Reviews from

in the past


A almost perfect game, where there isn't enough

17 mar: love the art style and character designs (especially jasper!) still waiting for the story to unfold but the world building seems promising. some of the game mechanics are a bit annoying (not challenging for the sake of improving your skill but more of simply tiring to get through, i.e monsters respawning when you leave an area, it being super easy to accidentally leave an area, control to drag items not very easy to use...etc) currently in the old town, i will keep updating!

Maybe the single biggest disappointment I had in 2021. I'd been excited about this game for literal years before it came out and forced myself to play through the entire thing - hoping it would get better. The visuals are outstanding but the gameplay is... flat? The puzzles are fine, the action RPG gameplay is dollar-store Zelda, and the story fails to live up to its billing. I also got mad that we spent an absurd amount of time in one setting after the game set up that this is a road trip narrative.

I will support the studio's next endeavor, but I hope that they spend as much time thinking about the systems and plot for that game as they clearly did on the visuals and aesthetic (again, they're amazing)

Classique jeu qui se renouvelle sans cesse, des mécanismes apparaissent régulièrement rendant impossible de s'en lasser. Histoire bien écrite sauf qu'on est une chialeuse qui peut pas rester concentré sur un dialogue plus de 10 secondes (matrixé par tiktok).
Bref, Classique jeu, excellent RPG, je recommande.


Excelente gameplay que me recuerda a lo clásico, solo no siento que fue lo que tanto me decían que iba a ser.

No es una obra maestra pero muy buen juego

É um jogo bom com alguns problemas claros em sua narrativa. Se você conseguir relevar esses pontos narrativos, o que sobra é uma ótima gameplay.

Eastward is a beautiful game and has some of the best pixel art I've seen. Every screen is so vividly detailed and the game's design of abandoned urban locations really strike. There was definitively a lot of work put into this aspect.

It's not the best action or exploration game with both limited gameplay and level design, but it's a JRPG full of interactions before anything. It's essentially a travelling game with Mother-like vibes and characters. You move to a place, meet goofy characters and so on. The grand overarching story isn't much but every location offers its own story and I really enjoyed completing the quests and getting to know more about the characters.

Unfortunately, one specific chapter of the game gets the short end of the stick and I wish it had been longer, considering the importance it's supposed to have in the context of the story. The conclusion and overarching story also have quite a bit of plotholes but overall they work and provided an emotional closure to the game.

I'm very satisfied to have played Eastward and it's one of the most enjoyable Mother-like I played.

Touching tale of a father who refuses to hug his daughter

While Eastward looks and sounds amazing, it fails to capture anything else on that level. The gameplay in Eastward ends up being nothing too special and the story can have a lot to be desired. Each chapter of the game can have so much potential but it seems like it just moves on sometimes leaving major characters with no time to grow connections. I only wished Eastward would've expanded on the great ideas it had and maybe then it could've been a better game.

I cried at the end man. This game is hard, beautiful and I still blast the music after a year of beating this game. Sam is adorable.

A must play.

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.

Gives playful, eerie, Stranger Thing vibes. It really is a good game but the story was hard to follow at times.

While I had my Xbox controller out and the PC all ready to play games, I figured I may as well keep on chugging away at PC games that I've been meaning to play for ages. Eastward is a game my partner got me on Steam a good few months back, so it's been one I've been meaning to play for quite some time. I'd only ever heard good things about it, and though I wasn't super familiar with it, from what little I did know, it seemed right up my alley. It took me around 23 or so hours to beat the English version of the game while doing as many side quests and such as I can.

Eastward is the story of John, a miner living in the underground town of Potcrock Isle, who one day finds a little girl underground. Taking on the name Sam, this strange, white haired girl who he found in a strange yellow pod underground quickly becomes close to John, and they spend their days at the mines as John works out a meager living for the two of them. However, Sam's adventurous spirit combined with the turning hand of fate quickly make things difficult for the two of them, and they're forced to journey, as the title says, Eastward, for better or worse.

