Platforms: PC, XBLA
You can’t help but feel like a child as you play through Bastion, bright-eyed and attentive, completely captivated by the story of the Great Calamity. “Proper story supposed to start from the beginning. Ain't so simple with this one” is how the story of “The Kid” begins, The Kid being a perpetually-scowling survivor of the seemingly catastrophic Calamity, out to restore a safe haven known as the Bastion from the ashes of destruction. Everything The Kid does is narrated by Rucks (think a Wild West version of Morgan Freeman) who provides amusing quips depending on your actions or style of play and tells the solemn story of the Calamity.
In terms of gameplay, Bastion is a hack and slash game; expect a lot of clicking punctuated by the occasional space or shift to dodge, roll or block. Combat feels fluid and responsive, and encourages skill-based play by adding mechanics such as the counter hit, which severely damages the enemy if you block just as the attack is about to land, and proving grounds for each of the weapons where The Kid can complete challenges and win prizes. Weapon loadouts and secret skills are changed in the armoury and provide a wide variety of ways to hack, slash or shoot your way to victory. Instead of skill points, The Kid can obtain damage or stat bonuses from a variety of spirits, the tolerance for which increases with each level. Enemies can be made more difficult by angering certain gods at the shrine in exchange for higher experience or fragments dropped. Fragments can then be used to purchase upgrades or materials for your weapons or to purchase new skills.
Visually, the game is stunning. The Kid is dropped into each new environment, ranging from precarious boardwalks to remnants of Arabian markets (complete with cushions) and overgrown dilapidated ruins. The colour palette and tumbling snow, ash or leaves of each level invoke a certain emptiness and loss and everything from the numerous piles of rubble that litter the worlds of Bastion to countless monsters has a hand-painted feel to it. Tiles and other elements of the environment sprout out of the ground or fall from the sky with a satisfying thud as The Kid approaches. The music tops off the Western-Arabic-Turkish atmosphere by flaring into an exotic jig as The Kid fights off waves of enemies before simmering down into the strummed musings of a weary traveller with no company but his guitar.
In the end, Bastion is a game that plays like your favourite children’s book where the protagonist is just a spirit-drinking, hammer-wielding kid trying to fix his broken world.
4/5
Bastion
