Отзывы

• gamedeal user

  Oct 7, 2021

  This review was not edited after writing so I apologize for any potential grammar or wording mistakes. TLDR: Good art style but boring, chaotic story. The full review: I've just finished the game - it took me 32 hours including winning the mini-RPG arcade game within the game (once). It's difficult for me to write this review. I believe people should try games on their own before reading too much about them but I feel like Eastward is being advertised (at least by some part of the community) as something that it is not. But let's start at the beginning. The game starts off strong and the plot seems interesting enough. The art direction if phenomenal, not enough good things can be said about it. Pixel-art games are plentiful these days, to the point where I slowly start losing fascination with this genre (?), but Eastward proves that if it’s done right, a pixel-art game can not only look fantastic but in many aspects will be superior to titles which are based more on detailed visual representation of events and less on a player’s imagination. Eastward’s animations are spot on, colors of each location reflect its mood and the whole package is simply wonderful to look at even if most items are static only. The music, too, works very well. Some of Eastward’s tracking are interesting enough for me to consider buying the soundtrack and listening to the on their own so that I can better understand their composition and written in ideas. It’s nostalgic, relaxing, something menacing but always at the right moment. However, the game suffers very much from low writing level and this is an unforgivable sin in my world in which I play video games for a story first and foremost. There are interesting elements all over the game but unfortunately, they just don’t stick together. Events are chaotic, or chaotically depicted, characters are well overwritten and simply talk way too much and about trivial things that pull attention away from main or even side story lines. The story itself is hard to follow and ultimately ends up incoherent. And mind the plot lasts about 25 hours and there’s lots of material to get through – I think about 10 hours in my first “wait, what?” came up and stayed with me for the most of the game afterwards. I think Eastward tries very hard to be philosophical but philosophy has its own rhythm of asking questions leading to others questions and the plot in the game doesn’t quite nail it. Sure, some smart line or two are thrown our way but they get lost in this weird way of telling the story. I have nothing against weird stories of course, there are many of them around the market and some are incredibly satisfying (Hollow Knight, What Remains of Edith Finch, etc.) but the ones that work well have a definitive plot line discovered by players one way or another. Eastward gets lost in its own story, making it difficult for players to follow it. This game is not Zelda-like, like some players try to suggest. It has a couple of dungeons (some of which are very good) but probably around 60% of Eastward is looking at speech bubbles (well animated speech bubbles, though) and reading what characters have to stay. There’s also no way to skip them so if you’re not into reading, you may have to rethink your purchase. Eastward is a story-based game with a lot of weird cutscenes and occasional dungeons. There’s also no real sense of character progress unless you count in extra hearts and some few weapons you get along the way. I played though the whole game because I can’t afford too many of them these days and once I purchase something I try to at least finish it but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to quit a few times because ultimately the weak, or weakly told story made it way more boring than it should be.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 28, 2021

