sending you across town to fetch arbitrary things without any meaningful payoff.
I will probably finish this at some point, I just can't bother at the moment. The world and art are just too beautiful to not see it through, I just wish they would have narrowed down a narrative core instead of spreading themselves so paper thin.
This is probably the most beautiful sprite art I have ever seen in a game and the world oozes with life. Everything feels great to interact with, but there is just a lack of substance that really breaks my heart. It has tons of quirky characters that I stopped interacting with because the writing was just too bland to care. There are so many weird pacing decisions that grind the game to an absolute halt for 1-2 hours at a time sending you across town to fetch arbitrary things without any meaningful payoff.
I will probably finish this at some point, I just can't bother at the moment. The world and art are just too beautiful to not see it through, I just wish they would have narrowed down a narrative core instead of spreading themselves so paper thin.
とてもよく動くドット絵と可愛い珊は素晴らしいが、ストーリーに説明を省いている部分が多いのが難点。
The dots that work very well and the cute Sam are great, but there are many parts of the story that are left out of the explanation.
The dots that work very well and the cute Sam are great, but there are many parts of the story that are left out of the explanation.
Bonito, mas meio chatinho.
Se estende demais
Se estende demais
I have so much to say about this game and I still think about it 2 years later. Amazing soundtrack, amazing visual style, great gameplay, but a story that shits itself halfway through the game. The story is a big detractor, but everything else about the game is so well-crafted and almost tailor made for me that I have to let it slide. I’d encourage anyone to at least give it a shot, because as much as it does become a weirdly dissonant experience, there’s something here I think anyone could enjoy
EDIT!!
I've followed the developer since they first started making the game and I think we can agree with that the environment, overall graphics and the OST to the game are fantastic.
You can see the hard work they put into the game and honestly that's all my brain remembered.
I never looked at other reviews of the game until now and a lot of people have made rather valid points about the game. I noticed that some compare this game to Earthbound? (I have not played it before so I am blinded by the comparison between the two)
From the little I can remember of the game, I agree that the story towards the later half of the game becomes....ambitious and the combat left me frustrated at times...
It's still a game I enjoyed even with all of it's flaws. 4/5!
I've followed the developer since they first started making the game and I think we can agree with that the environment, overall graphics and the OST to the game are fantastic.
You can see the hard work they put into the game and honestly that's all my brain remembered.
I never looked at other reviews of the game until now and a lot of people have made rather valid points about the game. I noticed that some compare this game to Earthbound? (I have not played it before so I am blinded by the comparison between the two)
From the little I can remember of the game, I agree that the story towards the later half of the game becomes....ambitious and the combat left me frustrated at times...
It's still a game I enjoyed even with all of it's flaws. 4/5!
So beautiful and charming and full to bursting with character, and yet it's somehow a complete slog to play. Wears its inspirations of its sleeves so much it literally has Hayao Miyazaki as an NPC and yet it seems to miss the core of what makes the things it admires so much so memorable.
A sad experience, made all the worse by its wasted potential.
The spritework and animations are gorgeous, absolutely full of character. The soundtrack is strong. The gameplay is fun, the combat and puzzles challenging without feeling punishing. You can tell some of the inspirations directly, like the cooking and hearts/stamina system being stolen straight from Breath Of The Wild.
The story is miserable. John, the main viewpoint character and protagonist early on, spends every single scene doing literally nothing as the plot happens around him, and then has zero interest in what happened or what it means. No agency, no curiosity, no feelings. When you're not directly controlling him he becomes a statue. The first chapter teaches you that everybody else in the plot is either an abuser or a victim. Nothing matters, either people hurt you or they die, or both; but either way they're eventually gone so don't bother becoming attached. The only recurring characters know the plot but act all aloof and mysterious and manipulate events, leaving you frustrated instead of wanting to know more.
And all of it gets in the way of the fun, the exploration and the puzzles and the wonder and the fights against fantastical bio-mechanical horrors. There's something amazing here buried under layer upon layer of cynical tragedy and pointless suffering. It took the wrong lessons from Undertale and Lisa The Painful.
The spritework and animations are gorgeous, absolutely full of character. The soundtrack is strong. The gameplay is fun, the combat and puzzles challenging without feeling punishing. You can tell some of the inspirations directly, like the cooking and hearts/stamina system being stolen straight from Breath Of The Wild.
The story is miserable. John, the main viewpoint character and protagonist early on, spends every single scene doing literally nothing as the plot happens around him, and then has zero interest in what happened or what it means. No agency, no curiosity, no feelings. When you're not directly controlling him he becomes a statue. The first chapter teaches you that everybody else in the plot is either an abuser or a victim. Nothing matters, either people hurt you or they die, or both; but either way they're eventually gone so don't bother becoming attached. The only recurring characters know the plot but act all aloof and mysterious and manipulate events, leaving you frustrated instead of wanting to know more.
And all of it gets in the way of the fun, the exploration and the puzzles and the wonder and the fights against fantastical bio-mechanical horrors. There's something amazing here buried under layer upon layer of cynical tragedy and pointless suffering. It took the wrong lessons from Undertale and Lisa The Painful.
Pretty and pretty boring 😴
A well told story with fun Zelda like dungeons.
My Swicth glicthed out and there was a fetus stuck to the bottom right of my screen and I had to preform a reset.
My Swicth glicthed out and there was a fetus stuck to the bottom right of my screen and I had to preform a reset.
When I was a kid, I would read any book I could get my hands on - stories of astronauts, fantastical knights and wizards, strange and mysterious worlds, other kids in other places doing other things that I could only dream of. It's impossible to recall them all, yet I still get wisps of memories from time-to-time of forgotten books, characters, and scenes that float into my head like clouds forming fuzzy shapes for me to decipher before succumbing to the winds of time and memory and leaving me again. It's a strange sensation to feel nostalgia, wonder, and comfort from universes I'll never fully remember, but I am always left with some sense of longing. Eastward personifies and projects this feeling.
