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Eastward |OT| Earthbound & Down

P

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Maiden Voyage said:
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Developer: Pixpil Games
Publisher: Chucklefish
Release date: 16 September 2021
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Nintendo Switch
Price: $24.99 ($22.49 pre-order price) USD
Metacritc: PC (85) | Switch (84)
Opencritic: 84 Average & 93% Recommend

www.nintendo.com

Eastward for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Official Site

Buy Eastward and shop other great Nintendo products online at the official My Nintendo Store.
www.nintendo.com www.nintendo.com

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Eastward is an adventure game with RPG elements, set in a beautifully detailed decaying world, where society is starting to collapse as the human population shrinks to an all-time low. As the world around falls to ruin, you play as a hardworking digger John, who must guide a mysterious girl named Sam through dangerous decaying cities, inhabited by strange monsters, and even stranger people! Inspired by 90s Japanese animation, the visual style of Eastward has been brought to life using a combination of a modern, innovative 3D lighting system and a rich retro-pixel artwork.

Details
  • Single player, dual character adventure RPG with puzzle-solving and dungeon elements
  • Join John and Sam in their emotional journey across a world falling to ruin
  • Meet a quirky cast of characters and encounter strange monsters and distant cities
  • Beautifully rich pixel art style, created using a combination of modern 3D lighting and retro-pixel style artwork
  • Soundtrack composed by Joel Corelitz (Death Stranding, Hohokum, The Unfinished Swan, The Tomorrow Children, Gorogoa), with sound design from Irish studio, Hyperduck Soundworks

🟨 ABOUT​

Eastward is a beautifully detailed and charming adventure game, from Shanghai-based indie developers, Pixpil.
In the near-future, society is starting to collapse, and the human population is at an all-time low. A deadly toxic presence has spread across the land, destroying and devouring everything in its path.
Those who could escape the miasma flocked to underground villages to start a new life. But for a hardworking miner and a mysterious young girl, the hope of a thriving outside world beckons…
Escape the tyrannical clutches of Potcrock Isle's subterranean society and join Eastward’s unlikely duo on an exciting adventure to the land above! Discover beautiful yet bizarre settlements and make new friends as you travel across the world by rail.
Contains adult humor and some mature themes.

History
Development started on Eastward at Pixpil’s Shanghai office in 2015, with only 3 team members, using a game engine of the studio’s own making. Built around pixel artist Hong Moran’s original intricate post-apocalyptic pixel designs, and the team’s love of the Mother and The Legend of Zelda series and older Japanese animation styles, Pixpil were inspired to create a narrative driven RPG with a soft sci-fi storyline. Since then not only the ambitions of the game has grown, but also the team, now sitting at 10 members strong as they work towards the PC, Mac, and Nintendo Switch release on 16 September 2021.

🟨 GAME FEATURES​

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Discover the wonderfully weird world of Eastward. Climb aboard the cross-country railway which spans this decaying continent, stopping off to explore its bustling towns, curious campsites and shady forests.

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Fend off peculiar monsters and ferocious bosses with John’s weapon of choice - be it a flamethrower, cog-shooter or your trusty ol’ frying pan. Feeling merciful? Try temporarily stunning them with Sam’s kinetic blast.

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Switch between John and Sam to solve environmental puzzles and fight your way through formidable dungeons. Separate the duo to unlock hidden paths or stick together as you traverse a perilous landscape.

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Get to know a quirky cast of characters with oodles of personality! Immerse yourself in a heartwarming story-driven adventure, packed with fun and wacky humor.

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Create deliciously authentic Eastwardian cuisine using (mostly) fresh, organic ingredients from toxic forests, potcrab farms and abandoned malls. These delicacies will grant health bonuses, power boosts and secret boons.

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Bop along to a wonderfully upbeat soundtrack composed by Joel Corelitz (Death Stranding, Hohokum, The Unfinished Swan), with sound design from Irish studio, Hyperduck Soundworks (Dust: An Elysian Tail, Kingdom Rush)

🟨 FAQ​

- What is Eastward?
Eastward is a beautifully detailed and charming action adventure game with RPG elements, coming soon to PC, Mac, and Nintendo Switch.

- Who’s making it?
Eastward is being developed by Pixpil, a small indie developer based in Shanghai, China.

- What’s this game about?
In the near-future, society is starting to collapse, and the human population is at an all-time low. A deadly toxic presence has spread across the land, destroying and devouring everything in its path. But for a hardworking miner and a mysterious young girl, the hope of a thriving outside world beckons…
Join Eastward’s unlikely duo on an exciting adventure to the land above! Discover beautiful and bizarre settlements, fight off peculiar enemies with John’s trusty frying pan or Sam’s kinetic blast, and make new friends as you travel across the world by rail.

- When is Eastward coming out?
Eastward releases September 16, 2021. It’s available to pre-order on Nintendo Switch and Steam.

- Is it coming to consoles?
It’s available to pre-order on Nintendo Switch, more consoles have not yet been confirmed

- What is Eastward built in?
Eastward is being developed using Pixpil’s in-house game engine based on MOAI. It’s a cross-platform C++/Lua engine.

🟨 TRAILERS​




🟨 SCREENSHOTS​

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​

🟨 SOCIALS​

Discord: https://discord.gg/UagrRSW
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pixpil
Twitter: https://twitter.com/eastwardgame/
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/eastward/

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Click to expand...

