First I will say this thread contains spoilers. I want to talk about some aspects of the design of this game and story/narrative elements. It seems that these games are probably best played blind, due to the way they tend to have strengths that are surprises (and are relatively short anyway.)

So first of all, I played this and Transistor this weekend back to back. I found them both to be about equal length and found myself completing both in about hours or less despite what seems to be usually longer for both games (particularly Transistor which I think I might have completed faster than Bastion)

It's very clear to see how these games share some design aspects.

For one, the heavily style-over-substance of the games as well as the ability to pick abilities as you-like-it which lends itself well to the ARPG genre. The other aspect is the tone of these games (particularly the way it is dispersed and illustrated through the narrator) I find myself conflicted about this device because it feels very heavy-handed and 'forced' I eventually got used to the sardonic and half-drunk drawl of the narrator in Bastion but it took me a while and I never found myself loving it. Sure it's amusing but I never really liked that character and found him to be something of a trickster who i did not really trust. Think about it a little deeper and as you go about on this quest retrieving the cores and then stealing the shares to boost your bastion you are more or less under the guidance of this narrator as you take things from natural world and rival groups of survivors from the old world. This is lightly touched upon but never really driven home in the sense that your actions have real choices and consequences. I found myself feeling a little guilty every time I retrieved a share or core thinking that I was upsetting something, but it seems there were never any consequences of my actions. I found myself really enjoying the setting and the story and got into it, i wish it was a bit less abstract and more fleshed out (maybe longer)

The Indie Quest [02]

Now, I’ve only actually played 2 Supergiant games. Hades and Bastion, though Transistor and Pyre look hella fun. Yeah, I do prefer Hades, but that’s like comparing Alien to Aliens. You have to chop off a millimeter of hair to get at your point. I recently got this on the Switch, but decided to ultimately play it on the PC instead because that’s where it first came out, and boy I don’t regret buying this twice.

PROS:

• There’s such an interesting dynamic between the narrator and you. As soon as you realize, "hey, he’s talking about me!" you just start to fall in love with this game. Yeah, maybe its a bit of a trope today, I mean stuff like Stanley Parable hits it really well, the amount of interaction for an indie debut is amazing.

• Similarly, the soundtrack is just...oh my god it’s so good. I listened to this soundtrack out of context before I played the game and it offers just kind of a simple sit down and listen to the narrator thing. It’s probably one of my favorite soundtracks of all time, it really does immerse you in with, like, the sexiest voice on the Earth.

• The city just leaves so much for you to explore, and since you were never even familiar with the place, it gives more of a motivation to find what happened in the Calamity (Nintendo, I see you). You can tell that there’s been a sense of change by just visiting any of the places.

• Like Supergiant’s other game Hades, you really have to improvise and change up your gameplay, customizing your characters abilities and gear. Overall, the gameplay isn’t extremely complicated, but it comes down to your playstyle.

• I mean this is just an expected from Supergiant by this point, but god, the artstyle is so polished and clean, the dynamic range of the settings, the character designs, all of it is usually top notch.

CONS:

• I want more. This game’s length is fine, it’s actually really solid for an indie title, but once you realize there really isn’t anything else to do after the main story, there’s not really a reason to come back. That’s fine, but it’s just underwhelming. I mean after the story gets rolling too, there’s nothing as engaging after it.

• Ok. I have two pet peeves that bother me so much. I hate falling off ledges. That’s not a problem for a lot of people, but I use the shotgun a lot. And it gets really annoying. Also, why do I have to equip a new weapon until I find a new armory? Just let me switch it out! Sometimes, these really trigger me.

Bastion is amazing. Exploration, innovation, presentation, all of these create a game that you just keep on wanting to play. With that said, sometimes, there are some mechanics that REALLY make me want to not play this. BUT, I can’t help recommend this enough. It gets me really excited for Transistor and Pyre, the level of consistency of quality is amazing from the people at Supergiant, like, there is no better way to debut and start growing. So, that’s it for now. I’m glad that a lot of more people are playing this because of Hades. It deserves it.

Bastion is a game that looks great, sounds great, and doesn't particularly play great. And I say "looks great" with the exception of the characters and enemies. 3D on 2D maps looks pretty bad. It really sticks out. And I say "sounds great" with the exception of the cringeworthy final song.

Don't get me wrong, though, the game's combat was fun up until the 3-hour mark, at which point the enemies actually started to put up a fight and lock-on issues began to rear their ugly head. First off, cycling through 20 enemies with L1 and R1 is an exercise in frustration. Sometimes, L1 will cycle right, and sometimes, it'll cycle left. By the time you've gotten to your enemy of choice, you'll have taken quite a bit of damage.

That's not to say this is a hard game, though. The game throws health potions your way constantly, so the only way you'd really die is by not healing in time to save yourself, which does happen. There are also some issues with the roll in the game. Sometimes, you'll roll in the complete opposite direction of where you were aiming. I had this happen to me 3 times in a row, falling off the map each time. The maps are also inconsistent when it comes to what you can actually stand on, so be prepared to fall a lot.

Finally, combat can be mostly trivialized with an upgraded bow or carbine. Killing everything before being able to see it is fun for a while, but by the end of the game, the combat had gotten far too repetitive. Oh, and there's a story in there too, but it's very trite and forgettable, mainly consisting of "oh no, the bad guys got you again!" right when you're about to accomplish something meaningful.

All in all, this is a very flawed game with some initially fun combat and a gorgeous 2D art style. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't completed it in one sitting, so I'd recommend taking your time with it.

While everyone was praising Hades, I wasn’t sure if it was the type of game I would enjoy. Instead, I decided to build up to Hades, playing through the other games from Supergiant available on the Nintendo Switch. Naturally, I started with Supergiant’s first game, Bastion, which from everything I’ve seen about Hades, really feels like a good beginner’s guide for what Supergiant’s latest game will have in store for me.

For an indie game made by an extremely small team, I’m quite impressed by what Bastion pulls off. Bastion literally throws you into a world, and while the world itself is relatively linear, the way in which the player attacks this world is entirely up to them. Bastion offers so many ways a player can customize their game, with weapons, character upgrades, special moves, and even offering the ability to increase the difficulty in various ways as an opportunity to hasten the upgrading process.

Bastion wants the player to try the weapons and see what works for them, but never forces them to play with a certain weapon for too long. It’s entirely up to the player how they want to handle each of these worlds. I started with a bow and hammer, then relatively soon after, I was attacking everything with a flamethrower and a cannon. Bastion is a game that will allow you to blow away anything that gets in your path, but there’s also plenty of opportunity for tact and careful strategy

The gameplay is certainly the strength of Bastion for me, whereas the elements I usually play games for, like story and characters, completely fell flat for me. The omnipresent narration was fun to me at first, but soon was little more to me than a character describing a world and a story that just wasn’t connecting for me. I really like this narration when it feels like it’s describing actions specific to the way you’re playing the game, but droning on about the world never interested me.

Even though the gameplay is good enough for me to ignore a story that didn’t grab me, Bastion is building towards player decisions that rely on us to care about this world and its outcome, and I truly did not. When this final decision comes up, I wasn’t playing with my heart, I was choosing based on what would be the most fun choice going forward. I chose the option that would improve the gameplay, rather than what I narratively thought was the best choice. I still think I made the right choice, but I certainly didn’t pick it because I felt the story was leading me that way.

Which, I guess, is why I’m glad I played Bastion before jumping into Hades. By starting with Bastion, I can see the talent that Supergiant has as a team, yet I can see the many improvements I’d like to see going forward with their games. Bastion is ambitious and does a lot with very little, but I still wish it connected with me more on a narrative level.