Eastward [Game Review]

TL;DR

Certified Indie Gold, and even with its limitations, Eastward evokes retro vibes and gives a thought-provoking story and escape to another world.
This game is a short-play (~20-30 hours) so for those of you that want a long story driven game with lots of content, this is not for you.
I think that I really enjoyed the mini-game Earth Born in this title just as much as Eastward, so in a way I’m reviewing two games here. (I really want Earth Born on my phone or something for when I’m waiting someplace!!)

[Played on a Nintendo Switch Lite]

Eastward was an indie title promoted by Nintendo, and a lot of us playing the Switch in prison were really intrigued by the indie scene we never really got to see flourish out there. Of course, Eastward was a title floating around the prison, and I am so happy I got to play it. A lot of guys that don’t generally go for story-driven titles were really impressed by Eastward’s retro vibes and creative life.

I enjoyed the platformer/Zelda-esque puzzles as well as the clean combat that makes you work for it, but yet there is a fun and intuitive side to things. Switching between the two protagonists at times also reminds me of other titles as well. The awesome thing about Eastward is that before the game really truly starts, you get access to Earth Born, a mini-game accessible in each town through a game console outside a store (usually) that houses a gachapon for collectables/items that can be used in the mini-game. This game is a classic JRPG with some roguelite qualities to it (mainly in the deathloop aspect rather than procedural-generation/random-generation). This game was super fun, and I think I poured in over 20 hours on it so that my Eastward playthrough is a lot longer (45 hours to be exact) than the average player. Earth Born ties into a lot of the story as well, but it really is just begging for you to go back and play it.

Now on to Eastward: it is basically an escape/adventure game, but there is a lot of different paces throughout. This title is not cinematic-led, but rather like classic games it is led by event-editor scenes. Even so, it is really easy to be drawn in and with new technology, there is a recreating “16-bit” new-school retro titles really gives it an edge. I would say the only real gripe I have about this title is that I wish there was more, or at least some new modes to unlock at the end. I think Eastward is a great title for anyone to play, and in a world where games are over 100 hours of play, this humble game lets you just chill and feel like you are a world where gaming can be gaming and not just a vicious, endless escapism.