Although the actual gameplay of Eastward resembles, and was marketed as, the top-down Zelda formula of Link to the Past, that really isn't where the game's success lies. In fact, through most of the game you won't be exploring dungeons, solving puzzles, or swapping through your weapons. You'll be doing, well, nothing. You'll run errands, chat with characters, and learn about the world you've been dropped into. Eastward's charm is its greatest achievement - this strange, mish-mash universe of science-fiction, post-apocalyptic dystopia, high-fantasy, parody, and everything in between. The pixel art is obviously beautiful upon first glance, but the art design of the world itself has a unique yet familiar quality that comes off as pure magic. The soundtrack by Joel Corelitz similarly impresses and seems at once brand new yet nostalgic. Many of the songs he has crafted are not just impressive for a video game soundtrack, but on a song-writing level as well. So many tracks are packed completely full with emotion, build-up, and soulfulness that lend an otherworldly quality to Eastward. These things, the art design and soundtrack, are how Eastward tangibly interacts with the player, and they lay the ground work for everything else, specifically when anchoring the emotional impact of the game's characters.
There is a lot of dialogue in Eastward. Much of it is charming and endearing towards both the world-at-large as well as the characters involved, using humor to alleviate the darker tones of the story, much like one of the game's influences, Earthbound. This is not a game that can be pushed through to get through to the action bits. The best course of action is just to relax and give yourself over to the game - become the silent go-with-the-flow character that John is. I do recommend setting the text speed to fast in the menu, but ultimately enjoyment of the game will come from how much you like the characters and dialogue. Which works well because they are endearing when they need to be endearing, tragic when tragedy is needed, and frustrating when conflict arises. I was honestly surprised how much I cared about most of the characters, how angry I was with the antagonists, and how much I absolutely adored Sam. I began the game thinking that I would have fun swinging a pan and meet some funny characters, and ended with a lump in my throat. Eastward understands its strengths lie in emotion and connection and shows no fear in choosing to make you feel rather than understand when unpacking its main narrative. Its storytelling style does leave the player with a lot of work, but I think this is actually a good thing - it allows players to be able to make their own meaning of the world and its characters' choices. It also allows, particularly in the later stages of the game, for exploration into the esoteric - it's more important for things to be grounded in emotion and feeling rather than concrete reality. This willingness to go weird, as well as the art design and OST, give Eastward a dreamlike quality that is both beautiful and compelling.
Though the game heavily tilts towards dialogue and character-rich storytelling, when actual gameplay emerges, it is exciting and fun. The combat follows the standard top-down Zelda format with a melee option, ranged option, and bombs to switch between, as well as a few items and abilities used for puzzle solving. The bare bones combat acts as a one-two combo between Sam's ability to freeze enemies, and John's ability to shoot, smash, slice, and burn enemies. Weapons are upgradeable for both damage and ammo, and Sam has several hidden puzzle dungeons in which to find and upgrade abilities. Eastward does have quite a large enemy variety for such a simple combat system as well, which helps keep things from getting stale. As far as combat difficulty, I found it fairly moderate-to-easy for all things, including most bosses. Health pickups are given out regularly at low-health, and there is a cooking system which allows you to make health-replenishing items for cheap. The puzzles themselves are much the same - not terribly difficult, but interesting enough to mix things up and require a solid plan to execute. The game does get more difficult as it goes on, and I do believe a dodge action would be a welcome addition to the combat, but encounters are always manageable, especially if you've bothered to upgrade your weapons. This level of difficulty does make the bosses more fun experiences in storytelling and combat rather than challenges of skill, though it is still fulfilling to capture a victory. The game also mixes up the action by providing short chase sequences as well as a stealth sequence, so slamming enemies with a pan is not always your best option.
Eastward can come off as a bit of a fever dream at times, in the best way possible. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and yet it still contains emotional weight within its narrative and character arcs. The world truly feels alive with many small spiraling events, concepts, and people. The sheer amount of dialogue may mean that the game is not for everyone, but those that do enjoy it may find themselves lost in a new, unique story of charm, curiosity, and cast-iron.
Although the actual gameplay of Eastward resembles, and was marketed as, the top-down Zelda formula of Link to the Past, that really isn't where the game's success lies. In fact, through most of the game you won't be exploring dungeons, solving puzzles, or swapping through your weapons. You'll be doing, well, nothing. You'll run errands, chat with characters, and learn about the world you've been dropped into. Eastward's charm is its greatest achievement - this strange, mish-mash universe of science-fiction, post-apocalyptic dystopia, high-fantasy, parody, and everything in between. The pixel art is obviously beautiful upon first glance, but the art design of the world itself has a unique yet familiar quality that comes off as pure magic. The soundtrack by Joel Corelitz similarly impresses and seems at once brand new yet nostalgic. Many of the songs he has crafted are not just impressive for a video game soundtrack, but on a song-writing level as well. So many tracks are packed completely full with emotion, build-up, and soulfulness that lend an otherworldly quality to Eastward. These things, the art design and soundtrack, are how Eastward tangibly interacts with the player, and they lay the ground work for everything else, specifically when anchoring the emotional impact of the game's characters.
There is a lot of dialogue in Eastward. Much of it is charming and endearing towards both the world-at-large as well as the characters involved, using humor to alleviate the darker tones of the story, much like one of the game's influences, Earthbound. This is not a game that can be pushed through to get through to the action bits. The best course of action is just to relax and give yourself over to the game - become the silent go-with-the-flow character that John is. I do recommend setting the text speed to fast in the menu, but ultimately enjoyment of the game will come from how much you like the characters and dialogue. Which works well because they are endearing when they need to be endearing, tragic when tragedy is needed, and frustrating when conflict arises. I was honestly surprised how much I cared about most of the characters, how angry I was with the antagonists, and how much I absolutely adored Sam. I began the game thinking that I would have fun swinging a pan and meet some funny characters, and ended with a lump in my throat. Eastward understands its strengths lie in emotion and connection and shows no fear in choosing to make you feel rather than understand when unpacking its main narrative. Its storytelling style does leave the player with a lot of work, but I think this is actually a good thing - it allows players to be able to make their own meaning of the world and its characters' choices. It also allows, particularly in the later stages of the game, for exploration into the esoteric - it's more important for things to be grounded in emotion and feeling rather than concrete reality. This willingness to go weird, as well as the art design and OST, give Eastward a dreamlike quality that is both beautiful and compelling.
