Bastion reminds me of Legend of Zelda if it were made for the PC. It is an action-based RPG with deceivingly simple mechanics. It also deserves the good reputation it’s gotten and is a treasure among the indie games I’ve sampled so far.

I wasn’t expecting to finish Bastion before writing this one-week review, but I was encouraged to play its bite-sized pieces as less-than-30-minute breaks between whatever I was doing. I did end up doing a marathon session simply because I was curious to know what happened next and I had the time anyway. Writing a one-week review on Bastion is a daunting task because I’m not sure where to start.

The colorful, cartoony graphics give a little levity to an otherwise serious story. The “Calamity” is something you hear about often and see the effects of, but you’re not sure what exactly the Calamity is. By playing through the story, you start to get a better picture of what occurred. The larger story is reminiscent of the Holocaust, one dominant race (Caelondians) seeking to wipe out a “lesser” race (Uras). There are little details, such as one individual of the lesser race unwittingly helping to bring this fate on his countrymen. The story is heavy and almost seems at odds with the graphics.

The way in which the story is revealed, not just through gameplay, but also through a narrator (who later presents himself as the character, Rucks). I felt if games ever were to seriously pursue a storytelling aspect beyond scrolling text, this is a step towards making that story come to life as you, the player, “control” the story and its pacing. The accent, sort of cowboy/Western, coupled with the tone and matter-of-fact play-by-play (almost) commentary is what glues together the heavy story with the cartoony, colorful graphics. The lines are short and to the point. It is not too distracting, yet you’re not confused on what’s going on if you’re listening along as you play. This may be an issue with some players and I definitely tuned out his voice during some heavy combat once and missed a line of the story. Some of my favorite lines, although there were many others I don’t recall verbatim:

• “..and he falls to his death. (pause) Nah, I’m just kidding with you.” (the first time you fall)
• “Now where was I?” (when you die)
• “That cannon should take care of anything that blade can’t.” (when you have the sword and cannon equipped)

There are over 3000 lines in this game (see the link at the end of this post). Rucks will comment on each possible weapon combination (there are 12). There are also the little spots of dry humor, like when you fall or die. These are all in addition to the story narration itself. The balance between severity and levity was achieved quite well, not to mention the superb voice acting. I didn’t care much for Zia’s voice when you finally get to hear it. Zia is one of the Uras you rescue early on. It’s an odd jolt to hear her talking at the end of the game after Rucks pretty much speaks for all of the characters, including the Kid, who you play. I could have done without hearing Zia’s voice entirely. It sounds more boyish than womanish, whether because of the original source voice or after the computer edits.

So far, I’ve mentioned a bit about story, the narration audio, and graphics. Now that I have provided sufficient background, I feel I can talk a little more openly about the gameplay and why it reminds me of the Legend of Zelda (LoZ). The first LoZ game I played (over and over again as a kid) was Link’s Awakening for the first Gameboy system. I distinctly remember holding down the B button (shield) while hammering the A button (sword). In Bastion, you’re allowed two weapons at a time, assigned to left and right mouse buttons. The controls are typical WASD, which is pretty much the staple for keyboard-based movement nowadays. The shift button is always your shield, so you never adventure without your trusty piece of metal and more importantly, never have to choose between bringing a shield along and something else. You are also given a Secret Skill, assigned to Q, which uses up black potions, meaning, they are special-use and generally for emergency situations.

My favorite combination to use was the machete and scrap musket, with the landmine secret skill. Over time, I did swap the scrap musket for the flamethrower, then mortar, then the cannon as these became more relevant in their respective levels. Each weapon also has a Proving Ground stage where you can test or practice your handling of the individual weapons in a personalized obstacle course depending on the weapon. The shield even had its own as timing is crucial in properly countering a blow. However, I had a lot of problems getting the timing down. Often, I was too late, or I was right on the edge that it counted as both a counter and I got hit regardless.

The game world is divided into bite-sized stages. While there are Proving Grounds that serve almost as a minigame, there are story stages as well. I never actually timed myself going through these stages, but I don’t think I went past 30 minutes. Or if I did, it was not very often. There are also background stories of the Kid and Zia, which are more arcade-like with a limited number of waves of enemies rushing you and you have to survive in order to get the full story. The stages, whether proving ground or story, take place high up in the air using an isometric view. Platforms and objects literally rise up to guide, hinder, or simply block your path. Enemies, if they are not already on screen, can sometimes appear in a puff of smoke or rise as well. Spatial awareness becomes crucial as it is possible to fall off the stage’s platform and while you are dropped back on top of it, you take some damage. On the other hand, if you manage to fall on top of enemies, then they will get crushed and it’s all to your advantage.

The isometric view caused me some issues in terms of moving because I almost always was pressing two buttons at once to move diagonally according to the path. The safe zones don’t quite follow the tiles and can sometimes extend, frustratingly, beyond the graphics making either you or an enemy standing in space. For ranged weapons, aiming was a lot harder. The loading screen hints eventually get around to telling you can you use Shift (yup, same key as the Shield) to help aim. Even then, the aiming system is a little difficult because it will lock on a target that’s off screen. These were mildly frustrating issues for me, but didn’t get to the point that I was slamming my fist on the table (like I was doing during Guild Wars 2‘s Halloween clocktower jumping puzzle).

Earlier, I mentioned the player has “control” of the story in quotes. The illusion of choice in game stories will continue to be just that, illusions. The platforms are guided rails and shepherds the player along its intended path. The player has a choice of weapons, secret skills, spirits (drinks which serve as a form of passive buffs), and deities (idols which serve as passive debuffs or enemy buffs to challenge more experienced players), but he doesn’t really have a choice in terms of the story. Towards the end, he is allowed to make two crucial decisions, but up until that point, he’s being ushered along the path decided for him by the designers. For a small game, this is the most economical choice. I never had a problem being ushered along a game story and I find constantly making story decisions to become tedious (especially when the ending is the same, like Guild Wars 2).

The point of even including those two story choices towards the end of the game makes me realize how the choices you make reflect on how affected you were by the game’s story/narration. Without giving away spoilers, you can choose to save a character or leave him, then you have to choose if you want to “return” to Caelondia or move on. How much did you like the character? Is he worth saving? How curious are you about Caelondia? Do you care for it, after what it has done to the Uras? These are reflective questions to ponder after you’ve made your choices.

One topic I normally touch on but haven’t yet is the music. I’m kind of neutral on the music. Zia’s haunting song, rock soundtracks, more classical soundtracks. There are a lot of different music and while I was not completely jarred out of my flow of playing by the background music, I was not quite enjoying the music at the same time. It does a very good job at being unnoticeable, perhaps because the narrator is talking before I start picking up the music. In some stages, though, I was wondering why there was a rock-like music track with electric guitar in the background when it was a lush scenery and fairly void of mobs. It seemed to add a tension that wasn’t there.

I feel I have barely scratched the surface of the game. I feel I do a bad job at summarizing the game for those who are curious and want to try it out, but perhaps those who have already dabbled in it can better understand this review. I have had the game for a few months now, even though it was released last year. I highly suggest playing it. The short stages make for a good way to pass small chunks of time and have fun while you’re at it. There are loads of destroyable objects in the stage so if you feel the need to take out some anger on a virtual, inanimate object, here is the perfect virtual world to do just that.

Further reading, an interesting list of tidbits regarding the game.