Eastward was a game I absolutely bunched in with games like Undertale or Omori (two games, mind you, I haven't played) when it came out. It wears its inspirations on its sleeves, and the Mother/Earthbound series is very transparently one of them (to the point there's even a game-within-the-game called "Earth Born" that you can play). However, unlike many other Earthbound-inspired games, Eastward shares its genre with its other big inspiration, The Legend of Zelda, and with its other main inspirations very clearly being Japanese anime like Studio Ghibli films (as if the extremely obvious Hayao Miyazaki didn't make that clear enough), it certainly sets a quite high bar for itself both narratively and mechanically.

Narratively, unquestionably so, I'd say it really lives up to the task it sets out for itself. Where something like the Mother series often uses a tale of growing up to communicate about the main themes of the respective title, Eastward uses being aged to do that. Honestly, I'd say the Studio Ghibli inspirations feel a lot stronger than the Mother/Earthbound inspirations in this regard, since the overall messaging and themes veer more towards contemplations on daily (especially family) life rather than the larger philosophical themes that Shigesato Itoi's works usually focus on. Eastward's main themes of responsibility and guardianship really impressed me. There's so much care and attention focused around the the different aspects of leadership and adult life (whether it's being the head of a settlement, a loving partner, or a parent to a child), it weaves a nuanced and heartfelt story masterfully. It's a story that's not afraid to get dark, but it's also a story that is never needlessly cruel or gratuitous, and that's something else I really appreciated it for. Eastward is easily one of the best written games I've ever played, and it's definitely one of my new favorite stories in media, hands down.

While the narrative of Eastward may be more in the vein of a Studio Ghibli film, the gameplay is unquestionably more along the lines of The Legend of Zelda. It's a top-down 2D action/adventure game where you go through dungeons, solve puzzles, do sidequests, talk to townsfolk, all that good stuff. That said, given that this is a more linear game where backtracking to old areas is generally impossible, I suppose you could say it has more in common with games like Illusion of Gaia than Link to the Past. As a big fan of these types of action/adventure games, I found this to be a really fun one! The dungeon and boss design is really good, and the pacing of the story vs. action segments is also handled very well. There's a fair bit of side content to involve yourself with as well, and you very well might want to, because this is honestly a pretty tough game quite frequently.

You can swap between John and Sam on the fly most of the time, and you can even split them up to operate them independently for puzzle solving. Sam has some attacks, but her main arsenal is a ranged stun move. John is your main pummeler and dispatcher of baddies, and his melee attack of a pan combined with the several guns you get over the course of the game will be how most bosses and such are fought. Rushing blindly forward into battle is often not the best course of action, however. John will step forward with each pan strike, which will usually stunlock most lone enemies, but it's not very helpful for fighting groups. Using Sam to stun enemies as well as dealing out your ammo (your guns all draw from the same pool) and bombs wisely is the key to surviving combats well, and the large enemy variety and well designed bosses make combat always something that's fun, even when it's hard. The game even has a very clearly Breath of the Wild-inspired cooking mechanic to top it all off, so you can always sure up your health bar with big healing items should you need to. On the whole, Eastward's mechanical design is just as well thought out as its narrative design, and that is to say: absolutely excellent.

Aesthetically, Eastward is part of the modern trend of pixel-art indie games, but it's a very nice looking one of those. The music is fantastic and compliments each area and scene very nicely. The pixel art is also beautiful, and the enemy and especially NPC design is done so well that it brings each area to life in a way that feels different from the last. So many small touches and flourishes to each NPC, especially Sam, had be grinning ear to ear more times than I can count in just how well they add character and voice to a game with no voice acting. To that point, the localization in this game is REALLY well done. I honestly never would've guessed this game wasn't written originally in English with just how well done the dialogue writing is, and this Shanghai-based indie studio could frankly teach a lot of AAA publishers a thing or two with just how much care and attention can really bring a game to life in a new language.