  Eastward is a real tricky game to talk about. Right off the bat, mood and pacing and flavor and theme are all over the place! The biggest hurdle for me is that the game's method of storytelling is at direct odds with its intentional SNES [i]Legend of Zelda[/i] gameplay model. The story itself is linear, literally from left to right, as you travel on a train going in one direction, stopping a few times to see what life is like, and then moving on. You're a tourist with a one-way ticket. The gameplay is Zelda-esque in that you gain new items and upgrades, opening new possibilities for combat and puzzles. But, because there is no backtracking, all of the air is taken out of that. In a [i]Zelda[/i]-like you might see a cracked wall near the beginning section of the game and then return gleefully when you get bombs. Every new item or upgrade let's you think, "now how can I apply this to what I've already experienced?" But because Eastward is all about going forward, there's nothing to reflect on. There ARE no cracked walls before you get bombs, there ARE no flammable plants before you get the Flamethrower. Everything you can and will do with your new items are things you haven't encountered yet. This is made more glaringly obvious by enemy design. As you move forward, enemies also change completely. So when you upgrade your weapon, you never actually feel if its stronger because you're fighting new enemies instead of familiar ones. There's a satisfaction in going back to an enemy that used to give you grief and beating them casually with your upgrades. Eastward doesn't do that too often. In fact it kind of feels like you're powering down in some cases. The enemies in the previous chapter took 4 hits with your LV.1 weapon, and now enemies in this chapter take 6 hits with your LV.2 weapon. Maybe they would take 12 hits if your weapon were still LV.1, but how would you know? (To be fair, there's a gauntlet of previous enemies near the end of the game, but by that point it'd been so long that I couldn't remember what they were like to fight against.) As for the story, its best idea is super unrealized. [spoiler]I loved the drama of going to Greenberg in Chapter 2, feeling the place out, and then having to escape it as it was overcome with Miasma.[/spoiler] What a ride! Is this the game? Going from place to place like a vagabond—world-hopping, in a sense—and then moving on, no looking back, little tastes of culture as we head Eastward!? Mmmmm'kinda. In the end, you only visit, like, 3 places after you board the train (not counting another train you visit while on the tracks). So this really cool idea is dropped almost as soon as it's offered. There's a moment in the ending where you reflect back on all the places you've been and it's mostly a bunch of shots from New Dam City in Chapter 3 where you stayed at the longest. Part of me thinks the game is supposed to be all about New Dam City, and the other places are just floppy bookends. Oh and the reason you stay at New Dam City the longest is that suddenly it becomes a bunch of anime filler episodes where two entire dungeon sections are dedicated wholly to finding ingredients for a meal to appease some random guy for zero stakes, and then you go to a hot springs for five minutes just because Hot Spring Episode! It's at this moment that I realized the team wasn't sure what kind of story they wanted to tell. Is it a Father/Daughter survival thing like Telltale's [i]The Walking Dead[/i] or [i]The Last of Us[/i]? Is it an [i]Around the World in 80 Days[/i] travel adventure? Is it a character study about a man who had lost all hope? Is it a slice of life anime? Is it a [i]Groundhog Day[/i] style time loop narrative? Is it a post-apocalypse "let's rebuild the world" scenario? Or a generic Good-versus-Evil fantasy? Or is everything a science fiction [i]Matrix[/i]-style simulation we're trying to break free from? Yes. To all of that. But not enough to feel intentional. There's a cooking minigame. You can throw in totally odd ingredients and make something completely unreasonable. Octopus, cherries, and chicken will somehow make a delicious looking hamburger. And it does look like a good burger! Eastward is a lot like that cooking minigame. You have a pan with milk and crab and cheese and whole pumpkins and a pineapple—all these completely random ingredients!—just flopping around over a blue flame, and then POOF, it says "here's your Perfectly Normal Fruit Pie!" And you believe it. It looks like Fruit Pie. But when you take a bite you know the truth.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 28, 2022

