it's a tough one to nail down, because it's got some points that bring it down. By far the best part for me were the dungeons, which were overall very well designed Zelda-like lock & key dungeons, which I like. It was also interesting having to use the abilities of both characters. The writing has overall a very consistent (I don't mean great, just consistent) quality. For the most part, it's not excellent and it has a few pace-killing moments (like a cooking errand run for part of Arc (I'm using arcs to navigate as some have several chapters) 3 and a SO annoying train ride movie star & terrible stealth section thing in Arc 4), but Arcs 5 & 6 have genuinely pretty good writing and gameplay. The final arc in particular was really good with one of the best chase sequences I've seen since, I don't know, Celeste maybe (which is my #1). I also really liked the cooking-based healing system. You don't pick up healing items, you pick up (and buy) food ingredients that you cook to get food to carry around at various places which give varying degrees of health. You'll discover more recipes and gain more ingredients as the game progresses. I really liked this.

Overall I enjoyed the game, it was not fantastic, but it was enjoyable.

Really enjoyed my time playing this game. The art is gorgeous, the character designs are unique and the music is consistently fantastic. Moreover, the puzzles and dungeons are well thought-out and just challenging enough in my opinion. The cooking mechanic is also quite fun and encourages you to experiment with the many ingredients you can pick up at various stores in order to find all the recipes. The combat is decent, but sometimes frustrating, and definitely not the game’s strong suit.

Where it shines, however, are the characters. Sam is a charming lead who worms herself into your heart fast. She is talkative and full of life, but naïve and trusting to a fault at the same time. Hence, she complements the other main character, John, in a great way, as he is the silent, weary type with a heart of gold and distinctive protective streak. The side characters are pretty great too and feel alive with their own background stories and motives. Overall, the game is extremely narrative heavy and expects you to read a lot of dialogue. So if that’s not your thing, this game is probably not for you.

There is one chapter in the game that feels somewhat out of place (Once Upon a Time in Monkollywood). It really slows down the pacing of the story and features an exasperating stealth section. Otherwise, I enjoyed the story overall and its bittersweet conclusion. Although, I think the ending may probably be too vague and open-ended for many.

Sadly, the game crashed seven times during my entire playthrough. It mostly happened right after or before loading cutscenes. I never lost any real progression as the autosave feature is super solid. Still, it was a little annoying. So as others have already pointed out, probably play the PC or Xbox version instead if you have the choice.

Picked this up during the Switch game trial and bought it near immediately after the trial ended.

Eastward is such a charming little game that manages to be haunting as well, both in the beautiful and scary sense. The spritework is positively gorgeous and the color palette manages to hit you in all the feels, from the bright colors of the cityscape to the dark & brooding miasma. The gameplay is simple enough (top-down Zelda inspired), though it's the characters that keeps the player engaged throughout the journey. There are just so many wonderful characters in this game: William, Lee, Alva, Isabel, and, of course, Sam. Although there were a few slower sections (Chapter 3 comes to mind), and the writing isn't the best, the game never fails to continue to drive momentum more and more...eastward, if you will, until the end. And though the ending does raise some questions that are left unanswered, the leadup to both the second to last and final bosses are both a ton of fun.

Overall this was a solid 9/10 experience that gets brought down to an 8/10 due to the random crashes that would happen to me throughout the game. I'm not sure if this is something unique to the Switch version, but if it is, I'd advise you to unfortunately play this game on another platform, if that sort of thing bugs you.

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.

Eastward é lindo. Uma pixel art incrível com bons personagens e uma história interessante. Combate é bem simples, do inicio ao fim, mesmo quando temos novas ferramentas o combate do jogo continua bem simples com um ou outro inimigo mais chato. Puzzles bem legais, nada muito complexo, mas são bem interessantes.
O ponto negativo é a quantidade de vez que o jogo poderia ser mais direto e ele faz o jogador andar em círculos para resolver alguma quest. Tem alguns lugares que isso é bem frequente e parece que o intuito foi de inflar o jogo.

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.

Sometimes you have to keep moving on. Even in the tough times. Even in the face of loss. And even when things are at their best. But that doesn't mean the journey wasn't worth it. That doesn't mean we can't enjoy what we've done, where we've been, and who we've met. And it also doesn't mean it won't hurt like hell.

I bought Eastward on sale, having no real idea what to expect, but knowing that it seemed interesting. It may seem like a "dad simulator," what with starring as gruff, perpetually silent John alongside his surrogate daughter and endless ball of joy and energy Sam, but it's so much more than that. If anything, while we hear a lot about indie RPGs being "Earthbound likes," I think this is the first one to really capture the essence and spirit of Mother 3. The air to the dialogue, the fantastical locations, and the groundedness and heavy turn things can take really remind me of that game in the best ways. Even if you primarily play as John, Sam is the real lead here, as the story centers on her not just because of her mysterious origins and connections to a red-tinted spectral version of herself that talks quite villainously, but because of how infectious her energy and brightness is and how fun she is with every character, even her silent father figure John.

