Here Are The Games And Gaming Devices That Helped Us Escape Our Hellish Reality This Year
I’ve been in kind of a gaming slump the last few years. I was tired of doing menial tasks in Animal Crossing: New Horizons or getting angry at players I presumed were teenagers in a Fall Guys lobby. I wanted something with a story to suck me in and give me that sense of wonder I used to have playing games as a kid. Then Eastward entered the chat and completely took me by surprise. The Nintendo Switch game follows John and Sam — a quiet miner and his excitable, mysterious companion — as they fight a destructive “miasma” that has forced many to live underground and travel east to find a better future.
The game (which is also available on Steam) is impressive in terms of aesthetics, story, and combat mechanics. Eastward is influenced by ’90s Japanese animation and role-playing games — evident in its charming character designs and gorgeous backdrops — and combines a retro 16-bit pixel style with more modern-looking dynamic lighting. The fighting mechanics are seamless and the puzzles are quite smart — it reminds me of the best parts of a classic Legend of Zelda title.
Eastward is also largescale for an indie game, taking about 30 hours to complete. That’s even more impressive when you learn that it was created by Pixpil, a very small team that started development with only three people, according to their dev log.
Eastward is a hard game to describe without spoiling it, but it’s well worth it for its lush visuals, charming relationships between characters, and poignant, deeply relevant story. Also, there’s a cooking element to the game — you can make different recipes to gain health — that is wholesome fun. —Cody Corrall, Audience Engagement Editor
You can buy Eastward from Amazon for around $25.
I’ve been in kind of a gaming slump the last few years. I was tired of doing menial tasks in Animal Crossing: New Horizons or getting angry at players I presumed were teenagers in a Fall Guys lobby. I wanted something with a story to suck me in and give…
