First Impression: Playing Eastward
An indie retro pixel art style action-adventure RPG
Image Credit: Screenshots in this post were captured from Eastward 風來之國 on Nintendo Switch. An indie game developed by Pixpil / published by Chucklefish.
I gotta tell you I love indie games and pixel art. When I first learn about the game Eastward 風來之國, I fall in love with the art style and music instantly. Today, I’m going to talk about my first impression of playing the game.
The game was released last year but it’s only available digitally. After some research, it seems like the physical version maybe available later. I searched for local stores to see if I can get one but to no avail. While I had almost given up all my hopes and probably forgotten about the game, I accidentally discovered the game on a second-hand market app. This is an instant buy for me. Alas, I can finally get my hands on the physical copy of Eastward. I’m playing the game on Switch.
It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The pixel art style and the music works together splendidly. Look at that! An indie retro pixel art style action-adventure RPG. What else do you need?
I’m three hours into the game and I reached Chapter 2. It’s an retro RPG just like games from SNES era. You can explore the town, talk to NPCs and go to underground dungeons. Players can find resources/hidden treasures in towns/dungeons to upgrade John’s backpack or tooling, buying/farming for ingredients, or trying different recipes for cooking. You can even play an RPG Earth Bond in town, a game within a game!
The combat is action-based with RPG elements. The gameplay is mostly solving puzzles: opening doors, avoiding traps, and fighting monsters with a frying pan. This is a single-player co-op game where you can switch control between John and Sam. The mechanic is for player to make use of their ability and resources wisely. It’ll require some trial and errors along the way. Also, the bombing mechanism reminds me of Bomberman.
Overall, I like the game. Very well done on the visuals and art direction. It’s a perfect match for the Switch platform. I can tell you this is not a game trying to sell you “retro nostalgia vibe” kind of game. It’s unique on its own. I will definitely recommend the game to anyone who like retro RPGs.
This is #Day28 of #100DaysToOffload.