The game's combat is solid, though I do admittedly have my problems with it: sometimes there aren't enough i frames and you can just get combo'd into oblivion and hearts barely drop out in the world, leaving you to contend with a rough backpack size when it comes to storing items to heal you. One weapon you get you get startlingly late, but considering how strong it is, I can let it slide.

The cast of characters and the story itself is truly where it shines. Though it gets a bit exposition-y to explain some big things at the end, the way the story is handled is incredibly excellent, with some absolutely incredible shots to let the visual aspect do the talking over text. I didn't expect this game about a silly looking girl with big eyebrows and big red boots to have such a heartwarming and heartbreaking cast of characters. I won't go much more into it because of spoilers, but this features some really wonderful relationships between characters.

The locations are absolutely beautiful and varied, and it was a treat going to each new location and expanding upon the world from how we first see it in Potcrock Isle.

This game is, honestly, just a wonderful experience. Even my small complaints aren't enough to detract from my enjoyment playing the game. Great puzzles, great writing, great art, this is really an all-timer, and I 1000% recommend playing it the first chance you get. Sam is a character for the ages, and I'm so happy (and, well, heartbroken) to see her journey through.

Update: Yea this game didn't really do it for me. I did only play 8 hours of it but frankly this game has a lot of weird problems that don't seem like they'd be resolved by the end of it. I don't wanna be too mean to it but it feels like a mix of the developers 10 favorite things rather than its own game.


First Impressions: Its not every day a Nintendo Game Trial is something I'm actually interested in but don't already own, so i took the opportunity upon myself to play this.

Pretty good vibes, and very simplistic dungeon design. I'm kinda a sucker "girl goes on an adventure in a mysterious world" stories, and I'm kinda shocked I hadn't gotten that from a video game yet. Although this feels like the type of thing where I'd get near the end and then just stop playing for no reason other than, it's just not drawing me anymore.

Also, I don't know if this is a problem on other platforms,or even if it just seems to be me specific, but in my about 3 hours of playtime the game crashed and forced me to the Switch home screen twice.

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!

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

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

Eastward ou Jornada para o leste é um dos melhores indie games que joguei nos ultimos tempos, contando com uma historia divertida e com boas pitadas de misterio e personagens cativante(sério AMEI a Sam, ela é MUITO FOFINHA!! <3), belos graficos em pixel art e uma trilha sonora muito gostosinha de ouvir. A gameplay do jogo é basicamente um dunngen-crawler estilo Zelda, na verdade eu diria que ele é um adventure-crawler(nem sei se esse termo existe) já que ao inves de termos um mundo ''aberto'' como em Zelda, temos um mundo dividido em capitulos na qual cada capitulo somos apresentados a novos personagens e lugares, fora isso de diferente o resto é tudo muito Zelda, temos corações pra conquistar que encontramos durante o jogo ou adquirimos ao derrotar algum chefão, temos tambem uma pequena variedade de armas que vão desde uma PANELA até um Lança-Chamas e as classicas bombas de Zelda que assim como em Zelda servem não só para derrotar inimigos mas para abrir caminhos e resolver puzzles, alem disso temos os poderes psiquicos(?) da Sam que são usados tanto para resolver alguns puzzles como para deixar inimigos presos nos lugares pra podermos descer o pau neles. Por falar em poderes da Sam, essa dinamica de dupla, de termos dois protagonistas é uma coisa que foi muito bem feita no jogo, é muito gostosinho fazer os puzzles com eles e alternalos pra derrotar inimigos, alem dos dois serem muito carismaticos, mesmo o John sendo o classico protagonista mudo, você percebe que ele é um personagem de verdade atraves de suas ações, seus poucos gestos e seus atos fazem você se importar com o personagem. Eu ja falei que a trilha sonora é muito gostosinha, ela junto com o estilo visual do jogo fazem você parecer que esta jogando um game do studio ghibli(a inclusive um personagem que é uma clara referencia a Hayao Miyazaki) ou um classico desenho dos anos 90, destacam-se as musicas ''Eastward''(tema do jogo), ''Cooking'', o tema da Sam, Wheather Talk, Bar, Ruin, Relax, entre tantas outras, a trilha sonora foi composta por Joel Corelitz o mesmo comporsitor de Halo: Infinite e esta disponivel no Spotify. Alem disso tudo o jogo é uma verdadeira homenagem aos classicos RPG's de video-game de era SNES/NES como The Legend of Zelda, Earthbound, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, etc...com varias homenagens ao logo do game a esses jogos. O jogo conta até com um ''mini-game'' chamado Earthborne que é uma bélissima homenagem aos crassicos Dragon Quest, Earthbound e Final Fantasy e que poderia até muito bem ser um jogo a parte visto o quão ''profundo'' ele pode ser. Apesar da historia ser bem fechadinha, ela fica com um gostinho de quero mais no final de tão bem construido que o mundo de Eastward é de tão carismaticos seus personagens são, mesmo os NPC's como Alva, Samuel, Daniel, etc... tem seus momentos de brilho.
Enfim um PUTA JOGO indie, muito gostosinho de jogar que recomendo a todos os fãs de Zelda ou de RPG's da era SNES.