Though the game heavily tilts towards dialogue and character-rich storytelling, when actual gameplay emerges, it is exciting and fun. The combat follows the standard top-down Zelda format with a melee option, ranged option, and bombs to switch between, as well as a few items and abilities used for puzzle solving. The bare bones combat acts as a one-two combo between Sam's ability to freeze enemies, and John's ability to shoot, smash, slice, and burn enemies. Weapons are upgradeable for both damage and ammo, and Sam has several hidden puzzle dungeons in which to find and upgrade abilities. Eastward does have quite a large enemy variety for such a simple combat system as well, which helps keep things from getting stale. As far as combat difficulty, I found it fairly moderate-to-easy for all things, including most bosses. Health pickups are given out regularly at low-health, and there is a cooking system which allows you to make health-replenishing items for cheap. The puzzles themselves are much the same - not terribly difficult, but interesting enough to mix things up and require a solid plan to execute. The game does get more difficult as it goes on, and I do believe a dodge action would be a welcome addition to the combat, but encounters are always manageable, especially if you've bothered to upgrade your weapons. This level of difficulty does make the bosses more fun experiences in storytelling and combat rather than challenges of skill, though it is still fulfilling to capture a victory. The game also mixes up the action by providing short chase sequences as well as a stealth sequence, so slamming enemies with a pan is not always your best option.
Eastward can come off as a bit of a fever dream at times, in the best way possible. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and yet it still contains emotional weight within its narrative and character arcs. The world truly feels alive with many small spiraling events, concepts, and people. The sheer amount of dialogue may mean that the game is not for everyone, but those that do enjoy it may find themselves lost in a new, unique story of charm, curiosity, and cast-iron.
Eastward made me sad. Not because the game wanted it to but because it's missing so much of its potential. I had been excited for this game for years, I remember seeing it pop up on my Twitter feed several years before it came out. Every new image and video, every new character, every piece of music had me increasingly excited. As time went on I forgot about it and it came to my attention again when it was added to Game Pass. It was finally time to satisfy this urge and play one of my most anticipated games in a long time.
And it was boring. Almost everything in this game is boring. The combat, the exploration, the writing, the side content. Almost nothing about this game is engaging. The art is downright gorgeous and straight up alive at times and the music is phenomenal and fitting at just about every single moment, but other than that this game just doesn't work. There is very little about this game that I will remember fondly but godDAMN this game is so good artistically. I want this team to make more games but I want them to learn how to make it fun first.
And it was boring. Almost everything in this game is boring. The combat, the exploration, the writing, the side content. Almost nothing about this game is engaging. The art is downright gorgeous and straight up alive at times and the music is phenomenal and fitting at just about every single moment, but other than that this game just doesn't work. There is very little about this game that I will remember fondly but godDAMN this game is so good artistically. I want this team to make more games but I want them to learn how to make it fun first.
Eastward is a slow game. I put that out there not as a criticism but as a fact, and if it doesn't click with you then that's 100% fine; poor pacing can completely drain interest in a game for some people (and has done so for me in the past).
But slow doesn't necessarily have to mean bad. Eastward is very deliberate in its slower structure and I think the game as a whole actually benefits from that. I believe that's partly due to how I played it - no more than 2 hours a day, partly sticking to the chapter structure of the game - but also as it allows the player to engross themselves in the (very beautifully animated) world and learn more about the characters dotted around each of the various locations you travel through.
I also quite liked how the overarching story itself is sometimes not super explicit in how it's told, instead relying on you to put pieces together from conversations with various townsfolk either in side missions or just from general dialogue. And let's talk about these characters a bit more as while this game is certainly one of those 'it's about the journey' kind of stories, 'the people you meet along the way' are just as important. They're well-written and their dialogue doesn't come across as forced or unnatural and most important of all I was interested in what they had to say.
As for the non-story sections, well the combat is simple but has a satisfying loop and some of the weapons you get are pretty fun to play with. There are also some decent puzzles in play as you explore these monster-addled areas with two characters who can split off and each have separate abilities to solve these conundrums. There's even a very basic 8-bit roguelite RPG included that is surprisingly fun to play through (and draws some parallels to the main game world).
Finally I'd like to touch upon the nature of endings in video games, and media in general. There is occasionally the idea out there that if a story isn't wrapped up neatly with a bow that explains everything then it hasn't done a good job but I think that's an uncharitable read on things. As long as a story reaches a conclusion that feels natural and feels thematically correct then I don't really see an issue in certain elements not being fully explained or elaborated upon. Eastward takes this route and as with the pacing issues I think some people will inevitably leave disappointed, but the ending in play felt natural for Sam and John and I'm very impressed with how everything in the game turned out.
Eastward probably doesn't quite reach the heights of being my favourite game of 2021, but it is one of my favourite game experiences and one I'd seriously recommend to anyone after a slow burn road trip adventure.
But slow doesn't necessarily have to mean bad. Eastward is very deliberate in its slower structure and I think the game as a whole actually benefits from that. I believe that's partly due to how I played it - no more than 2 hours a day, partly sticking to the chapter structure of the game - but also as it allows the player to engross themselves in the (very beautifully animated) world and learn more about the characters dotted around each of the various locations you travel through.
I also quite liked how the overarching story itself is sometimes not super explicit in how it's told, instead relying on you to put pieces together from conversations with various townsfolk either in side missions or just from general dialogue. And let's talk about these characters a bit more as while this game is certainly one of those 'it's about the journey' kind of stories, 'the people you meet along the way' are just as important. They're well-written and their dialogue doesn't come across as forced or unnatural and most important of all I was interested in what they had to say.
