This review contains spoilers
I was shocked to see how much DNA this game shares with Supergiant's other games and how much stuff mechanically ended up carrying over to Hades later down the line. Honestly, this game feels like such a relic from the time it came out, being pretty early on the wave of games like this, low to mid budget nice looking 'indie' games from tiny studios on XBLA.
The writing in general is good for sure, but it's not really anything super exciting. I think there are some really good touches, the attention to detail on the narration and the pure quality of voice acting as well, is really an achievement. When it comes to environment design, I can't help but feel as though it's beautiful simply to be beautiful but not really much else. It's not really something that feels super well thought out beyond looking pretty. I mean, it sell an aesthetic but I'm not sure to what end. I also don't really find the main character's model to be particularly aesthetically pleasing.
I was also really shocked to see how existential and high concept it ended up getting by the end. It was certainly interesting conceptually, but Dark Souls has done a similar thing narratively to a greater effect. I didn't find it really all that satisfying in general, but I think the music helped to bolster it tonally at the end. I think there are some really interesting pivotal moments, but I think honestly the details are the most interesting parts of the design in the game, the singer only speaking at the very end of the game, things like that were really inspired choices.
When it comes to gameplay it was certainly viscerally fun and didn't overstay its welcome, but nothing really more than that, I think the foundation is really excellent, with the upgrades, god challenges, weapon challenges, etc, and I'm SO happy they decided to iterate on it later down the line.
I also forgot to mention the soundtrack and the general soundscape of the game. I think it's overall competent and Darren Korb's work is stellar as always, I think a lot of the sound is weighed down by stock effects that I see used a lot in other stuff. It's really distracting to me, especially due to how often you hear them. I think some of the music has this problem too, I think it's the combat track iirc. The soundtrack has some really stellar songs, especially at the end, that final track is just mindblowingly great. It's made me so happy to be able to see this studio grow.
But overall, I think bastion is a lot more interesting as a piece of history to me than a game. I'm feeling positively about it, but not sure I'd really recommend it to anyone.
The writing in general is good for sure, but it's not really anything super exciting. I think there are some really good touches, the attention to detail on the narration and the pure quality of voice acting as well, is really an achievement. When it comes to environment design, I can't help but feel as though it's beautiful simply to be beautiful but not really much else. It's not really something that feels super well thought out beyond looking pretty. I mean, it sell an aesthetic but I'm not sure to what end. I also don't really find the main character's model to be particularly aesthetically pleasing.
I was also really shocked to see how existential and high concept it ended up getting by the end. It was certainly interesting conceptually, but Dark Souls has done a similar thing narratively to a greater effect. I didn't find it really all that satisfying in general, but I think the music helped to bolster it tonally at the end. I think there are some really interesting pivotal moments, but I think honestly the details are the most interesting parts of the design in the game, the singer only speaking at the very end of the game, things like that were really inspired choices.
When it comes to gameplay it was certainly viscerally fun and didn't overstay its welcome, but nothing really more than that, I think the foundation is really excellent, with the upgrades, god challenges, weapon challenges, etc, and I'm SO happy they decided to iterate on it later down the line.
I also forgot to mention the soundtrack and the general soundscape of the game. I think it's overall competent and Darren Korb's work is stellar as always, I think a lot of the sound is weighed down by stock effects that I see used a lot in other stuff. It's really distracting to me, especially due to how often you hear them. I think some of the music has this problem too, I think it's the combat track iirc. The soundtrack has some really stellar songs, especially at the end, that final track is just mindblowingly great. It's made me so happy to be able to see this studio grow.
But overall, I think bastion is a lot more interesting as a piece of history to me than a game. I'm feeling positively about it, but not sure I'd really recommend it to anyone.