Earlier last week, I started playing an early release copy of Bastion for the PlayStation 4. This was my first time playing a game by Supergiant Games, but I had heard a lot about it. The first thing I was excited about was the colors of the game. Everything is just so bright and really eye catching. The music is very nice, nothing too much, and it matched the gameplay perfectly. I would have to say the biggest thing I was hooked on was the narration. The first time I fell off the map, the narrator said ”The kid fell to his death… Just kidding.” It really got a few chuckles out of me.
So follow me as I go into detail about what I thought of the game from a 100% unbiased view.
The story is incredibly compelling. I did my first map with ease and highly enjoyed it. Once I got to The Bastion, I met the narrator. I then went on my quest to retrieve the cores to rebuild my home.
Everything was really nice. You learn how to use your items and shield, and it’s fairly easy to get the hang of it all. The mobs early on aren’t hard at all, so you breeze past the first few places rather quickly. Eventually, I got to a part where there are statues of the people who didn’t survive (I would be lying if I said I didn’t destroy each and every one of them). That part was incredibly sad. The narration continued to make it even more tear jerking. I had opted in on the subtitles, too, so that made it worse. There was no running from learning about what had happened to them.
At the end of that map, I met Zulf. We went back to the Bastion and I learned a bit about him. He was an ambassador of peace and good will in Caelondia prior to The Kid finding him and bringing him to the Bastion. I’m later able to build things once I pick up a few more cores. I can upgrade my machete! Awesome! I love that thing.
But then I’m reminded that The Kid still hasn’t found his friend yet. We see the crystal barrette that she wore. That was also really sad.
By this point, the colors and narration have me 100% hooked. Unfortunately for me, though, I attempted the Proving Grounds with my machete. There, I had to kill every enemy. After about 15 minutes, I had one left. By that time, there had only been 1 left for 10 minutes. I needed to throw my machete to one of the canons that was out on a block that I couldn’t reach. But I didn’t know how to do it. The only way I could get back to the Bastion was restarting the game completely. So that kind of sucked.
All in all, I thought the game was a great experience. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to playing a lot more of it and eventually trying Transistor. If you have the chance, definitely check out the soundtrack for Bastion. It’s quite addicting.