As for the non-story sections, well the combat is simple but has a satisfying loop and some of the weapons you get are pretty fun to play with. There are also some decent puzzles in play as you explore these monster-addled areas with two characters who can split off and each have separate abilities to solve these conundrums. There's even a very basic 8-bit roguelite RPG included that is surprisingly fun to play through (and draws some parallels to the main game world).
Finally I'd like to touch upon the nature of endings in video games, and media in general. There is occasionally the idea out there that if a story isn't wrapped up neatly with a bow that explains everything then it hasn't done a good job but I think that's an uncharitable read on things. As long as a story reaches a conclusion that feels natural and feels thematically correct then I don't really see an issue in certain elements not being fully explained or elaborated upon. Eastward takes this route and as with the pacing issues I think some people will inevitably leave disappointed, but the ending in play felt natural for Sam and John and I'm very impressed with how everything in the game turned out.
Eastward probably doesn't quite reach the heights of being my favourite game of 2021, but it is one of my favourite game experiences and one I'd seriously recommend to anyone after a slow burn road trip adventure.
odiously sentimental, scatterbrained in its many ideas, and bloated with quirky livestock. a story about found family in which one of two characters emotes even less than the average silent protagonist. fails to curry any emotion and confusing in its premise — is it a road trip slice of life a la kino’s journey or a tragic sci-fi epic? some of the scenes in this are laughably overemotional, hysterical and maddening in their contrived melancholy.
sam is really sweet and all that kept me going for most of the game, but i can only take so much of her being the only one speaking any given time, constantly having to ask questions and traipse through situations she doesn’t understand because of her shelteredness and young age. the gameplay is fun and builds on itself quite well but dungeons become few and far between as the game becomes wholly concerned with its GBA tier story. too many flat jokes and reiteration and characters disappearing before they land impact. sad!
sam is really sweet and all that kept me going for most of the game, but i can only take so much of her being the only one speaking any given time, constantly having to ask questions and traipse through situations she doesn’t understand because of her shelteredness and young age. the gameplay is fun and builds on itself quite well but dungeons become few and far between as the game becomes wholly concerned with its GBA tier story. too many flat jokes and reiteration and characters disappearing before they land impact. sad!
This review contains spoilers
I’ve never been so emotionally toyed with by a fish sandwich.
When I saw Uva made that stupid sandwich for John, with twenty signs pointing to her dying by the end of the chapter, I just knew I could never use it like any other consumable item. Look, maybe this is just one of my unhinged tendencies. Whenever I play through Pokemon’s Unova region, no matter the context, I never use any of those Fresh Waters, each a punchline the gym guide’s silly little jokes, or even buy extras that would meld into the “canonical” stash. But that sandwich, representing the blissful life John will never have, the woman who couldn’t profess her love to him until it was too late, was a memory that felt too powerful to wipe away like any other health item.
On that note, I initially wrote off those save quotes as intentionally indulgent filler, like “oh what if your memories were someone else’s really makes you think”. But even without any explicit story presence, they hint at the overall discussion of memories and the journeys we take to make them. You never get to stay in one place forever, so eventually the little events along the way, no matter how silly, are all that will be left of the characters cast aside by the story. The game’s own quirky side mode RPG, narratively, starts as a promise to interact more with the kids of Potcrock Isle until Sam is exiled, but after a while meets more kids because of their shared interest in the game.
I mention this because games and this sort of self reflection around them come up in this game’s narrative a lot more than I expected going in. The side mode RPG classes are echoed both by the New Dam City leaders’ knight and princess relationship, and the elders of Ester City having nerdy alter egos they don as they help you. I didn’t think much of it until the end, where due to some time loop shenanigans, everyone in Ester City fades away, as they would have if not for their one day in the city always repeating. The mainish antagonist Professor Solomon questions Sam on whether it’s worth anything to take the advice of what were basically illusions in her repeated effort to defy his end plan. And for fairly obvious reasons, those inhabitants of the city, and everyone in this game are just illusions to me too. Considering most people take it as a given that media can influence you, I wasn’t expecting to be asked across the screen whether any of that even matters when it’ll inevitably slip out of my mind for the last time.
But, well, behind the digital puppet show, a bunch of 0’s and 1’s remained unperturbed once two characters shared a fish sandwich. So my answer’s been laid bare.
When I saw Uva made that stupid sandwich for John, with twenty signs pointing to her dying by the end of the chapter, I just knew I could never use it like any other consumable item. Look, maybe this is just one of my unhinged tendencies. Whenever I play through Pokemon’s Unova region, no matter the context, I never use any of those Fresh Waters, each a punchline the gym guide’s silly little jokes, or even buy extras that would meld into the “canonical” stash. But that sandwich, representing the blissful life John will never have, the woman who couldn’t profess her love to him until it was too late, was a memory that felt too powerful to wipe away like any other health item.
On that note, I initially wrote off those save quotes as intentionally indulgent filler, like “oh what if your memories were someone else’s really makes you think”. But even without any explicit story presence, they hint at the overall discussion of memories and the journeys we take to make them. You never get to stay in one place forever, so eventually the little events along the way, no matter how silly, are all that will be left of the characters cast aside by the story. The game’s own quirky side mode RPG, narratively, starts as a promise to interact more with the kids of Potcrock Isle until Sam is exiled, but after a while meets more kids because of their shared interest in the game.
I mention this because games and this sort of self reflection around them come up in this game’s narrative a lot more than I expected going in. The side mode RPG classes are echoed both by the New Dam City leaders’ knight and princess relationship, and the elders of Ester City having nerdy alter egos they don as they help you. I didn’t think much of it until the end, where due to some time loop shenanigans, everyone in Ester City fades away, as they would have if not for their one day in the city always repeating. The mainish antagonist Professor Solomon questions Sam on whether it’s worth anything to take the advice of what were basically illusions in her repeated effort to defy his end plan. And for fairly obvious reasons, those inhabitants of the city, and everyone in this game are just illusions to me too. Considering most people take it as a given that media can influence you, I wasn’t expecting to be asked across the screen whether any of that even matters when it’ll inevitably slip out of my mind for the last time.
