Eastward
Summary
You play as John and the little girl he took in, Sam. You travel through a world discovering new towns and cities, fighting monsters and uncovering the mystery of Sam's origin, ever going Eastward.Eastward website
So what do you do
Eastward is an RPG where you play a miner living a simple life in his converted train cart home in his underground town. You help rid the mine of monsters, get familiar with the town, and help Sam figure out what she wants to do with her time (you can't keep taking a child to the mines, after all).
Without spoiling anything, things go down and the two of you have to leave town. From there you will meet many interesting and fun characters and fight your way through new and diverse areas while occassionally solving puzzles by switching between John and Sam to use their different abilities.
Eastward is gorgeous and has many fascinating areas to explore, and on top of that is has a beautiful soundtrack. The story reminded me of old anime movies, think movies from the 80s (or Metropolis. But that's 2001. But still.) The combat is pretty simple but I found it really fun, also did I mention you can cook??? Cos it's a minigame and it's really fun.
Eastward has lots of little things that add to its charm, despite the story, ultimately, being rather confusing. But going into it knowing that, I don't think it'd ruin your enjoyment of the game. It might leave you a little sad at what could have been had the dev team had more time, but Eastward is still worth experiencing.
When should I play this game?
Spend some time Eastward if:- You enjoy Action/Adventure RPGs with interesting and fun characters
- You like games with a vintage-y feel and aesthetic (especially in ways of character and environment design)
- You wanna play a game with an exciting and touching story