Name: Eastward
Item: Eastward
Rating: 8
Author: Bigby's Gaming Hand

Intro: For Legend of Zelda fans, you'll be right at home when you play this game. Salt is just rupees. You also have a bomb, and you also get variations of the bomb, and you get a lot of neat tools to help you explore.   
  
  
**Gameplay:**  
As I mentioned, this game heavily reminds me of the Legend of Zelda games. For example, to progress, you need to acquire a tool in order to proceed to the next part. Then the next part will heavily utilize this new tool.  
  

*   _Camera:_ Very little camera controls because its a 2D Pixel art game. A way to control the camera is to move around your character or to start charging/aiming your weapon/ability since the camera moves to allow you to see more of where you're aiming.
    
*   _Movement:_ There are no movement techniques like dashing or jumping, but there is a walk and run animation. You'll be running most of the time tho. Game scenes are small enough that it doesn't feel like a chore to move thru scenes, but to make traveling easier, the game provides a way to get to places real fast, like train rides and fast travel.
    
*   _Combat:_ Combat possibly gets its inspiration from games like Legend of Zelda and Binding of Isaac. You have a normal and charged attack with your primary weapon, and a bomb, which is a LoZ staple item. As you progress, you acquire more weapons. Like LoZ, there is almost zero random encounters, which means enemies are predictably placed all over the map. Lastly, boss fights will always involve a trick, but they're intuitive, so just trust in your instincts and hope that you survive long enough to figure it out. 
    
*   _Economy:_ Salt is the currency. Currency can easily be collected by grinding them from mobs. Drops become better as you move to the later chapters. Finding treasure will possibly allow you to have enough money for everything that you need. But if you find yourself poor, you'll have to go out of your way to grind, or find more treasure. There's no passive income mechanic in this game. There is an ingredient inventory, separated from the combat inventory. Combat inventory can be upgraded to contain more items. It is also very easy to run out of items after fighting thru a "dungeon" or during a boss fight, so you'll constantly want to get your inventory filled.
    
*   _Physics Engine:_ There is a semblance of physics engine within the game because of the puzzles.
    
*   _Saves:_ There are 6 available saves slot. On your first playthrough, you only get to use one save slot. After finishing the game, you're allowed to consume other slots to get back to things you missed out on, via the Chapter Select.
    
*   _Minigames:_ Yes. There are MULTIPLE minigames embedded in the game. Earth Born is a major minigame within this game and it is referenced within the story itself, so make sure you play it a few times when you encounter it.
    
*   _Bugs:_ I never encountered any bugs so far.
    

  
  
**Music:**   
Music is made by Joel Corelitz, who also worked on Death Stranding and Halo Infinite.  
Iron Carbine, Tatari, Heretic Frypan and Final Boss are my favorites, but To My Knight is also such a heartwrenching moment.  

*   _Number of Tracks:_ There are 72 tracks for this game. 
    
*   _OST in Spotify:_ Yes. You can also purchase the soundtrack on Steam to show support.
    

  
  
**Story:**   
There are interesting characters in the game that proceeded to be a major driver of the story. However, it seems that their story, motivations, and what happened to them, parallel to the protagonists' timeline, were only shown in glimpses and could be fleshed out in the form of a DLC or a separate story.  
  

*   _Voice Acting:_ SFX grunts and hyahs. No voice acting for dialogue.
    
*   _Multiple Endings:_ No. Only one ending. Linear progression.
    
*   _Narration:_ It is told in the eyes of the protagonist(s). Small, obvious, and targeted exposition, which means the environment only shows the story when it wants to do so. Minimal lore is told wordlessly through the environment. While the protagonist is usually silent, he does speak and is able to have conversations with other people. It's just that none of the conversations is apparent to us.
    
*   _Pacing:_ A huge portion of your gameplay is spent in the same place from Chapter 3 to Chapter 6. Then afterwards, you'll zoom past everything. This is possibly because I did not have much attachment to the worlds they provided and I just wanted to get them people over with.
    
*   _Worldbuilding:_ A lot of suspension of disbelief is needed. Salt does not seem like a reliable currency. How do they get dough underground? Why is there only one railway line?
    

  
  
**Lifespan:**   
I would say that after your first playthrough, the magic is gone. Boss Fights will be easier since you understand how their tricks work.  

*   _Chapter Select/New Game+ :_ Yes, Chapter Select allows this. Food, ingredients, max health, and certain upgrades are kept intact. 
    
*   _DLCs_: This game was released on Sep 2021. There seems to be no news of a DLC.
    