But, well, behind the digital puppet show, a bunch of 0’s and 1’s remained unperturbed once two characters shared a fish sandwich. So my answer’s been laid bare.
Played this for 2 hours and it's certainly charming, but it's also way more reading than I expected. Very cute, great visuals, and excellent music but not the vibe I'm looking for right now.
Jogado no Xbox Game Pass / Cloud Gaming. Eu comecei adorando Eastward: personagens eram interessantes, o jogo é bem bonito, a história parecia legal e o combate era passável.
Só que ele é tão lento e tão arrastado, que os personagens começaram a cansar, o visual começou a se repetir e se misturar e eu não aguentava mais o combate.
Quem sabe um dia eu volto. Por enquanto, só um potencial que não se cumpriu pra mim.
Só que ele é tão lento e tão arrastado, que os personagens começaram a cansar, o visual começou a se repetir e se misturar e eu não aguentava mais o combate.
Quem sabe um dia eu volto. Por enquanto, só um potencial que não se cumpriu pra mim.
a super interesting thing that at once feels like it’s missing huge chunks of vital connective tissue and has too many things going on - it’s got real high points and extremely low lows, and I walked away from the game feeling like I knew barely anything about it despite having played for 20+ hours
in conclusion eastward is a land of contrasts
in conclusion eastward is a land of contrasts
La personalidad de este juego es lo que intensifica el gameplay influenciado por A Link to the Past y Earthbound en medio de uno de los mejores Pixel Art en la historia. De los mejores juegos de 2022.
Zelda-like with clear "Earthbound" influences. My biggest gripes of the game is how slow the game is, and the easy combat loop. The animation of the combat can be looped infinitely because there's no limit to how often you can swing, nor is there a pause between swings (unlike many fighters, or hack and slash games). That makes the game ridiculously easy.
I'd say it's definitely a fun game, and you should try it but at the same time you might as well play Zelda.
If it wasnt' so drawn out I think I'd be more willing to recommend this game.
I'd say it's definitely a fun game, and you should try it but at the same time you might as well play Zelda.
If it wasnt' so drawn out I think I'd be more willing to recommend this game.
Pixel art maravilhosa, história interessante e OST FODA. Tirando o combate que é meio travado, todo o resto cumpriu com minhas expectativas e a espera com certeza valeu a pena.
Vou ficar de olho nos futuros projetos da Pixpil, que caras bons.
Vou ficar de olho nos futuros projetos da Pixpil, que caras bons.
Eastward suffers from one of my biggest problems with indie developers nowdays: Make the game pretty, forget to make it fun.
But it also goes an extra mile by trying to be something that truly didnt need to: Earthbound
And also failing doing it.
Ignoring the obvious praise of the art direction of this game (seriously is real good) the game is basically a slog to play. According to the devs its 30 hours long (it took me 24 hours with like 3 being on a mini game that is more fun than the game itself) which you would mostly spend talking with NPCs, putting bombs to solve easy puzzles and talking to more NPCs for the first 10 hours of the game.
Then after it you would unlock the other mechanic of the game which would add another button to your current putting bomb button. Repeat this for another 10 hours.
While doing this you also get to read the story which, on a basic level, it has a lot of potential with an interesting setting and lore behind but that it crashes by the awful pacing and obvious lack of direction cause at the end of the day, the devs didnt know what to do with their characters.
There are, in my opinion, 6 prominent characters in this game, that you get to know during it just so at the end most of them end up doing nothing. It's a great disrepect for probably one of the 3 interesting aspects of the game.
Speaking of characters, this game could theorically have a rock or a box as the main character and i dont think it would change anything. So much shit happening in this world and in front of his eyes and he doesn't react or act to almost anything. It also doesn't help that his sprite makes him look like the most boring and uninterested person ever.
Then, after 20 hours of slog, you reach the final 2 chapters, which are filled with interesting concepts not only story wise but gameplay wise and you are wondering why wasn't the game cut 10 hours so you could just play this sections earlier.
And at the end of the day, thats the real curprit i mentioned earlier: this game is too big. Too big of a story that wasn't developed well enough. Too big of a game that was basically empty from mechanics up to the last 2 hours.
And too big of a disappointment, cause when you really think about the good parts, you can only think what this game could have been if it wasn't trying to be what it isnt.
But it also goes an extra mile by trying to be something that truly didnt need to: Earthbound
And also failing doing it.
Ignoring the obvious praise of the art direction of this game (seriously is real good) the game is basically a slog to play. According to the devs its 30 hours long (it took me 24 hours with like 3 being on a mini game that is more fun than the game itself) which you would mostly spend talking with NPCs, putting bombs to solve easy puzzles and talking to more NPCs for the first 10 hours of the game.
Then after it you would unlock the other mechanic of the game which would add another button to your current putting bomb button. Repeat this for another 10 hours.
While doing this you also get to read the story which, on a basic level, it has a lot of potential with an interesting setting and lore behind but that it crashes by the awful pacing and obvious lack of direction cause at the end of the day, the devs didnt know what to do with their characters.
There are, in my opinion, 6 prominent characters in this game, that you get to know during it just so at the end most of them end up doing nothing. It's a great disrepect for probably one of the 3 interesting aspects of the game.
Speaking of characters, this game could theorically have a rock or a box as the main character and i dont think it would change anything. So much shit happening in this world and in front of his eyes and he doesn't react or act to almost anything. It also doesn't help that his sprite makes him look like the most boring and uninterested person ever.
Then, after 20 hours of slog, you reach the final 2 chapters, which are filled with interesting concepts not only story wise but gameplay wise and you are wondering why wasn't the game cut 10 hours so you could just play this sections earlier.
And at the end of the day, thats the real curprit i mentioned earlier: this game is too big. Too big of a story that wasn't developed well enough. Too big of a game that was basically empty from mechanics up to the last 2 hours.
And too big of a disappointment, cause when you really think about the good parts, you can only think what this game could have been if it wasn't trying to be what it isnt.
