Often Sam ropes John into taking care of some daily chores for the town they’re staying in, or helping a new friend with a problem that’s been hounding them. Eastward tells a great deal of story through cozy, slice-of-life segments. And as Sam and John travel ever-eastward, they start to unravel some of the mysteries behind what’s happened to the planet, while befriending the people they meet along the way.Įastward sets these mysteries in motion, but they often sit in the background of whatever daily excitement is at hand. It’s a dark fog that plagues the world, threatening to swallow up everyone and everything. It’s both not terrible in the ways they’ve been told, but holds new terrors they’ve yet to fully comprehend: the Miasma. Sam dreams of the world outside, causing rifts among the community and eventually leading to the pair leaving the town and venturing out into the real world. But even when it falls short, developer Pixpil has made it clear they’re a studio to watch for in the coming years.Įastward ( PC, Nintendo Switch )Įastward starts in the underground town of Potcrock Isle, where veteran miner John watches over Sam, a mysterious girl he found in the caverns below. It does some aspects so well, and misses the mark in others. Its combat can feel a bit uneven, and at least on the Nintendo Switch, it had a good few technical issues, ranging from slowdown during hectic scenes to crashes.Įastward is really difficult to nail down with a score. It’s also a narrative that has trouble maintaining an even pace, with a few characters and threads that feel left by the wayside by the story’s end. Eastward is a game where even routine animations have a clear degree of craft put into them, and high moments dot the story, always ready to whisk you to a new side activity or little slice of life. It’s very clearly paying homage to a host of video games past, with its EarthBound and The Legend of Zelda nostalgia worn most prominently on its sleeve. Luckily there is an option to replace speech bubbles with just plain subtitles.Leavin’ on that midnight train for Eastwardįrom its outset, Eastward is soaked in style. This creates confusing moments every now and then. The camera follows the action from an upward angle, and then zooms too much to who ever is talking at the moment. Game mechanics are not explained that well, and the story itself would benefit from moments of a slower pace.įor example, some of the dialogue scenes would have needed a more relaxing presentation. The story can be thorough at times, but still the plot progresses at a pretty fast pace. This means that the personalities of the main characters are not made clear until much later in the game. The story starts a little slow, but the action starts right away.

Story has many unexpected and surprising points, and they are usually commented by different NPC characters. That is not a problem, because you are more than happy to follow the text-based dialogue. This is a good thing, because Eastward doesn't have any real voice acting. The soundtrack composed by Joel Corelitz reminds me of 1980's, and those tunes refuse to leave your mind even when not playing the game. Old and valuable buildings have a dose of personalised graffiti and old neon signs. In the cities and dungeons more traditional pixelated graphics have an extra filter, and this self-aware retro style reminds me of Narita Boy.

As I said, the graphics of Eastward are something to look at in all its glory and weirdness.

Sam eastward