7/6/2023 0 Comments Eastward xbox![]() ![]() This isn't about the combat, and it's not so much about the journey - it's a story about a found family that just wants to settle in a new home. The only real issue I have with Eastward on the whole is pacing. No boss battle is like the other, too, although those are also on the easy side. Still I absolutely want to acknowledge the work that must have gone into them nonetheless - solutions hardly ever repeat, so you never feel as if you're doing the same thing ten times in a row, and considering how few actions both John and Sam really have, the amount of variety here is a true feat. The puzzles are easy enough - I reckon they'll be too easy for most people because they were just right for me. If either touches an enemy, you lose a heart out of the very generous health pool, which you can replenish with the food John cooks wherever he can find a hob - that frying pan serves more than one purpose, after all. In action reminiscent of classic Zelda, you navigate John and Sam between sections of the map in every direction and solve a few environmental puzzles to get ahead, which also involve occasionally separating the two. It's a strange arsenal that sees you through this friendly post-apocalypse, borne of a world that's retained a few technologies and lost many others. Combat is something of an afterthought and a last resort, because what person who walks around with a little girl would want to regularly get in danger? When the need arises however, John is handy with a small array of weapons - you start off with his trusty frying pan and a set of bombs, and gain a short-range shotgun and a flamethrower over the course of the first few chapters. This straightforward setup takes several hours to unfold, because Pixpil made absolutely sure to thoroughly introduce you to John and Sam before sending you off with them. As it turns out, the surface is.mostly fine? But a dangerous substance called Miasma is an ever-present threat, and the reason John and Sam must move onwards rather than settling in the first place they find. They are expelled and put on a train to the surface. Even though they're very poor, they enjoy life together, until one day an apparition that looks just like her inspires Sam to break Potcrock's cardinal rule never to travel to the surface. John, who never so much as utters a word, took Sam in after she appeared in the underground community of Potcrock Isle out of nowhere. The story follows Sam, a small girl with a mane of white hair, and John, who looks a bit like a black Russian terrier - his face completely obscured by his fringe, the rest of his face taken up by his beard. Availability: Out September 16th on Switch and PC.Of course good visuals don't make a good game, and yet this attention to detail tells me so much about Eastward. There is so much detail to this one house - the discolouration of the wood, its crooked windows, boards sticking out left and right. A giant house, seemingly completely built out of driftwood, framed by nothing but the purest cerulean sky. ![]() Without wanting to sound cynical, Chinese developer Pixpil sure knew what they were doing in that regard - the first time I saw Eastward back in 2019 it immediately seared itself into my brain. With so much competition out there in the world of games, those first few attention-grabbing screenshots have maybe never been so important. A strong love for storytelling and the feel of games like Earthbound makes Eastward shine even where the gameplay flags. ![]()
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