Bastion

I have to admit, while I was excited for Bastion, I expected to be a little disappointed. I expected that the combat might grow dull and repetitive, the RPG elements wouldn't be terribly deep, the story might not be up to snuff, and the narrator would lose his charm rather quickly. To my surprise Bastion didn't seem to lack in any of those regards, or really any regard at all. You are "The Kid" and kicking the game off you wake up in a mysterious world where paths form beneath your feet and your every move is narrated.

There is an almost indescribable sense of wonder that carries throughout the entire experience. The pieces of Bastion fit together like one giant puzzle. Nothing feels out of place, and thinking about the individual aspects of it deeper only leads to wondering how the folks at Super Giant Games made it that way. The first thing to notice is the beautiful art and visual design. The world forming around you never ceases to amaze. The watercolor aesthetic is stunning and the variety of locales, some coupled with ambient effects, keep it from ever losing its appeal.

The next thing you would probably notice would be the narrator, a dynamic one at that. He's also the main source of the storytelling, so not only does he speak of what you are doing, but also clues you in on various things about the world as he sees fit. What's most amazing about his implementation is unless you find yourself replaying an area, he'll never say the same line of dialogue twice, and that does wonders in helping him feel fresh throughout the entire experience. It also doesn't hurt that voice actor Logan Cunningham gives him an undeniable charm, nor does it hurt that the words he speaks have a poetic quality to them.

In addition to the solemn voice of the narrator the rest of the sound design is excellent. The sound effects are appropriate in more ways than one. They're appropriate to the action of what's happening on screen, and they appropriately take a backseat to the narrator and absolutely enchanting music. At multiple points I found myself recalling the entering of Mexico in Red Dead Redemption, and let it be known that that was the defining moment in Red Dead Redemption for me. In Bastion it is hard to pick a defining moment, because everything blends together making for one tight package.

As standout as the visuals and sound are, the gameplay doesn't suffer for it. The RPG and combat systems are deeper than I thought possible from a downloadable game. The RPG elements are reminiscent of Bioshock of all games. When you level up you are granted a tonic slot, in which you can place a number of abilities, but you can always swap out abilities for different ones should you decide you not like it. There are the weapon upgrades which operate similarly. There are two sides to each upgrade and when you upgrade you have access to both sides, but only one at a time. And like Halo you are allowed to carry two weapons at any given time along with a secret attack. There are several weapons in the game and none play quite the same, ensuring there is something for everybody. If you want to move out with a repeater and a bow, you can. Perhaps you want a hammer and sword? You can do that too. Any combination of weapons, tonics, secret attacks and upgrades can be used, encouraging experimentation without punishing you for it.

There is also a shop in which you can buy various upgrade materials, secret attacks, tonics, and spirits with the game's currency, fragments. Then there is a notice board of sorts with various contracts requiring specific feats that can be redeemed for fragments. The spirits I just mentioned tie into the games sort of create your own difficulty system. Each of the spirits makes enemies more powerful in different ways, and it compensates the player by awarding XP bonuses. You can invoke the Gods if you want but don't have to, and you can always turn them off. It is a risk-reward system, which is a neat feature to have in its own right, but on a more basic level it allows you to craft a challenge suitable to your own strengths and weaknesses. The challenge of the game regardless of spirits always feels like it reaches a good balance between being a walkover and ruthless. It's probably a little on the easy side, and that is exactly what the spirits are for.

The combat itself manages to feel fresh throughout the entire experience, because of the emphasis on experimentation. There are melee weapons, projectile weapons, and explosive weapons, and multiple kinds of each. None of them play the same either, making for an easy way to keep the action fresh. Even if you largely use one weapon the rather large pool of enemy types would be enough to keep the action interesting. There are secret skills too, many of which are based on certain weapons. They're the similar to potions from the old arcade game Gauntlet, albeit not as powerful. They are basically power attacks that consume a black potion. For the most part the combat of Bastion plays like your standard dungeon crawlers like Champions of Norrath or Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. It all feels very fluid and natural, whether its rolling around, dodging attacks, blocking with the shield, using secret skills, striking foes down with your hammer of justice. It is one of the most well designed combat systems I've seen in an RPG.

Underneath all of the exquisite visuals, beautiful music, fluid combat, and deep role-playing there is a story. If you read a summary of the plot it might not seem like anything special, but it is. Because of the way it is told and how well it is paced, it feels very grand. The mystery and wonder of it all means it is not something for me to spoil, so I'm trying to be as vague as possible. I will say that it strikes a remarkable balance between clarity and flexibility. Meaning, it has a clear end, but there is plenty to the game that is open to interpretation. There are two endings to the game, and the final moral choice at the end is beautifully gray. I know I said that it'd be hard to choose a defining moment for Bastion, but there is another choice that can be made before the end, and should you choose a certain way, the events that proceed would be that defining moment. I fear any more detail would spoil it.

It's crazy to think of Bastion as an indie game with all it has going for it. It's hard to explain, but it's a majestic sort of game. It isn't even that everything is good on its own, but how it all mixes into one complete package with little that feels out of place. It more than ranks among the best downloadable titles of the year, it ranks among the best games of the year, period.