Bastion

Bastion's developers knew what they were doing and that's probably the reason why this game holds the player's interest till it lasts. It has a unique style, some neat ideas and also a very good pace and presentation. 

Story of the game is about a world destroyed by an event called calamity and a hero called " The Kid " who tries to restore it by creating a safe haven ( Bastion ) with the help of the game's narrator " Rucks " . Story of Bastion doesn't make you wonder what happens next, but it serves its purpose as creating an excuse for the events that happen in the game. 

Bastion has nice graphics and some backgrounds and sceneries look nice, but modelling of the characters and enemies is somehow unappealing or I even dare to say, ugly. Also some animations like walking of the main character is inappropriate and could be done better. But overall, in terms of visuals, Bastion is an acceptable arcade game. 

Bastion's soundtracks could be done a lot better. They are not memorable and they don't make you want to listen to them more than you already do during the game which is kinda disappointing. Because this game could really use some high quality soundtracks. Of course the current ones are not bad in any way, just not anything particular. 

But perhaps the weakness of the soundtracks are covered with the game's great voice acting. There is only one character that talks in the game ( except for another one which speaks shortly near the end. ) and that is the narrator. Simply put, his voice acting is great. One of the game's unique ideas related to this matter is dynamic narrating. At some points, narration is based on what actions you do. For example, at the start of the game, when you get your hands on your first weapon, the hammer, if you destroy some objects around it, narrator says something like: " and the kid rages around for a while. " Although it only happens at certain points and there isn't much variety in it, but still it gives a nice feeling to the game. 

Fortunately, the part which Bastion truly shines in it is game-play. The controls are great and you can run around, block, evade and aim pretty fast and efficient. There are 11 weapons ( ranged and melee ) in the game and all of them can be upgraded 5 times. Although there are some weapons that are absolutely stronger than the other ones, but there is a fairly good balance between them and all of the weapons come to use at some point. 

This game is basically a role playing game, but it somehow works different than the other RPGs. ( While keeping a good amount of depth. ) The difference is that your power is highly dependent on what kind of weapon you use and how upgraded it is and leveling up isn't very useful ( and also it happens in long periods. At the end of the game, I was only level 7. ) By leveling up, you get +2 max health and a new slot for putting a spirit ( some items that give you special bonuses ) in it. But there are 3 or 4 spirits that truly make a difference in the game and although other ones add some minor bonuses, but lack of them doesn't have much impact. 

Bastion is basically a very easy game and there is no difficulty level to choose at the start, but this is the source of the games's another neat idea called customizable difficulty. After a while, you get a building called shrine. In shrine, you can enable and disable idols. There are 10 idols ( they becomes available as you progress. ) and enabling each one makes the enemies harder to defeat in a certain way. But the thing that I really liked about this system is that unlike other games, Bastion rewards you with more XP and fragments ( currency in Bastion ) if you increase the difficulty. Sometimes, the game becomes quite challenging with more than 7 idols enabled. ( although not anything that you can't pass ) I think this kind of system should be used by many other games. 

Bastion is a very well made game and I see a bright future for supergiant games if they keep the quality and level of care in their future works in the same degree as Bastion. If you are looking for a title to be blown away with it, it might not be the best choice, but if you are looking for some fun and a game to spend some time with it without feeling it was wasted, Bastion is currently a great choice.