A game with a huge heart, beautiful 16-bit graphics, well-crafted characters, and puzzles which manage to befuddle me at nearly every turn (I’m not very good at puzzle games if I’m being honest). Yes, Eastward was a surprise for me that dropped into my lap in the few weeks leading up to my fevered anticipation of Metroid Dread. It began as something that looked appealing to me to pass the time, but I never really anticipated that I’d complete it. What a journey it turned out to be.
Let’s get one thing straight right from the start here. Eastward is not short. Not even a little bit. I was anticipating a charming little 10-hour romp that looks like something that could’ve came out in 1993, but I was pleasantly surprised at nearly every turn. Eastward begins in a far-flung future, in a small town that is underground. The citizens of Potrock Isle live in dank, dark tunnels and toil away in mines, save for the few shop keepers that help populate the tiny village. Having said all that, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Sector 7 slums that you spend the first few hours of Final Fantasy 7 is. It’s a bit of a depressing place to be sure, but the characters are so lively and well-actualized that you don’t feel that you’re necessarily watching people slave away in a dark and underground existence. Quite the opposite, the characters of Potrock isle feel alive, much in the same way that Eastward feels alive.
Your two main protagonists are John, a large and burly man who fights cave-dwelling monsters by smacking them as hard as he can with a frying pan and Sam, John’s adoptive daughter, who has a hunger for adventure, and always seems to have a longing for more, especially when it comes to wanting to see the rest of the world for what it is. This is due in no small part to the fact that Potrock Isle is ruled over by a Mayor that has spread lies about the surface world for YEARS.
John and Sam are exiled from Potrock Isle by the villainous mayor and are sentenced to go live on the surface, something that they are fully expecting to be a death sentence. They’re loaded onto a train named Charon (little on the nose there isn’t it?) and are shuttled off towards the surface when something… well unusual happens. As it turns out, the surface isn’t the burnt out hellscape that the mayor and everyone else seemed to believe it was. It’s green, vibrant, and alive. Throughout their journey together, John and Sam encounter so many memorable characters that it’s nearly impossible to name and list all of them, but the writing in this game is just so good.
Isabelle and Alva are standouts in the surface world they meet, and even a mob boss by the name of Lee turns out to have a heart of gold in the end. The world is so full of life, and the mystery of what exactly happened to bring the planet into this state is slowly revealed to the player, because nothing in Eastward is exactly what it seems at first glance.
Gameplay wise, Eastward controls like a dream. It cannot be overstated how tight this game feels to control, and it feels inventive in the way that you can split puzzle sections between John and Sam, having to constantly switch between them to control your progression. John is the brawler in this game, swinging his heavy frying pan back and forth, delivering a very satisfying and hefty wallop when he strikes various enemies. Sam is more of a defensive player, harnessing an energy attack she uses to stun enemies and light up bioluminescent mushrooms dotted across the various caverns you’ll explore. During my time with Eastward, I genuinely had the biggest smile on my face when I was finally able to solve a puzzle and advance to the next area, and the switching back and forth between characters always made me feel like I was outsmarting the game (even though you know damn well I wasn’t).
When each puzzling/combat dungeon would near its conclusion, the player will be met with consistently challenging and creatively designed boss fights. They never outstayed their welcome, but admittedly there was never a single time I was simply able to cruise through a fight on the first attempt. We’re not talking Dark Souls levels of difficulty here, but each fight left me with a feeling of relief and accomplishment after it was over.
Eastward is a beautiful game and a fantastic experience overall. Like I said earlier, I fully expected this to be something to pass the time until my most anticipated game of several years was released, only to feel as if I’d stumbled upon a hidden gem. I feel as if I haven’t fully done the game justice, but maybe that’s because this Eastward is better experience by oneself. I loved it and I feel it’s one of the strongest relapses on the Switch right now and is a world I look forward to revisiting again!
