Bastion

This is a masterpiece of a game. The soundtrack is godlike, is worth the asking price alone, it is that good. Darren Korb did a fantastic job with it. The game itself is played form an isometric point of view, and is essentially an action game, with light RPG elements, sort of like a diablo 2 without the loot and gear. As you play the game, the narrator, will narrate your actions. This is the main strength of the game as he is perhaps the best narrator of all time. The story he tells is also a great one. It is also a very colorful game, where you get to explore many different environments and fight many different enemy types, in this post-apocalyptic fantasy setting. There is even a few boss battles, and a new game plus mode. One of the best indie games out there, my game of the year 2011, and a must have for any serious gamer.

Bastion is one of those rare gems that you might stumble on accidentally, even, but will stay in your mind long after you've finished it. The strength of Bastion lies first and foremost in its art direction. Stunning visuals mixed with a mind-bogglingly good soundtrack guarantee that you will be hooked right from the start. The Calamity might have sundered the world, but the parts that are still there are a true joy to behold. Like mentioned, the soundtrack is frankly amazing. Darren Korb has done a fantastic job of composing just the right kind of "accoustic frontier triphop" (his words) to captivate the player's mind, and convey a whole spectrum of emotions. I would not lie if I said this was one of the best - if not the best - game soundtracks I have heard in a long, long time. Then again I am a sucker for nostalgia (which in itself is one of the themes in the game), but the fact remains that the game has a very, very good soundscape. The story is mainly driven by a narrator - one of the best and most captivating ones I've encountered so far in a game. The story is also enriched by a subtlety which fits the game's somber atmosphere very nicely. It grows on you, slowly, instead of being hammered home with a mishmash of silver platters and heavy-handed anvils. Blink, and you might miss it. Or parts of it. Once you're done with your first playthrough, you probably want to jump right back in; the game offers two different endings and a New Game+ mode. The game plays like an RPG-lite/action title. The Kid is nimble enough in combat, and you can choose from a variety of upgradable weapons to find the style that fits you best - the Narrator even has different comments depending on what combination you're using. Various items offer another way of customizing your character. All in all, Bastion is a enjoyable and memorable experience - both as a game and as a narrative. It's not a 60-hour romp, but the time spent in the game definitely gives bang for your buck..

Pros: +Awesome visuals +Amazing music and sound +Interesting story with multiple endings +Lots of loot without being a grindy lootfest +Fun challenges in addition to story Cons: -Short -A bit too easy -Controls are usable but not good on keyboard The gameplay here is really good, kind of torchlight meets legend of zelda, but the whole game feels a lot better with a gamepad. I strongly recommend one. The gear system is extremely well done. How it works is throughout the levels you unlock weapons and spirits (the liquid kind, not the ghost kind), then you equip them in your based before each level. You can have a couple spirits equiped that act like perks or talents, like one may increase your crit by 5% while another grants you an extra life. Then you also get to pick two weapons so you can combine anything- a bow and a katana or maybe a polearm and revolvers or go all ranged or all melee- whatever you want! It's awesome without be all crazy you must min/max stats, cus there aren't stats on the weapons and it's more about how well you use them. Along the way there are also challenges to upgrade your weapons and from there you get to pick the upgrades as well. As an example you can choose whether your shotgun has more range or a wider spread, or whether your repeater crossbow has more shots or more damage. Lots of ways to customize your combat without getting bogged down. There's also a really cool arena type combat for grinding money, which you don't have to do, but it's a great place to try out weapon combos.

As said before Bastion is a beautiful game, with a great soundtrack. Its setting is interesting and I like how the backstory of both the world and its characters is subtly introduced. However the combat is uninteresting. Bastion's combat is made uninteresting by the lack of enemy variety, and how uninspired its different weapons are. Bastion's weapons are great in quantity but beyond weather they are melee or ranged they lack meaningful differences. The weapons are separated by how fast they attack and the aoe of the attack itself. This is not good enough for me, I would have rather had a single interesting weapon then multiple weapons that are boring. Thankfully Bastion is very short my Steam playtime is 8 hours and I did not rush,I played some reflections, basically an endless mode that revels character backstories as you play, as well as getting most collectibles, so the blandness of the combat may not set in. Overall if you want a sensory treat, with a nice story Bastion will suit that, but it does not provide for someone who is looking for an arpg with deep, interesting combat.