On one hand, the events of Eastward transpire in a world where a Matrix-esque human farm is located beneath a train station with a beached and breathing whale on top of it. That subversion is worth expanding on, too. Without this thematic base, its warmth would feel out of place, its jokes would never land, and it would, inevitably, feel just like all those other stories it manages to not just avoid, but brilliantly subvert. This is one of the main things that separates it from other stories set in a post-disaster world: its heart lies in family and friendship and forging through adversity as a unit. While most of the game revolves around a balancing act of solving puzzles and defeating these wild and wacky creatures, there is never a dull moment due to just how varied everything is - and just how much of a team John and Sam truly are. There are sorcerer cows, hydra-headed Venus flytraps, and golden slugs who electrocute themselves every five seconds. You work together by having John thwack spike-backed turtles and sentient fungi with his trusty frying pan while Sam dematerialises overgrown onions and uses non-sentient fungi to illuminate the darkness. Sam, John’s adopted daughter, is powerless beyond temporarily immobilising enemies, while John’s puzzle-solving ethos rarely extends beyond blowing shit up. Combat functions like a twin-stick shooter, while the path forward is often split into two independent streams. However, you can’t just pick who you prefer and waltz through the game without a care for the other person - Eastward, despite being a single-player game, is heavily invested in the idea of cooperation.įor example, moment-to-moment play largely involves traversing dungeons separated into individual levels. While John wallops mammoth monsters with a wicked frying pan and lambasts them with the hell-scorched flames of a jerry-rigged flamethrower, Sam’s kit is more magical in nature.
The game’s core loop revolves around integrating the playstyles of these two characters - they have different approaches to puzzles and their own distinct combat builds. Through it all, however, Eastward remains committed to carving out its own distinct identity, and, for the most part, it succeeds spectacularly.Įastward puts you in two different pairs of shoes - the ripped and rugged boots of John the miner and the ethereal slippers of his surrogate daughter, Sam. And yes, there will be occasions during which you will feel as if this is something you have seen before. Yes, it will, often and almost brazenly, be comparable to its vast wealth of influences - it even has a minigame called Earth Born with an internal combat system that is remarkably similar to another relatively popular ‘Earth’ game, with all the necessary ‘mother’ lingo that comes with it. It is not the first video game to explore what happens when demagogues replace institutions in the wake of cataclysm, converting history into historiography as survivors become philistines not just by necessity, but by design.Īnd yet Eastward is stunningly original to the point of near overambition. It is not the first video game to juxtapose vibrant colour and vital noise with a thematic core that is much darker. Eastward is not the first video game to pit parent and child against the encroaching apocalypse.
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