Bloated experience with fantastic art, music, and animation. The dialogue is usually well written, but the story was a major letdown. Intentionally vague story about some god or other. Inspired by Earthbound of course, a superior game.

The combat was fun for a bit, but wore thin. Some cool boss battles. Kinda challenging at points.

One amazing surprise was one of the best minigames I’ve ever played: a turn based rpg with beautiful pixel art.

Played from – to: (2022-01-18 – 2022-02-07) – PC controller.
‣ 10/10 – It will all pan out in the end.
‣ Game Audio / Soundtrack - 10/10
‣ Graphics – 10/10
‣ Atmosphere – 10/10
‣ Main Story / Characters – 10/10
‣ Side Activities / Exploration – 10/10
‣ AI – 9/10
‣ Ragdolls / Physics – 10/10
‣ Movement – 8/10
‣ Combat – 8/10
‣ Final notes: It is rare for a game to have so many characters and make them feel unique and interesting. However, I am glad to announce that Eastward nailed it. Well maybe not the monkeys, but anyone else you meet will be great. They have their unique motivations, back stories, and fantastic visual design. Eastward shines in its artwork and carefully crafted facial animations and more. The journey I took with this game was long and very interesting. I won’t deny the story did leave me confused at times, especially when the time concept got introduced, but overall, it was great and really felt outstanding in the pile of 2021 games that I have played. Honestly, as you play the game you see how much love and care the developers put into this. I got nothing but praise for this apart from a few nitpicks here and there. The soundtrack is always fitting and memorable, beautiful even. Food cooking reminded me of Zelda but had its own use and we will leave it at that. My only complaint is the combat. Even if it is a big part of the game, something more puzzle like would’ve suited it more. The last few boss fights really showed how a more pattern-based combat could’ve been more enjoyable even if repetitive. I would have rather had pattern-based combat of some sorts than a one move-based combat. Yes, you have a nice arsenal of tools at your disposal, but in the end it all comes down to John swinging his pan in the same motion repeatedly. In any case, the nice balance between puzzle solving, fighting, and exploring made combat a nice change of pace and the boss fights were great that I am willing to accept the version we have even if I would have loved a dodge button. Overall Eastward is a very interesting game, at first, I had no idea what I had gotten myself into, but the more I played it the more invested I got. At times it felt like a children’s story and at times it rivaled the seriousness of games like God of War.

Rapaz, esse jogo é um caos de decisões boas e ruins, a um ponto que eu nem sei direito por onde começar a falar, mas vamos lá…

Primeiramente, no peso geral que senti, EastWard é um jogo bom, isso principalmente em favor de todo o visível carinho e cuidado que os desenvolvedores tiveram com o projeto. A parte artística é, de longe, um dos pontos mais fortes do jogo: Diferentes estilos de artes belíssimas (variando entre as diferentes mecânicas e elementos do jogo), uma introdução animada extremamente bem-feita, pixelart detalhada e muito bem trabalhada, SoundTrack agradável, etc. Na Gameplay, porém, começa o caos.

Iniciemos pela história: A história do jogo é boa e consegue manter a curiosidade e interesse do player em vários momentos, porém ela é repleta de “Fillers” (Ou: Trechos de história que parecem pura encheção de linguiça). Há capítulos inteiros, que possuem um tempinho considerável de gameplay, onde 90% da história é irrisória. Quanto a parte de história, também, não dá para deixar de mencionar uma das principais críticas que vi quanto ao jogo, que é: Tem muito diálogo e cutscenes. Eu, particularmente não vejo problema quanto a essa parte (estou acostumado a jogos ricos em história), mas não vou mentir que um botão para acelerar diálogos faz bastante falta em várias cenas.

A exploração e mapas do jogo são bem-feitos, os puzzles são simples, a progressão as vezes é meio enrolada (te jogando em uns mini-games, como parte da história, que não tem nada a ver com nada) e na parte de batalha, bem, quanto a ela temos mais problemas: Inimigos spawnando em cima do player, inimigos em cenários com pouco espaço que não tomam nenhum knockback, hitbox dividida com o personagem que fica te seguindo (Não importa o quão bem você desvia de um ataque, o personagem que está te seguindo vai tomar dano e isso vai te matar várias vezes), etc. Ao que percebi, isso tudo existe para tentar equilibrar a dificuldade de um sistema de batalha que, no geral, é muito fácil (a ponto de você nem usar todas as armas que o jogo te oferece), porém essas “soluções” adotadas são horríveis e, infelizmente, perduram ao longo de toda a gameplay.
Outro fator muito estranho do jogo é que, mesmo ele sendo marcado como ‘Livre para todas as idades’, ele possui vários elementos e humores ácidos mais adultos perdidos aqui e ali. Esses elementos, mesmo que em boa parte indiretos, são BEM perceptíveis e não se encaixam nem um pouco com o resto do jogo, dando a sensação de estarem perdidos em um mundo ao qual não deveriam pertencer.

Mas então, vale a pena jogar EastWard? Sim, se você gosta de jogos mais descontraídos e história, mas se você procura algo mais dinâmico, não-linear e/ou profundo, nesse caso é melhor procurar outras opções de jogos.

Eastward is definitely a game that's held up by its slow-paced character-focused storyline, and it can be extremely powerful when it wants to. While I think it loses a bit of its lusted in its final parts, frankly I still think back to its story and characters with a lot of fondness and appreciation. Ultimately, it's a game about growing up and traveling, about becoming a different person, but also about the sadness of leaving what was once so important to you behind.

In terms of presentation, the game is incredible. The environments genuinely left me awe-struck at certain points, and the OST is great too. Gameplay is fairly basic but fun, I don't think it's a selling point on its own, but it doesn't hold the game back either.

Eastward is clearly a product of love down to its tiniest aspects (there's a super in-depth game-within-a-game RPG, and not only does it play a bit of a role in the story, but it even has built-in little cheats and rumors you'll learn by talking to some NPCs), and I think that ultimately lets it really dig its hooks into you despite some weaker moments and its very slow pace.

THE MIASMAAA

This game is fun. I love this game. Even if it's flawed. Even if I can't understand shit. It's a great time.

Lets start with the bad. It can be a bit repetitive. And the story derails probably midway through. I still don't understand what the hell is going on. I'm torn on the ending. I... like it? Don't like it? It's complicated.

Also- the characters aren't as deep as I'd like. (Most of them, anyway.) But man if they aren't funny and entertaining.

Anyway- onto the good! Gameplay is fun! Art is absolutely beautiful. Sam and John are such a cute duo. I adore them so much.

I understand this game isn't for everyone. Again- the story is rather confusing. And the characters can be rather silly. It's... long. A little too long. Yet- is it weird that I loved every second of it?

Perhaps its the characters. Even the comic relief ones feel like people you might come across in your day to day life. They do all these shenanigans- and then drop some real serious shit out of the blue that make you go- wow. thats some nuance there. I really respect you, random citizen.

I also love that- when the story needs to get serious- it gets serious. (Even if you don't entirely understand what is happening.)

It's a memorable experience, at the very least, regardless of how you view it.