Bastion Previews

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Written by Brother None on September 6th, 2010

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But once Bastion draws us in with its pretty looks, it then builds on our intrigue by showing its roots as a deep action role-playing game. Rather than just a mindless hack 'n slash -- wherein you mindlessly hit enemies who are also hitting you and just hope you outlive them -- Bastion has a complex combat system. Players are quickly given the ability to roll, block, and use both melee and ranged attacks. It's all pretty standard stuff for an RPG, sure, but the way the game combines these elements makes the combat feel much more engaging, drawing you in the way a God of War or Ninja Gaiden might. As I watch one player hack away, Kasavin assures me that skilled players can get through most any conflict completely unscathed if they have enough finesse. And it's true: during my time with the game I found it easy to get a lot out of the combat -- dodging enemies as I quickly shot them with arrows and then rolled into others to quickly strike them with my hammer.

The combat's fun, and the game looks great, but the world that has to draw in gamers if they're going to play it for more than just a demo. My experience with the game says it will, as Bastion's setting and great narrative -- actually told by a constant narrator, who even comments on your actions sometimes -- allows the team to do a lot of clever things that make it exciting to explore. You see, the whole world of Bastion has just been hit by an apocalypse of sorts, and your character awakens to find that the bastion where his people were supposed to go in times of crisis is in shambles. Along the way, he finds out that the world is building around him as he explores (the ground quite often appearing right under your feet as you run along), and that he must help a strange man build up his people's bastion by collecting key items from the environment.

The way the narration reacts to what you do, as you do it is the first big stand-out thing about Bastion. The way it keeps up with you as you're finding new things almost feels like magic... or play-by-play commentary from a sports game applied to a game where you're swinging a giant hammer at guys made out of gas. These early portions in the video feel pretty chatty, but since you're being introduced to a bunch of new things right at the start, it seems to make sense. Also, the narrator is a great introduction to the tone of Bastion. He's not talking about ghosts and slimes. He's talking about "gas fellas" and "scumbags." You aren't just picking up "rock" or "gem" upgrades. You're finding "somethin' heavy" and "somethin' shiny." Bastion strikes that very deliberate tone right out of the gate, and it leaves you wanting more of that style at the end of the demo. The narrator is why we've decided to run some raw gameplay footage--talking over the whole thing in a Quick Look would sort of defeat the purpose.

The Kid, Bastion's lead character, has more mobility than you might expect from an action-RPG. By default, he's got a roll move that you can use to either escape incoming attacks or roll into objects to bust them up. And once you're armed--you'll quickly find a hammer, a repeater, a bow, and a large shield in the version being shown at PAX--you can cancel out of those rolls directly into an attack. Standing still lets you execute stronger attacks than you can if you're on the move, and well-timed presses of the shield button let you bat projectiles back where they came from, which is a handy way to take down turrets. While you'll start with those few weapons--or, at least you will at the moment, since we're talking about a game that's probably around a year off--the guys at Supergiant told us that you'll encounter a lot of different weapons, many of which make the game's time period hard to nail down. There's nothing especially modern about a hammer or a bow and arrow... but how the heck did a carbine get into this world? You'll be able to swap your weapons out for others at designated areas, and different weapons enable different special attacks. You can also equip different evasive maneuvers, such as one that replaces your roll with a rolling leap.

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