Bastion

The best moment in Bastion involves a song that you cannot hear at first. The main character, the Kid, moves through one of the most beautiful areas of the game, one that mixes light and darkness and eschews the mechanics that the game brought up to that point, forcing the player to take up side paths and jump around quite a bit in order to get to the center of the maze.

The song becomes clearer as the Kid approaches the source, which is finally revealed to be a female survivor of the cataclysmic events that affected the game world, and the all-knowing narrator, that comments on almost every action the player talks in the game, cuts himself off and allows gamers to take part in one of the most important moments in anyone's life: finding out that out there, despite the hardship, despite the fights, the monsters and the loneliness, there's someone waiting for you.

It's a very powerful moment in a game that is filled with emotion, subtly transmitted through the world, the characters and the narration, and a moment that shows how easy it can be to make some a little teary eyed as long as you don't force that intention.

Story

The premise of the Bastion narrative is deceivingly simple: last survivor of unknown catastrophe sets out to find others, rebuilds world and discovers the power of human connections and the tensions that they can cause.

Discovering what actually happens as the story progresses is one of the big pleasures of the game, one that is enhanced by the way the story is presented with an all-knowing narrator reacting to the way the main character acts and to his choices.

The four characters that make up the cast are very well developed with limited means and discovering their backstories is well worth playing through the “Who Knows Where” levels, each accessed through a different item and each posing some of the toughest challenges in the entire game.

Color assault

World of float

Bastion is a perfect example of how a simple hero narrative can be transformed by the way it is told and presented into something more, into an experience that creates more of an emotional response than anything I have played so far this year. It can also show other developers working in the industry how they can create impact without crafting stories that deliver twist upon twist but no emotional load.

Gameplay

There are two main innovations in Bastion: one to the actual gameplay of the game and another that mainly affects how the player responds emotionally to the game.

The first innovation is the fact that the entire game world is re-building itself around the player as he explores it. The description does not make much sense in writing, but the beauty of it is clear when actually playing Bastion. Floors, rails, pieces of scenery and debris actually appear around the character as he moves along. I literally spend the first 10 minutes running around and rolling, trying to see how the game world is re-creating itself and where it has limits.

In order to achieve the objectives of Bastion, players also need to learn a bit of combat, which involves two weapons and one special trick. The fights are sometimes ridiculously easy and sometimes very hard, but the judicious use of the shield, for blocking, and of the dodge mechanics will get players through almost all situations.

Ranged effort

Green explosion

A lot of the game experience can be altered by using the various structures built on the Bastion and most players will need to experiment before finding a combination of close quarters weapon, long-range armament, special abilities, spirits and idols that work for them. I personally stuck to the Cael Hammer and the Dueling Pistols for most of the game.

The second big innovation is the rolling narration that accompanies the player through every level, both offering story bits and commenting on actions (in my case ironically talking about my tendency to roll over the edges of the world to plunge to my death). The comments and little observations create a link with the game world and with the characters that would disappear if the game opted to have a more traditional presentation and a bit of heroic fight music instead.

There are some small issues with Bastion, like the challenge islands that add little to the experience and some fights, mostly those that happen after retrieving a Core, that feel too crowded, but in a way they detract from the novelty of the instant world building and from the unique ways it uses narration.

Graphics and audio

In a world dominated by discussions about resolutions, DirectX 11, framerates and number of characters animated at the same time on screen, it's refreshing to see a video game like Bastion, which almost revels in its simplicity. The game manages to be beautiful in the best sense of the world without relying on brute force and on pushing out as many polygons as possible.

Battle barge

Carry power

Bastion simply has something that many other better funded games lack: a style of its own, one that is consistently attractive and coherent for the entire length of the game. Each of the floating worlds that the player visits has its own identity, defined mainly through the use of color. The Bastion hub itself is bright and manages to transmit a feeling of purpose and strength even if the narrative turns gloomy.

The way the main character fights and the entire process by which the world rebuilds itself around the gamer are all very expressive and manage to create a living, understandable world without requiring the player to go through a complex backstory, learn the names of events and familiarize himself with a made-up history lesson.

The animated cutscenes in Bastion are another highlight, well done with minimal resources filled with emotional impact.

The voice work for the game is also way better than what gamers usually get from this type of small release and it's mainly because of Logan Cunningham, the man who narrates most of the story and voices Rucks, the first survivor the player meets.

Despite sounding close to Clint Eastwood during his Dirty Harry days, but with about 100 cigarettes smoked before every recording session, the voice actor manages to make the entire story resonate while at the same time delivering those quick and often sarcastic one liners that are linked to the actual game performance of each player.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion