This is an indie game from the early 2010s that I’ve been meaning to play ever since it came out.

Let’s just get this out of the way: the narrator is a pleasure to listen to. He sounds grizzled, yet sexy and seductive at the same time…ooh yeah.

The soundtrack is outstanding, I think it’s great to listen to even if you haven’t played the game before:

The art style is gorgeous, yet the isometric levels themselves are pretty forgettable. Everything just looks so similar that it’s hard to distinguish one level from another. The small number of enemy designs with a few palette swaps don’t help either.

The fact that you can fall off the platforms was a little annoying for me. It kind of feels unnecessary since this isn’t a platformer.

What’s REALLY annoying is that you can’t change your weapons and special skill on the fly. You have to do the customising at the hub (i.e. The Bastion), then hope that what you’ve chosen are suitable for the level you’re about to tackle. More flexibility would have made the game more enjoyable, especially since there is a lot of variety of melee and ranged weapons, and some of them are an absolute blast (pun intended) to use. As it is, the gameplay is probably my least favourite part of the game, which consisted mostly of dodge -> attack -> dodge -> attack and repeat, although sometimes you’ll need to block with your shield as well.

There are a few on-rails levels that were quite fun to play (trying to think of positives here). The weapon challenges were somewhat enjoyable too, if you’re not trying to get the highest prize. I didn’t spend too much time on the levels with waves of enemies, but those are also good areas to hone your combat skills.

The best thing about Bastion, in my opinion, is the story. A great disaster called the Calamity occurred which wiped out most of the land, and you’ll be trying to put everything back together over the course of the game. Bastion takes only around 6-7 hours to beat, yet the lore of the world is very impressive. As you play through the game, you will learn more about why everything came to be.

You can get two main endings in this game, with some minor variations depending on the options you selected at the end. I feel like the ending I got was the better of the two, one where it looks towards the future, rather than looking back at the past. That to me is a great message/advice to convey to people.