I'll finish this review off with talking about the game-within-a-game, Earth Born. Rather than being some tacked on little mini-game, Earth Born is a properly fleshed out little game (as well as a not super subtle framing device for the rest of the game), and a really competently put together little rogue-lite RPG. This is where the Earthbound-inspired mechanical design is, and you, the knight, have 7 days to train up, get equipped, and assemble a party before the demon lord's ritual is complete. It's a pretty involved little game, and you could easily spend a ton of time learning its ins and outs and optimizing routes if you were so inclined. You can also get little in-game amiibo-type things in Eastward to use as extra items in Earth Born if things get too tough (and I know I needed them), but you thankfully never actually have to play Earth Born for any real period of time. I played it once and got lucky enough to get the normal ending in it (but good gods was it close), and that single full playthrough took me almost an hour! With how good Eastward already is, Earth Born is just icing on the cake and one more thing to get invested in if you're so inclined~.

Verdict: Highly Recommended. This is the 3rd year in a row that I've ended up playing something very early in the year that becomes an all-time favorite game. Two years ago it was Dandy Dungeon, last year it was Disco Elysium, and this year it's Eastward. Eastward is a master craft of storytelling and an excellently put together action/adventure games that's absolutely deserving of standing tall amongst its inspirations. Not many dev teams could've put together something that works this well, but these folks have managed it, and I'm super excited for whatever it is they put out next. If a bit of difficulty doesn't turn you off to it, this is one you definitely don't wanna miss out on if you're at all into quality story telling in games or 2D Zelda-likes because it's one of the best non-rogue-like indie games out there right now, as far as I'm concerned.

beautiful game
frustrated by the tone. videogamey item pickup sounds and victory animations but ooh something sinister is happening... i dont think it works for me. maybe it gets good immediately after i stopped

Muy buen indie con claras inspiraciones en Mother 3 y con graficos a los de gba.

La historia si bien arranca muy lenta, a medida que vas avanzando se va acelerando y entra a ponerse a mi gusto muy interesante. Puede ser un punto muy a favor o en contra el tipo de historia ya que no a todos les puede llamar la atencion el tipo de desarrollo que tiene.

Ame que tenga un sidegame directamente inspirado en dragon quest 3, la verdad que no me lo esperaba y lo ame por eso.

Este año agregaron un dlc muy baarto que añade un farm simulator y la verdad que esta muy adictivo y es bastante comfy.

Visualmente un despelote, se fueron muy para arriba con este nivel de sprites y son de lo mejor que he visto en un indie.

En switch tiene leves caidas de fps por alguna razon pero nada de otro mundo.

La musica tambien es muy buena y recuerda mucho a los mother.

El gameplay es el de un arpg onda los zeldas de nes y snes, y si bien es muy simple se le agradece. Tiene varias armas para elegir de corto y largo alcance para poder usar.

Y por ultimo decir que hay bastante puzzles interesantes que a veces requiere de usar a ambos pjs principales.

played while it was on game pass, then it all of a sudden wasn't. i liked the art style. not so sure if the story and presentation got me hooked, though.

i want to like this game so badly. the artstyle is gorgeous, the music and sound design are both incredible, and it had the best first hour of any game i played in 2022. sadly, the story cant sustain the intrigue it builds up over the course of the first hour or so, and a game supposedly about a Last of Us style journey across many different locales stops dead in its tracks by the third new space, and 70% of the main story takes place in one hub area.

character writing and dialogue is consistently strong, but the actual overall story becomes utterly incoherent by the end of the game. i genuinely did not understand the literal moment to moment events and exposition.

so much story potential sadly not put to proper use

With its beautiful art style and its enjoyable combat system I really liked Eastward. The characters were likeable and the world was cool. I did feel like the game went on a bit longer than it needed to be but otherwise I really liked this one!

Larga fetta del gioco non è scritta bene, il suo essere estremamente derivativo sotto ogni aspetto con mother 3 per giunta non aiuta. Si intuiscono sia i pregi (sostanzialmente l'estetica e più in generale l'uso della pixel art, ma anche la sua atmosfera molto nostalgica) ma questi non tengono in piedi il gioco, seppure devo dire che né i puzzle ne i combattimenti abbiano reali problemi il gioco mi crolla immediatamente sulla scrittura. Manca completamente l'aspetto tragico che una situazione del genere merita, si cerca di far provare empatia costruendo dei rapporti in 5 secondi. Il gioca ti urla, ti prega, di provare qualcosa per loro ma semplicemente è impossibile perché oltre alle scritture assolutamente anonime dei protagonisti anche i rapporti che hanno sia tra loro che altri sono acerbi. Comprendo comunque le ragioni di chi lo ama ben più di chi lo odia, perché per quel che riguarda estetica, citazionismo e nostalgia è stato realizzato un pacchetto ad hoc

