Bastion is an Action RPG developed by Super Giant Games. Bastion revolves around the silent protagonist known only as The Kid set in the world of Caelondia after a cataclysmic event know as The Calamity destroys most of it. The whole game is narrated by Rucks, who fills everyone in on what’s going on and the history of Caelondia. The game is very action oriented with a wide variety of weapons and abilities.
The game starts out with The Kid waking up in his bed on a floating platform. As The Kid walks around the world comes together and forms around him but it is all floating high above ground. There aren’t safety rails throughout the world so falling off is always a concern. Falling doesn’t mean a game over but does cause a bit of damage. Most objects and obstacles you come across can be destroyed and can lead to alternate pathways or hidden objects. The art present in Bastion is beautiful and impressed me all the way through the game.
The Bastion is the hub area of the game that is what is supposed to be able to undo the damage caused by the Calamity. The main objective of each level to collect Shards and bring them back to the Bastion to restore it. Every time a shard is brought back to Bastion you can build a new building on an empty spot. These buildings include; a Forge to upgrade weapons, an Arsenal to change weapons and special abilities, a Distillery where you can equip passive abilities, a memorial that contain side quests which reward fragments, a Shrine that contains idols that players can activate to add challenge to the game, and a Lost-and-Found which is a store. Also found in the Bastion are three different arenas in which players will have to survive wave after wave of enemy until the end. There are leaderboards for the arenas so that you can compare your score to friends and others on the internet.
The combat in Bastion is action-based and includes using 2 weapons, a special ability, blocking, countering and roll dodging. The game features 11 very different and all fun weapons. There are melee weapons such as the strong but slow hammer you start the game out with or the war machetes which are very fast attacking weapons with a short range. There are also a variety of ranged weapons such as the Army Carbine that is a powerful long range weapon to the musket which shoots in a wide cone like a shotgun all the way to a mortar or canon that is obtained later on in the game. Each weapon can be upgraded with fragments picked up from defeated enemies or broken objects in the world. As The Kid levels up the player can equip him with spirits which grant passive bonuses and each new level grants a new slot to have multiple spirits active at the same time. The Kid will encounter numerous enemies ranging from monsters, animals, plants and other humans. Fighting in Bastion is actually pretty fun and really does take some tactical approaches at times. Every enemy has an optimal strategy of attack and you’ll constantly have to fight multiple types of enemies at the same time and defeating enemies really does provide some satisfaction.
Overall Bastion is an amazing package that is made even more impressive by the fact that it’s a downloadable title. There is a solid story that is made so much better by the awesome narrator, I really wish I could have him or Morgan Freeman narrate my life. The combat is diverse and can be as challenging as you want it to be thanks to the idols available at the shrine. The music and voice acting is solid and the game art is stunning at times. The game ties it all off with great replay value and really makes for a great downloadable title that other games should strive for.
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