  [quote][b]Personal Rating:[/b] 8/10[/quote] [table] [tr] [th][h1]✅Pros:[/h1][/th] [th][h1]❌Cons:[/h1][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]* Charming graphics and atmosphere. * Nice storytelling. * Interesting characters. * Very nice soundtrack. * Smooth gameplay.[/td] [td]* The story, although good, is predictable. * Cutscenes can be too long. * Simplistic combat and puzzles. * Map and dungeon exploration feels lackluster.[/td] [/tr] [/table] [h1]💬First impressions on Eastward[/h1] A strong presentation is important and Eastward does make a good first impression with its pixel graphics and cartoon artstyle. Eastward is beautifully crafted, you can feel that everything was created with care and thought put into it, and this is what had me instantly drawn to this game. [h1]🌟A colorful world:[/h1] Eastward puts a lot of work into its graphics and every location is rich and full of details and small touches that breathe life into the game. Each region is a sight to behold and even random houses and shops are given a lot of attention. Most of the cast in this title consists of unique characters with very few examples sharing the same sprites. The game does its best to give every character, even the most minor ones, unique looks and personalities of their own. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2787164462 [h1]🎮A smooth gameplay experience[/h1] Eastward's gameplay is done from a top-down perspective, or bird's-eye view. It can clock anywhere from 12 to 20 hours depending how slow you want to take it. Unlike most games of this genre Eastward follows a linear, chapter-based, storyline with little space for exploration and rarely offers sidequests. You move between regions after certain chapters but once you leave one you cannot go back to it.  While exploration is not the main focus of the game, some chapters feature larger open areas for you to visit and find secrets. Controls are fluid and work very well. Although a controller is recommended, the Mouse + Keyboard setting works just fine and there weren't any notable issues with it, be it during combat or during puzzle solving. You also have access to a very simple cooking mini-game, which has a slot machine to get better bonuses, and cooking is one of the best ways to get potent healing items early on. Lastly there's Earth Born, a side mini-game highly reminiscent of old era RPGs as well. [h1]👨‍👧Our two heroes[/h1] During your journey you'll control two characters: John and Sam. Both often travel together and you are able to freely switch between them (once you've gained control of Sam) and there will be times where each character will have to go solo for a while. John is often used to break things or move heavy objects out of the way. He is also the main fighter of the duo and will be used to kill 99% of enemies you'll face. Sam on the other hand can interact with the environment granting access to more places or dealing with stuff John can't break, however she can't kill the vast majority of enemies on her own. Puzzles often rely on each of the characters unique aspects, such as John's strength or Sam's power, sometimes requiring constant switching between each to open paths so they can progress. Most of the time the puzzles are fairly simple and don't get too difficult, although some can give you a moment of pause. [h1]🗡Combat[/h1] Fighting in Eastward is simple and straightforward: as John you whack things using a frying pan, or blow them up with bombs, or blast them with a ranged weapon. You are able to upgrade John's ranged weapons with gear parts found in chests. Sam gains a ranged power that can paralyze enemies and leave them vulnerable to John's attacks giving good synergy. She also has access to other (optional) powers, but Sam's role, for the most part, remains firmly on the support side. Enemies come in a decent variety and you'll fight the small ones, big and beefier ones, and the annoying fast moving ones. All in all, the combat can get pretty intense at times. There are also boss battles and most of them are well done with a few of them having certain gimmicks, but the game never gives you specific tools to fight bosses and leaves up to you to figure out the best strategy for them. [h1]🎶An amazing soundtrack by Joel Corelitz[/h1] Just like any story-driven game, Eastward features a great soundtrack library. The music from the game adds much to the current events of the game and enhances its atmosphere to a greater degree. Many of the tracks are instrumental in nature, but there's the occasional tune reminiscent of the 8-bit era which, thanks to the ambiance of the game, doesn't feel out of place. [h1]🌠Play it again, Sam (and John)[/h1] After you beat the game once you'll gain access to a "Select Chapter" option which amounts to a New Game Plus, allowing you to restart any chapters you desire. This alone can increase the replayability of the game by a good amount. But some may ask: "What's the point of playing it again?" Maybe to get a chance to replay a part of the game you liked one more time, rewatch a cutscene you wanted again, or fight a boss you liked once more. Or maybe to find those treasure chests you may have missed in your first playthrough. The interesting part about the Select Chapter is the amount of options given to you: the game allows you to keep your progression (Health and Upgrades), start with a pregenerated save, or start without upgrades. Games featuring New Game Plus are increasingly rare nowadays, so having one that does it, and does it in such a thoughtful way, is a big plus. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2787167677 [h1]💦Shortcomings:[/h1] Even though it's a good game, this title has some problems in certain areas. The story the game tells is fairly predictable and it doesn't have many surprising twists which, for a game that puts such heavy focus on them, is a bit of a let-down. For every moment that you play it's easy to guess what the outcome of a plotline will be or even what will happen to some characters (although the game did shock me more than once). There's also the feeling that some characters are not fully explored or could've been made more important, held more weight to the story while other characters seemingly have important roles, but end up contributing very little to the plot overall. Cutscenes sometimes drag on for a while at times, sometimes for too long, and at points where you might be raring to jump into action. There is no option to skip any cutscenes at all here. While the ambiance is done right, the dungeon design is always very simple, sometimes too simple. There are not many of them that require exploration and many of them are as linear as the game itself. Speaking of exploration, there is very little of it in the game which is sad, maybe even wasteful, given how well crafted and beautiful the world of Eastward feels. Puzzles are not the high point either and while there are good ones, especially towards the end, but for the most part they're very simple and never feel too challenging. Combat itself feels a bit too plain and basic. While John has a fairly decent arsenal at his disposal, Sam's is locked into a single ability as the others take a long time to recharge which makes you feel like you should use them as sparingly as possible. [h1]💭Final thoughts:[/h1] Eastward is a charming game and, although a bit rough around the edges in certain places, it never fails to do what it proposes to: it tells a good story, has fluid combat and nice puzzles going for it-- all with great graphics and a fantastic cast of characters. It's easy to see how much thought and care was put into this game and playing it was wonderful and memorable experience.
• gamedeal user

  May 15, 2022

  I'd give this game 10/5 stars if I could. They don't make games like this anymore. I'd say this is comparable to Legend of Zelda (I NEVERR SAY THAT NOTHING IS COMPARIBLE) The story was so articulate and it kept me hooked, the music was awesome, and the pixel graphics were BEAUTIFUL. This really made me want to play video games again. You guys really outdid yourselves with this one. What an adventure!
• gamedeal user