Cool game that somewhat overstayed its welcome; and most of the areas of the game after New Dam City feel underbaked. pacing was odd but the art is beautiful and is a perfect 2d Zelda-like experience. Would have enjoyed more types of puzzles and items for said puzzles though, outside of weapons or bombs you don't get any new gadgets

Lo bueno:
Los gráficos son extremadamente bonitos y la música crea una atmósfera perfecta para el tono que intentan crear.
Parece que la historia "principal" es interesante
Tiene algunos detalles que, sin entrar en spoilers. muestran que los desarrolladores han puesto mucho cariño el apartado gráfico.
Los pocos puzles que vi no estaban mal, lástima que te los esparzan tanto.
Lo malo:
El sistema de combate es tan simple que prácticamente podrían eliminarlo. Aun así han decidido centrar el juego en torno al mismo, no me lo explico.
La historia principal parece interesante, pero te la cuentan con un ritmo pésimo y saturándola de personajes irrelevantes, genéricos, con diálogos totalmente ridículos o todas a la vez.
Los bosses son un chiste.
Que se corte el gameplay cada poco tiempo para enseñarte una animación de una puerta abriéndose para que tu personaje haga una pose puede ser gracioso la primera vez, pero a la tercera se convierte en algo cansino que rompe con la inmersión y el ritmo del juego.
Si tienes que poner un botón de cámara rápida en tus cinemáticas igual deberías de revisar si tienes un problema de ritmo.
Poner que los diálogos se pasen automáticamente en una historia contada a través de texto es criminal.

Resumen: no le pongo un 5 porque el arte y la música son buenos y confío en que la historia principal será interesante, pero está tan enterrado en unas mecánicas aburridas que no soy capaz de seguir jugándolo. He estado dos semanas para jugar algo menos de 5 horas porque sólo con pensar en jugarlo se me quitaban las ganas.

Me gustó bastante, aunque creo que tiene demasiados momentos en los que la historia se alarga con secciones y niveles innecesarios, además de que aunque me genera bastante intriga la historia, creo que es más de esas historias que se sobrecomplican demasiado y no saben atar los cabos.

Pero aún así lo disfruté bastante y tengo muchos más buenos recuerdos que malos.


Absolutely beautiful pixel art but unfortunately I didn't find the narrative particularly compelling

An incredibly beautiful game that constantly blew me away with how stunning it was. It feels rare for me to feel this impressed by a modern game's spritework, given hardware and memory limitations aren't a problem anymore, but the complete love into every detail to make this world feel so lively really just astonished me.

WHICH IS WHY IT FRUSTRATES ME SO MUCH THAT THE WRITING LEFT A LOT TO BE DESIRED!!! It's just so boring and directionless sometimes. So many cool ideas or themes that just felt like it was going nowhere. Some parts just drag on for way too long and this game didn't need to be as long as it is. I will commend that quite a few of the character relationships had me invested, and I honestly wish it just focused on that aspect more.

By the end of the game, my first thought was just "What did any of that even mean?". I was just confused. Not in a way that made me wanna find out more because I just had no clue if any of the different storylines really connected together in a meaningful way. I don't mind a story that's harder to understand but I feel like I'm not really given that much to work with here.

I know I sound really critical of it right now but I still enjoyed my time with it nonetheless. The gameplay was simple and a little easy but I don't mind a more laidback experience, and I could sing my praises for days over the art direction. There's so much going for it that I just really wish the story was better.

It's a pretty pixel-game with decent gameplay and a TON of story, admittedly at some point I skipped half of the NPC dialogue (because I was getting close to the time limit of free NSO trial) and wanted to get to the important lore stuff, but the finale definitely made up for it all. Sam is an awesome character and I'd recommend the game if you're into a rather slow, soothing story experience.