Eastward is a good game that falters in a few key moments- but lets be real your main reason to play this game is because you saw the beautiful sprite work and wanted to join in on a beautiful world. That's what I wanted out of this game and that's what I got, the locations are beautiful, the characters are spectacularly animated giving them tons of life- visually this game is oozing with charm, and the music adds to it well.
The combat is simply enough, it's a top down zelda so its relatively solid- for some reason I enjoy this style of gameplay more when its not a zelda game but that's not really here nor there. I think they did a good job with having interesting boss fights where you always kind of know what to do but its still different and unique each time- coupled with that great animation and sprite work and most big fights feel dramatic.
Where Eastward fumbles is in various parts of the narrative, which isn't a bad story in the slightest but every so often it relies on telling us over showing us, and then sometimes refusing to show us leaving the player confused on exactly what's going on. Its not as big of a deal at the start of the game when you're still being capture by the mystery but as you get to the back half of the game you find you're not certain what fate felled characters that are the driving force of the story. By the time you get to the end of Eastward's journey it starts to answer questions... but the answers it gives you are ones you've been able to deduce and the questions you STILL have go unanswered which takes away from the experience.
a story doesn't need to answer every question but it needs to answer more than Eastward did- if it had answered more clearly about the miasma the subject matter that went with it I would be able to accept the ending events of the game better, because I had more closure for other parts of the story- having unanswered questions followed up by an extremely open ending is what creates some dissatisfaction in me, as I don't feel accomplished in more aspects of the narrative.
That said maybe there's stuff I missed that would explain more, I can't claim to say that I've seen every inch of this game- No I spent more time cooking because I loved the cute little animation that made me feel like I was making a meal for my child. And honestly all I need out of a game is a dad and their child so i was fulfilled in that aspect from the start.
The combat is simply enough, it's a top down zelda so its relatively solid- for some reason I enjoy this style of gameplay more when its not a zelda game but that's not really here nor there. I think they did a good job with having interesting boss fights where you always kind of know what to do but its still different and unique each time- coupled with that great animation and sprite work and most big fights feel dramatic.
Where Eastward fumbles is in various parts of the narrative, which isn't a bad story in the slightest but every so often it relies on telling us over showing us, and then sometimes refusing to show us leaving the player confused on exactly what's going on. Its not as big of a deal at the start of the game when you're still being capture by the mystery but as you get to the back half of the game you find you're not certain what fate felled characters that are the driving force of the story. By the time you get to the end of Eastward's journey it starts to answer questions... but the answers it gives you are ones you've been able to deduce and the questions you STILL have go unanswered which takes away from the experience.
a story doesn't need to answer every question but it needs to answer more than Eastward did- if it had answered more clearly about the miasma the subject matter that went with it I would be able to accept the ending events of the game better, because I had more closure for other parts of the story- having unanswered questions followed up by an extremely open ending is what creates some dissatisfaction in me, as I don't feel accomplished in more aspects of the narrative.
That said maybe there's stuff I missed that would explain more, I can't claim to say that I've seen every inch of this game- No I spent more time cooking because I loved the cute little animation that made me feel like I was making a meal for my child. And honestly all I need out of a game is a dad and their child so i was fulfilled in that aspect from the start.
Reviewed on Oct 13, 2021