  Jun 3, 2022

  Recommended, but barely. The main draw to this game is definitely its art direction and graphical fidelity. If you like what you see from the trailers, then I'm pleased to say that it remains mostly consistent throughout. The atmosphere and art are really spot on at some points, especially around the middle. The gameplay is pretty mediocre, a 2d Zelda type experience, with de-emphasised item unlocking and more focus on combat. Puzzles are there, but they're pretty easy. Combat is not particularly sophisticated either. Without story beats, or a compelling atmosphere it can be a slog to work through a dungeon. There are a few minigames here and there, but you can't do them as you please. Story is probably the biggest let down. I came in with low expectations, was extremely surprised with how good it was until the middle, where it drops off significantly towards the end. It was so close to being an amazing game, but as it is, it's pretty good. "pretty good" indie games are a dime a dozen, so the visuals and part of the story are it's saving grace that make it worth experiencing.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 18, 2022

  Story 🔲 No story at all 🔲 Basic narrative elements ☑️ Decent (started out strong, but got progressively weaker, writing wise) 🔲 Well written 🔲 Well written and interesting, inspiring further research/thoughts 🔲 Masterpiece Graphics 🔲 Bad 🔲 Whelming 🔲 Normal 🔲 Very Good ☑️ Beautiful and original 🔲 Masterpiece Replayability 🔲 A one-time experience ☑️ Only for achievements (it's very linear) 🔲 If you wait a few months/years (or with mods) 🔲 Infinitely replayable (or almost) Interest 🔲 Hard to enjoy 🔲 Repetitive and/or uninspired ☑️ A good time 🔲 Sticks out of the pack 🔲 You will remember it long after Length 🔲 0 (No story) ☑️ Short 🔲 Average 🔲 Long (if you do all there is to do) 🔲 To infinity and beyond Music 🔲 Just filling noises/No music 🔲 Trivial and uneventful ☑️ Good and/or fitting the game's artistic dispositions 🔲 Memorable 🔲 Transcending whispers of a forgotten world Bugs ☑️ Never heard of 🔲 Minor bugs 🔲 Can get annoying 🔲 Impacts the player's experience badly 🔲 The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs Requirements ☑️ You can run it on a microwave 🔲 Low 🔲 Average 🔲 High 🔲 NASA computer Price 🔲 Free 🔲 Underpriced 🔲 Perfect Price ☑️ Could be cheaper (as I see it as a once or twice experience only) 🔲 Overpriced 🔲 Complete waste of money Worth buying 🔲 No 🔲 If you have nothing else to play ☑️ Wait for sale 🔲 Yes 🔲Absolutely yes Expectations 🔲 It's a completely different game 🔲 This game is a scam 🔲 It's missing many features they announced ☑️ Looks very similar to the steam page 🔲 Better than expected and/or announced 🔲 Masterpiece, no patch or feature has to be added. Final Rating 🔲 1 🔲 2 🔲 3 🔲 4 🔲 5 🔲 6 ☑️ 7 🔲 8 🔲 9 🔲 10
• gamedeal user

  Jun 23, 2022

  Looks awesome, sounds great, but narrative is terrible. Gameplay is: You read 2 hours and play 30 minutes. Repeat. If what the characters have to say was important that won't be a problem. The thing is that everything they speak is redundant. The game starts with a story that promises a great adventure (first 4 hours or so) but later you get lost in the lives of hundreds of characters with no good motivations. You spend hours reading their blabbering about the most mundane stuff that won't go anywhere and then the blabbering stops and that character is useless forever. There are people who enjoy this type of things, but I can't care less about reading 15 slow minutes about the culinary tastes of an NPC that it won't matter in any way or form. Imagine if every game FORCED you to listen to every NPC without being able to skip their dialogue. Well, that's how Eastward manages it's story and world. The gameplay is nice but robotic. You just hit things. Do some little puzzles and that's it, you never get more interesting mechanics to play with. One amazing thing is the number of character design and animations. The backgrounds. Everything artistic is perfect. But art can only carry the game so far. I can't see me finishing this game.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 12, 2022