*   _Duration:_ How long to beat lists this as 26.5 hours for the completionist duration. I took around 39 hours to beat this. Will possibly take more if you include Earth Born.
    

  
  
**Graphics:**  
The 2D artstyle is a welcome sight for those who wants to play these pixel art games. It's definitely gonna attract you with how beautiful it is. But there's a lack of it for the worldbuilding that you'll just have to imagine how it actually looks like. Also, the scene transitions between maps for cities might distort your idea of how big or small the place really is.  

*   _Graphic Settings:_ No Borderless Window support; Art is upscaled at 1080p, and an Oct 2021 update has introduced options for the upscaling method. Very minimal graphical settings due to 2D nature.
    
*   _Lighting:_ Dynamic Lighting exist, because some abilities produce light. Lighting is also used to provide different moods to locations, such as day/night cycles, imminent world-ending danger, and so on.
    
*   _2D/2.5D/3D_: 2D. 
    

  
  
**Achievements:**   
There are hard achievements for this game, particularly, the Minigame achievements. There's also the Treasure Hunter achievement that will consume a lot of time and effort.  

*   _Missable Achievements_: Yes. I suggest consulting a guide for Treasure Hunter to make sure you don't miss out on treasures. A 2nd playthrough of the game will definitely happen if you miss out on treasures. And there's no in-game guide telling you how many you've missed in a certain chapter.
    

  
  
**Accessibility:**   

*   _Varying Difficulty:_ None. 
    
*   _Controller Support_: Yes, with DS4/DS5 Support.
    
*   _Subtitles_: Yes, and these subtitles are different from the text in the speech bubbles.
    

  
  
**Multiplayer:**  
_No multiplayer support._  
  
  
Overall, I really like this game because the worldbuilding is fantastic and it leaves a lot of open areas to make it a new IP. Hopefully, that happens one day. The music really got me into loving it. The BGM during fights just gets my blood pumping and vibing at the same time.  
  
Story, overall, is good. There are things I wanted them to expand on, so I feel a desire to explore more of the world. However, this is a linear game, so not a lot of things are shown.   
  
There is an emphasis on trains, for some reason, but you never get to bond with the train. It's really just a vessel that takes you from one place to another.  
  
There is a negligent moment of putting "explore the world again once you get new tools" on the tooltips. But make sure you reexplore dungeons once you get new shiny tools. Either that or mark areas you've couldn't explore because there's a tool/ability that you don't have.  
  
So I do recommend playing this game.