I was convinced I knew what this game was by the 20 hour mark, even with the erratic pacing, then it suddenly takes a very weird turn and had me feeling like I'd missed hours of events and story all through to the credits rolling.
I'm sitting here in a B&B at 1am feeling pretty deflated because it's left me with more questions than I thought I'd be holding. I really loved these characters, and there is no sense of payoff for most of them.
I don't know what else to say. I'm not sad, just kinda annoyed. Clearly the devs were going for something different to what I expected, which would be fine if that was a realisation I had in the first few hours, but for it to only hit in the last quarter of the game is disappointing shit. Some of the lushest pixel art I've ever seen, mind you.
I wish it had hit me like it did others, but it veers off the tracks too often for stuff that feels pointless. There's a lot of love and heart in here, but for me the foundations slowly crumble beneath that, and it never makes it to the station.
I'm sitting here in a B&B at 1am feeling pretty deflated because it's left me with more questions than I thought I'd be holding. I really loved these characters, and there is no sense of payoff for most of them.
I don't know what else to say. I'm not sad, just kinda annoyed. Clearly the devs were going for something different to what I expected, which would be fine if that was a realisation I had in the first few hours, but for it to only hit in the last quarter of the game is disappointing shit. Some of the lushest pixel art I've ever seen, mind you.
I wish it had hit me like it did others, but it veers off the tracks too often for stuff that feels pointless. There's a lot of love and heart in here, but for me the foundations slowly crumble beneath that, and it never makes it to the station.
This review contains spoilers
First bit of this will be spoiler-free. I'll label the spoilers when I get to them.
There is a lot to like about this game. There are also quite a few things to take issue with. I'm not sure how to feel on the overall experience.
Let's start with the good. First of all, the pixel art is PHENOMENAL. Hands down the best looking pixel art game I've ever played. Each character, even the unimportant NPCs all have their own unique animations. I can't imagine how fucking long that took. It adds so much to the characters.
Speaking of which, nearly every character you come across on your journey is great, actually introduced some new favs of mine, like Isabel and Alva. Isabel especially, she has a great arc. And then sam is just adorable, stealing the show for most of the adventure. She's great in every scene she shows up in. Her childlike wonder is infectious, and surprisingly doesn't come with the annoyances that usually accompany kids. She's all the good parts without any of the bad. Best character in the game. Not my favorite, but the best.
Sam is also the cornerstone of the whole plot. There's this entire mystery that surrounds her which keeps the story moving. It's clear she's not a normal kid... but then what is she? Very intriguing... although I'm not sure it was realized to its fullest potential. I'll cover that in the spoiler section.
The actual gameplay is pretty good too. I like swapping between John and Sam to solve puzzles or defeat enemies. Sam's ability to stun things is pretty fun to work with, albeit it does make most encounters ludicrously simple. Stun, smack with pan 6-7 times, dead. Boom, easy. Clearly, not the strong point of the game.
To help with combat, there's upgrades and cooking. Upgrades can be gotten after finding enough Gear Parts, which are scattered about the world. Adds an extra layer of exploration that I quite enjoyed. The upgrades themselves aren't terribly interesting, merely just "more damage" or "more storage" so that's something I felt could've been worked on. You may also find heart... orbs. I forget what they're called. Basically Heart Pieces, find four, get an extra heart. Easy peasy.
Food is also obtained as minor rewards, which in turn is used for cooking. Cooking's fine, it takes a little too long, and there isn't a whole lot of variety to it. Hell, I didn't even know you could add spices to it until I was an hour away from beating the game. I assume you're supposed to buy them, but I got through just fine with just energy drinks and whatever I found in chests.
(SPOILERS)
Alright. It's time for the bad. Let's start with the elephant in the room. John. From a gameplay perspective, John makes a lot of sense. He's your brawn, the other half of your puzzle solving duo, the... chef. (You can only cook with John in front, which is a little strange.) However, from a story perspective, John makes no godDAMN sense.
John is a silent protagonist, meaning he never talks. But the thing is, he doesn't even talk in-game. Characters literally point out how John never actually speaks. It's funny the first time, but after a while you're just like "please just talk". They don't even do a thing where they make the ending impactful by having him speak then. No, he doesn't say a single word the entire game. He doesn't even express EMOTION. He's just a solid brick wall you play as for some reason. Why do I play as him? I would MUCH rather play as Sam the entire time, she's clearly the main character. Let me play as her???
I get John's supposed to be Sam's parental figure throughout the story, but there's no fucking emotion there. There are two other characters who could've done that much better. William and Alva. William is just a nice, friendly dude who maybe isn't perfect, but he's still a nice guy. And Alva just jives with Sam so well. Alva gave her SHOES. Did John ever do that? NO. Fuck John.
At the end of the game, you're shown flashbacks of John's time with Sam. It's supposed to be really moving, but I felt nothing simply because John felt nothing.
Now, I don't hate silent protagonists. They can be done really well, a la Lea CrossCode, she actually emotes and has feelings. But generally, silent protagonists are simply inferior to ones that actually speak. John encompasses everything wrong with a silent protagonist.
There was a point early on in the story where I really thought John was going to die. That would've been really interesting. Advertise the whole game as making you think he's the main character, give him a whole bunch of slots for upgrades, then BAM. JK, he's dead. Here's Sam, go nuts with her bubble magic. Would've been a great way to progress the story. Give Sam some motivation instead of just kicking her out of the village. That's when you could've met William or Alva on the surface, and they could serve as your second character. But alas...
There's one small issue I have with the game around the midpoint. Right after the climax of the previous chapter, Sam, John, William, and Daniel head east towards Ester City. Before you get there however, there's this... weird fuckin' part where you get on this train called "Monkollywood". Basically an accurate portrayal of modern day Hollywood, filled with, you guessed it, monkeys.
It is by far the silliest portion of the game, and it does not need to be there. They KINDA justify it at the end, but it's really just filler. It's made worse by the fact that you go from the highest high of the game thus far, to... whatever the fuck this is. I'unno, it was a weird decision. I think I get why some people have gripes with Mother 3 now.