  This game is very, very text heavy. I really should've read the reviews before purchasing. I'm 11 hours in and feel like I've gone nowhere. I think I've been through two boss fights, which were very easy and predictable. It is very clear that this game is more about the story than the gameplay. The puzzles and combat have been incredibly simple so far. I wouldn't really say this is a visual novel, but it's pretty close to it. The dialogue has been very tedious at times. I'm recommending just because the game is visually stunning.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 15, 2022

  what i liked: + a love letter to two of the most influential games of past days - the legend of zelda and earthbound. + charming main characters with unique gameplay. sam and john are two of the most lovely main characters i've ever played with. at some point, you'll have to use both to solve puzzles or fend of your foes. + great character writing and development. a lot of different persons with feelings, emotions and peculiarities. pretty charming and always a pleasure to talk to the people. overall the character cast was pretty well written with many memorable ones along the way. + well executed story - it's a well rounded mix of wholesome slice of life sets and a mysterious, futuristic and apocalyptic plot. eastward is a magnificent roller coaster ride and you'll witness many different intense emotions like friendship, camaraderie, love, loss, despair, fear and many more. fantastic stuff right there! + interesting world and decent world building. mysterious, dangerous, yet laid back and cozy. + gameplay is "bare bones" at first glance compared to modern video games with a basic action combat system and simple puzzles, which isn't an issue at all imo, but there will be more gameplay and puzzle adjustments over the course of the game. many people complaining about it, but i can't confirm the critique since the gameplay is simple, yet works so well. the controls are responsive and there are no major flaws. a dodge button would be great tho. if you don't care about an overly unique and modern gameplay, you'll be totally fine with eastward. + different weapons and special abilities for puzzles and combat. + somewhat challenging and unique boss fights. the bosses are quite creative in it's design and accordingly there is a lot of variety as well. in my opinion the boss fights are going to get more complex and strictly better throughout the game. the last ones are an absolute blast to battle! + the game is somewhat linear, but there will be freedom in exploring at times and it definitely pays off doing so. a little investment in backtracking is well worth your time, at least if you care about dialogues and for completionist reasons. do keep in mind, if you reach certain story milestones, you'll be locked out of past areas for the rest of the game. + gorgeous pixel art and graphics with a lot of love for details. eastward is an artistic masterpiece whit a stunningly detailed artstyle and excellent art direction. + well crafted animations which are even more impressive, considering the minimalistic graphics. + well composed and sometimes hilarious soundtrack with calm and relaxing chip tunes and other retro themed osts, absolutely loving it. + many secrets and chests to be found - i wasn't able to find everything on my own in the first playthrough. + decent amount of upgrades, although upgrade materials take quite some time to obtain. + comfortable fast travel to speed things up, but honestly i've almost never used it since the game is so beautiful. everything's a pleasure to the eye and a delight to walk through, so simply delve into the affectionate details of your surroundings. usually it won't take long to reach your area of interest anyway. what felt debatable to me: ~ slow pacing since the game is heavily narrative driven with an abundance of dialogues, which i personally enjoyed a lot. the game is chill, providing one of the most relaxing gaming experience i've ever had and so it shouldn't be rushed anyway. could bother some people tho so i put it into the "debatable" section. ~ fantastic opening cutscene with a ghibli-esque art direction which let's you hope there are more of these, but sadly there won't. kinda missed potential. ~ eastward got an okay'ish sense of humor and some npcs are "tropes". it's adorable most the time - so i can't complain much, but some are questionable at best. what i disliked: - i've had a bug in the shop menu which made it barely controllable sometimes, because the cursor gets constantly dragged into one direction. to fix this issue i've had to quit the shop screen and reopen it. nothing too serious tho. - the stealth section wasn't that great and kinda infuriating at times. may be a personal issue. 10/10
• gamedeal user

  Aug 29, 2022

  Eastward is a game that's trying to be too many things at once. A dark and gritty post-apocalyptic sci-fi narrative; a love-letter to 8 and 16-bit JRPGs; a tough dungeon-crawler with full-action combat and puzzle-solving; a fun adventure with goofy, lovable characters; the journey of a stoic man and his cheery, optimistic daughter. Parts of it really work, like the artstyle, world, and characters. Others really don't. The story and tone feel whiplash-inducing at times, telling a tale I think is far darker than necessary (given the endearing characters and goofy moments), and the game's combat system is honestly very poor. The plot is revealed piece-meal, dragged along by vague dialogue and a veneer of mystery, that ultimately never lives up to its full potential. With that said, the game is extremely beautiful, the characters are super memorable, and the soundtrack is outstanding; and by buying it, you're supporting a type of game that really doesn't get made much anymore. To me it's worth it for those things alone, but it certainly isn't the greatest game I've played.