Intro: For Legend of Zelda fans, you'll be right at home when you play this game. Salt is just rupees. You also have a bomb, and you also get variations of the bomb, and you get a lot of neat tools to help you explore.&nbsp; Gameplay: As I mentioned, this game heavily reminds me of the Legend of Zelda games. For example, to progress, you need to acquire a tool in order to proceed to the next part. Then the next part will heavily utilize this new tool. <ul><li>Camera: Very little camera controls because its a 2D Pixel art game. A way to control the camera is to move around your character or to start charging/aiming your weapon/ability since the camera moves to allow you to see more of where you're aiming.</li><li>Movement: There are no movement techniques like dashing or jumping, but there is a walk and run animation. You'll be running most of the time tho. Game scenes are small enough that it doesn't feel like a chore to move thru scenes, but to make traveling easier, the game provides a way to get to places real fast, like train rides and fast travel.</li><li>Combat: Combat possibly gets its inspiration from games like Legend of Zelda and Binding of Isaac. You have a normal and charged attack with your primary weapon, and a bomb, which is a LoZ staple item. As you progress, you acquire more weapons. Like LoZ, there is almost zero random encounters, which means enemies are predictably placed all over the map.&nbsp;Lastly, boss fights will always involve a trick, but they're intuitive, so just trust in your instincts and hope that you survive long enough to figure it out.&nbsp;</li><li>Economy: Salt is the currency. Currency can easily be collected by grinding them from mobs. Drops become better as you move to the later chapters. Finding treasure will possibly allow you to have enough money for everything that you need. But if you find yourself poor, you'll have to go out of your way to grind, or find more treasure. There's no passive income mechanic in this game. There is an ingredient inventory, separated from the combat inventory. Combat inventory can be upgraded to contain more items. It is also very easy to run out of items after fighting thru a "dungeon" or during a boss fight, so you'll constantly want to get your inventory filled.</li><li>Physics Engine: There is a semblance of physics engine within the game because of the puzzles.</li><li>Saves: There are 6 available saves slot. On your first playthrough, you only get to use one save slot. After finishing the game, you're allowed to consume other slots to get back to things you missed out on, via the Chapter Select.</li><li>Minigames: Yes. There are MULTIPLE minigames embedded in the game. Earth Born is a major minigame within this game and it is referenced within the story itself, so make sure you play it a few times when you encounter it.</li><li>Bugs: I never encountered any bugs so far.</li></ul> Music:&nbsp; Music is made by Joel Corelitz, who also worked on Death Stranding and Halo Infinite. Iron Carbine, Tatari, Heretic Frypan and Final Boss are my favorites, but To My Knight is also such a heartwrenching moment. <ul><li>Number of Tracks: There are 72 tracks for this game.&nbsp;</li><li>OST in Spotify: Yes. You can also purchase the soundtrack on Steam to show support.</li></ul> Story:&nbsp; There are interesting characters in the game that proceeded to be a major driver of the story. However, it seems that their story, motivations, and what happened to them, parallel to the protagonists' timeline, were only shown in glimpses and could be fleshed out in the form of a DLC or a separate story. <ul><li>Voice Acting: SFX grunts and hyahs. No voice acting for dialogue.</li><li>Multiple Endings: No. Only one ending. Linear progression.</li><li>Narration: It is told in the eyes of the protagonist(s). Small, obvious, and targeted exposition, which means the environment only shows the story when it wants to do so. Minimal lore is told wordlessly through the environment. While the protagonist is usually silent, he does speak and is able to have conversations with other people. It's just that none of the conversations is apparent to us.</li><li>Pacing: A huge portion of your gameplay is spent in the same place from Chapter 3 to Chapter 6. Then afterwards, you'll zoom past everything. This is possibly because I did not have much attachment to the worlds they provided and I just wanted to get them people over with.</li><li>Worldbuilding: A lot of suspension of disbelief is needed. Salt does not seem like a reliable currency. How do they get dough underground? Why is there only one railway line?</li></ul> Lifespan:&nbsp; I would say that after your first playthrough, the magic is gone. Boss Fights will be easier since you understand how their tricks work. <ul><li>Chapter Select/New Game+ : Yes, Chapter Select allows this. Food, ingredients, max health, and certain upgrades are kept intact.&nbsp;</li><li>DLCs: This game was released on Sep 2021. There seems to be no news of a DLC.</li><li>Duration: How long to beat lists this as 26.5 hours for the completionist duration. I took around 39 hours to beat this. Will possibly take more if you include Earth Born.</li></ul> Graphics: The 2D artstyle is a welcome sight for those who wants to play these pixel art games. It's definitely gonna attract you with how beautiful it is. But there's a lack of it for the worldbuilding that you'll just have to imagine how it actually looks like. Also, the scene transitions between maps for cities might distort your idea of how big or small the place really is. <ul><li>Graphic Settings: No Borderless Window support; Art is upscaled at 1080p, and an Oct 2021 update has introduced options for the upscaling method. Very minimal graphical settings due to 2D nature.</li><li>Lighting: Dynamic Lighting exist, because some abilities produce light. Lighting is also used to provide different moods to locations, such as day/night cycles, imminent world-ending danger, and so on.</li><li>2D/2.5D/3D: 2D.&nbsp;</li></ul> Achievements:&nbsp; There are hard achievements for this game, particularly, the Minigame achievements. There's also the Treasure Hunter achievement that will consume a lot of time and effort. <ul><li>Missable Achievements: Yes. I suggest consulting a guide for Treasure Hunter to make sure you don't miss out on treasures. A 2nd playthrough of the game will definitely happen if you miss out on treasures. And there's no in-game guide telling you how many you've missed in a certain chapter.</li></ul> Accessibility:&nbsp; <ul><li>Varying Difficulty: None.&nbsp;</li><li>Controller Support: Yes, with DS4/DS5 Support.</li><li>Subtitles: Yes, and these subtitles are different from the text in the speech bubbles.</li></ul> Multiplayer: No multiplayer support. Overall, I really like this game because the worldbuilding is fantastic and it leaves a lot of open areas to make it a new IP. Hopefully, that happens one day. The music really got me into loving it. The BGM during fights just gets my blood pumping and vibing at the same time. Story, overall, is good. There are things I wanted them to expand on, so I feel a desire to explore more of the world. However, this is a linear game, so not a lot of things are shown.&nbsp; There is an emphasis on trains, for some reason, but you never get to bond with the train. It's really just a vessel that takes you from one place to another. There is a negligent moment of putting "explore the world again once you get new tools" on the tooltips. But make sure you reexplore dungeons once you get new shiny tools. Either that or mark areas you've couldn't explore because there's a tool/ability that you don't have. So I do recommend playing this game.

Eastward

Eastward

Player Score

Bigby's Gaming Hand