Now... those're really the only issues I have with Eastward. Granted, John is a BIG fuckin' issue, but y'know. However, there is one other thing I'd like to touch upon. There are three fake-out deaths in this game, and one real death, (at least in terms of important characters). John, who gets injured at the very beginning of the game. Daniel, who gets blown apart just before the final chapter. And Sam who… “sacrifices” herself at the very very end of the game. Now, I hate fake-out deaths, but there’s a bigger issue at play here. The only character who dies in this game is Alva, who, if you don’t know, is an explicitly gay character, (or at least wlw, I’unno, she could be bi or pan or something). Obviously that’s kind of an issue if you know how common that trope is. But that’s not all, the way she dies is in poor taste too, she gets inured off-screen, spends like half the game in a coma, and then dies off-screen as well. What makes it worse, is that Isabel doesn't even get a proper sendoff to her arc and character. It literally just fades to black and you never see her again.
It fucking SUCKS because Alva is legitimately one of my favorite characters in the whole game. As a queer character, and even just a character in general, she is handled very well for the time she gets. Her interactions with Isabel are adorable and heart-warming, and she even acts like a mother figure for Sam (Which I guess makes it even more painful when she dies, and it works, but like… c’mon, you let JOHN live and not Alva?). You see the two conflicting forces at play here? To me, it sounds like there was some conflict during development with two very opposing viewpoints, and this is what they settled on. This whole scenario has me very mixed, if other characters had died and STAYED dead, I might not be as bothered by this. If we were actually shown how she dies, I might not be as bothered by this. And if she lived… well this wouldn’t even be an issue.
If I were to rewrite this whole shebackle, I would’ve gone about it in one of two ways.
1. Solomon, one of the (kinda) prominent villains in the game is shown injuring Alva before you fight him. (In the actual game, Solomon isn’t involved in the slightest, but you still fight him for some reason.) Then, towards the end of the game, after you’ve had your duel with Isabel, you’re shown a flashback of Alva’s final moments with her. Very touching, very heart-rending. Maybe you see Isabel kill herself after you leave, just so she can be with her. Or like, the implication of such so it doesn’t get too gruesome.
2. Starts the same as the first scenario, as I really enjoy the arc Isabel goes through, but instead at the end of the game, Alva is healed through whatever bullshit goes on with Charon. Maybe in exchange for Alva’s safety, she offers to be controlled by Mother so you still get your duel with her. Then at the end Alva could come in and bring her back to her senses… or something like that, I’unno. The Charon/Lab/Mother stuff is all super vague and I barely understand it. Point is, because it’s so vague, a scenario could’ve panned out like that and it still would’ve been believable.
Anyway that was just a long-winded way to say I don’t think Alva should’ve died, but if she were going to, there were ways to go about it that didn’t feel so empty and heartless. Who knows? Maybe iF JOHN WASN’T AROUND, THINGS WOULD’VE PANNED OUT DIFFERENTLY.
(SPOILERS END)
I think that pretty much wraps up my thoughts on Eastward. An otherwise great game marred by John. Definitely worth it if you can stand John though.
There is a lot to like about this game. There are also quite a few things to take issue with. I'm not sure how to feel on the overall experience.
Let's start with the good. First of all, the pixel art is PHENOMENAL. Hands down the best looking pixel art game I've ever played. Each character, even the unimportant NPCs all have their own unique animations. I can't imagine how fucking long that took. It adds so much to the characters.
Speaking of which, nearly every character you come across on your journey is great, actually introduced some new favs of mine, like Isabel and Alva. Isabel especially, she has a great arc. And then sam is just adorable, stealing the show for most of the adventure. She's great in every scene she shows up in. Her childlike wonder is infectious, and surprisingly doesn't come with the annoyances that usually accompany kids. She's all the good parts without any of the bad. Best character in the game. Not my favorite, but the best.
Sam is also the cornerstone of the whole plot. There's this entire mystery that surrounds her which keeps the story moving. It's clear she's not a normal kid... but then what is she? Very intriguing... although I'm not sure it was realized to its fullest potential. I'll cover that in the spoiler section.
The actual gameplay is pretty good too. I like swapping between John and Sam to solve puzzles or defeat enemies. Sam's ability to stun things is pretty fun to work with, albeit it does make most encounters ludicrously simple. Stun, smack with pan 6-7 times, dead. Boom, easy. Clearly, not the strong point of the game.
To help with combat, there's upgrades and cooking. Upgrades can be gotten after finding enough Gear Parts, which are scattered about the world. Adds an extra layer of exploration that I quite enjoyed. The upgrades themselves aren't terribly interesting, merely just "more damage" or "more storage" so that's something I felt could've been worked on. You may also find heart... orbs. I forget what they're called. Basically Heart Pieces, find four, get an extra heart. Easy peasy.
Food is also obtained as minor rewards, which in turn is used for cooking. Cooking's fine, it takes a little too long, and there isn't a whole lot of variety to it. Hell, I didn't even know you could add spices to it until I was an hour away from beating the game. I assume you're supposed to buy them, but I got through just fine with just energy drinks and whatever I found in chests.
(SPOILERS)
Alright. It's time for the bad. Let's start with the elephant in the room. John. From a gameplay perspective, John makes a lot of sense. He's your brawn, the other half of your puzzle solving duo, the... chef. (You can only cook with John in front, which is a little strange.) However, from a story perspective, John makes no godDAMN sense.
John is a silent protagonist, meaning he never talks. But the thing is, he doesn't even talk in-game. Characters literally point out how John never actually speaks. It's funny the first time, but after a while you're just like "please just talk". They don't even do a thing where they make the ending impactful by having him speak then. No, he doesn't say a single word the entire game. He doesn't even express EMOTION. He's just a solid brick wall you play as for some reason. Why do I play as him? I would MUCH rather play as Sam the entire time, she's clearly the main character. Let me play as her???
I get John's supposed to be Sam's parental figure throughout the story, but there's no fucking emotion there. There are two other characters who could've done that much better. William and Alva. William is just a nice, friendly dude who maybe isn't perfect, but he's still a nice guy. And Alva just jives with Sam so well. Alva gave her SHOES. Did John ever do that? NO. Fuck John.
At the end of the game, you're shown flashbacks of John's time with Sam. It's supposed to be really moving, but I felt nothing simply because John felt nothing.
Now, I don't hate silent protagonists. They can be done really well, a la Lea CrossCode, she actually emotes and has feelings. But generally, silent protagonists are simply inferior to ones that actually speak. John encompasses everything wrong with a silent protagonist.
There was a point early on in the story where I really thought John was going to die. That would've been really interesting. Advertise the whole game as making you think he's the main character, give him a whole bunch of slots for upgrades, then BAM. JK, he's dead. Here's Sam, go nuts with her bubble magic. Would've been a great way to progress the story. Give Sam some motivation instead of just kicking her out of the village. That's when you could've met William or Alva on the surface, and they could serve as your second character. But alas...
There's one small issue I have with the game around the midpoint. Right after the climax of the previous chapter, Sam, John, William, and Daniel head east towards Ester City. Before you get there however, there's this... weird fuckin' part where you get on this train called "Monkollywood". Basically an accurate portrayal of modern day Hollywood, filled with, you guessed it, monkeys.
It is by far the silliest portion of the game, and it does not need to be there. They KINDA justify it at the end, but it's really just filler. It's made worse by the fact that you go from the highest high of the game thus far, to... whatever the fuck this is. I'unno, it was a weird decision. I think I get why some people have gripes with Mother 3 now.
Now... those're really the only issues I have with Eastward. Granted, John is a BIG fuckin' issue, but y'know. However, there is one other thing I'd like to touch upon. There are three fake-out deaths in this game, and one real death, (at least in terms of important characters). John, who gets injured at the very beginning of the game. Daniel, who gets blown apart just before the final chapter. And Sam who… “sacrifices” herself at the very very end of the game. Now, I hate fake-out deaths, but there’s a bigger issue at play here. The only character who dies in this game is Alva, who, if you don’t know, is an explicitly gay character, (or at least wlw, I’unno, she could be bi or pan or something). Obviously that’s kind of an issue if you know how common that trope is. But that’s not all, the way she dies is in poor taste too, she gets inured off-screen, spends like half the game in a coma, and then dies off-screen as well. What makes it worse, is that Isabel doesn't even get a proper sendoff to her arc and character. It literally just fades to black and you never see her again.
It fucking SUCKS because Alva is legitimately one of my favorite characters in the whole game. As a queer character, and even just a character in general, she is handled very well for the time she gets. Her interactions with Isabel are adorable and heart-warming, and she even acts like a mother figure for Sam (Which I guess makes it even more painful when she dies, and it works, but like… c’mon, you let JOHN live and not Alva?). You see the two conflicting forces at play here? To me, it sounds like there was some conflict during development with two very opposing viewpoints, and this is what they settled on. This whole scenario has me very mixed, if other characters had died and STAYED dead, I might not be as bothered by this. If we were actually shown how she dies, I might not be as bothered by this. And if she lived… well this wouldn’t even be an issue.
If I were to rewrite this whole shebackle, I would’ve gone about it in one of two ways.
1. Solomon, one of the (kinda) prominent villains in the game is shown injuring Alva before you fight him. (In the actual game, Solomon isn’t involved in the slightest, but you still fight him for some reason.) Then, towards the end of the game, after you’ve had your duel with Isabel, you’re shown a flashback of Alva’s final moments with her. Very touching, very heart-rending. Maybe you see Isabel kill herself after you leave, just so she can be with her. Or like, the implication of such so it doesn’t get too gruesome.
2. Starts the same as the first scenario, as I really enjoy the arc Isabel goes through, but instead at the end of the game, Alva is healed through whatever bullshit goes on with Charon. Maybe in exchange for Alva’s safety, she offers to be controlled by Mother so you still get your duel with her. Then at the end Alva could come in and bring her back to her senses… or something like that, I’unno. The Charon/Lab/Mother stuff is all super vague and I barely understand it. Point is, because it’s so vague, a scenario could’ve panned out like that and it still would’ve been believable.
Anyway that was just a long-winded way to say I don’t think Alva should’ve died, but if she were going to, there were ways to go about it that didn’t feel so empty and heartless. Who knows? Maybe iF JOHN WASN’T AROUND, THINGS WOULD’VE PANNED OUT DIFFERENTLY.
(SPOILERS END)
I think that pretty much wraps up my thoughts on Eastward. An otherwise great game marred by John. Definitely worth it if you can stand John though.
about 5 hours in, don't really want to play this anymore.
it's like the sort of referential mish-mash i would have thought up when i was like 8 - borrows very transparently from the nintendo-gamer canon (ww, botw, alttp, mother 3, probably nes dq/ff, gacha games, etc...), but nothing ever fits together right. i feel like i'm being forced to wade through someone else's fangame, where like i can respect all of the moving parts (esp the artstyle which it nails) but it just feels like it was made in such a way that i was never supposed to interact with it except from afar - like all of these things have the right spirit to it, but were compiled together carelessly. engine is just-busted-enough, puzzles so far are overloaded and pretty uninteresting, and the game doesn't seem to be going anywhere. that and then like the reviews seem to be suggesting the worst is yet to come - i think i'm out
it's like the sort of referential mish-mash i would have thought up when i was like 8 - borrows very transparently from the nintendo-gamer canon (ww, botw, alttp, mother 3, probably nes dq/ff, gacha games, etc...), but nothing ever fits together right. i feel like i'm being forced to wade through someone else's fangame, where like i can respect all of the moving parts (esp the artstyle which it nails) but it just feels like it was made in such a way that i was never supposed to interact with it except from afar - like all of these things have the right spirit to it, but were compiled together carelessly. engine is just-busted-enough, puzzles so far are overloaded and pretty uninteresting, and the game doesn't seem to be going anywhere. that and then like the reviews seem to be suggesting the worst is yet to come - i think i'm out