Thank you for this OT, I somehow missed it and ordered it now!
 
HotPocket69

HotPocket69

Banned
Got up to Chapter 2. Really liking it a lot. I fail to see the Earthbound comparisons aside from the quirky characters and some of the dialogue. Otherwise it definitely has more of a tone similar to something like Secret of Evermore like someone stated earlier.

The music is fantastic as well.
 
jshackles

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
BadBurger

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
In chapter 2 now ....

Just reached the village. Wow, the world design, art, and music is even better out here than in the starting area.

How many chapters are in this game anyway? Googling gives me various results....
 
fallingdove

fallingdove

Member
I have wasted way too much time on the Earthborn mini game lol.

Anyone have tips on how to beat the Demon King in New Game +? Beating the 4 castles and the Demon King seems to require a near impossible RNG class + accessory combination.
 
NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt

NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt

Biggest Trails Stan
Finished Eastward a few days ago. I give it a 9/10

This is my game of the year. I loved the gameplay. It was tough but fair. I explored every nook and cranny to try to find everything. The story, characters, and world was memorable. Overall this game took me around 29 - 30 hours to beat. This was such a fantastic experience and I'm interested in seeing what the developer does next.
 
Marker007

Marker007

Member
Touch fuzZy. get BizZay said:
What is the gameplay most analagous to?
Click to expand...
It's very much A Link to the Past gameplaywise but with hints of Earthbound's aesthetic. You don't gain levels but you have a heart system and you can even find orbs that give you extra hearts if you find four, much like in Zelda with the container pieces. There are dungeons and bosses and puzzles in the vein of classic 2D Zelda and some of the combat elements are a little deeper than Zelda and have a touch of Secret of Mana flair.
 
Marker007

Marker007

Member
Maiden Voyage said:
A cross between old school Zelda and Mother 3. Combat is definitely the weakest point for me, but I'm still early in the game (6 hours, I think?). Everything else about the game easily makes up for this though.
Click to expand...
Combat will get more varied once you start unlocking the rest of the weapons and secondary powers. Some enemies later on are pretty clever with the ways you can take them out.
 
Urban

Urban

Member
I liked it but there was some really forced backtracking and I didn’t understand the
story:

What was the purpose of the whole ape train chapter ?
The last city was a illusion ? Why did everybody just disappearand if “Mama” was that bad of a person why did she have 5 friends back then ?(which are showing to be good persons !?)
What was the purpose of the villain ? We see him in 3 age stages ? How is that possible ? He was protecting something ? From who ? What was the black thing that came from above ? Who invented it and why ?

i found the story very confusing and I just didn’t get it

the game looks beautiful and has his very special moments but it has its flaws. Everything is bound to a “cutscene” like the order.

7/10
 
Impotaku

Impotaku

Member
So far i'm about 15ish hours in and have reached ester city and about to goto a tower. The graphics really do make the game, they are not impressive in the powerhouse definition & yet they really are impressive at the same time, rarely has pixel art in games been so lovingly drawn & animated. When i reach a new town that i find myself compelled to explore every inch and try and find everyone to chat to as the characters are just as wonderfully designed all looking unique which is not something that can't be said for a lot of games where they look like pallet swaps sometimes. I have obviously missed loads on the way as there's no way i have found all the hidden chests so far and the earthbound style famicom rpg has yet to be given serious playtime so i have plenty to go back for.

For those that have completed it, does the game allow you to go new game plus? As i haven't put much time into the rpg i'm wondering if i'm wasting my time collecting all those figures from the capsule machines if i have yet to put proper time into the rpg mini game.

Have a feeling i'll end up playing this quite a few times just enjoying the locations & the feel as i go exploring every corner of the wonderfully hand crafted world, there have been a few random crashes so far but they have been made really painless by the generous amount of autosave points so i rarely have to go far to pick up from where it crashed, a shame as it does detract away from the polish of the game but this time i'm prepared to be a bit more understanding. So far i'm not having any issue with the amount of reading but then again i'm not a zoomer so i have an attention span of more than 5 minutes. The story has been interesting so far and pretty dark in places feels very matrix in some respects regarding mother.
 
Last edited:
Impotaku

Impotaku

Member
Been eagerly waiting for the physical release of this to arrive got the special edition as there's not many actual in hand pics online as they are still using stock art i thought i'd take a few pics

3s0FRw6.jpg


For anyone curious of the contents of the Eastward special edition here's whats inside. This is one time where i really wish there was a huge artbook to go with it as i'd have loved to see all the concept art. However sadly not but as the music in this game is amazing the CD soundtrack is more than welcome, 2 disks of killer music. Thought the Sam figure was broken at first with one of the hands broken off then i realised her jumper is pulled down over her hand as you can see it in there.
lcDixmk.jpg

It's a basic looking figure but the paintjob is of decent quality.
iCehEtN.jpg


Box was a total bitch to open though the card is really thin, had to use a butter knife to shimmy the flap up then use my trick of putting clear tape on the inside of the flap where the slits are to stop it locking back in place when i close it as i can guarantee that if someone tries to open it normally they are gonna either totally bend the flap or worse it's gonna tear as they are locked into those slits like crazy.
 
Last edited:
Maiden Voyage

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
Impotaku said:
Been eagerly waiting for the physical release of this to arrive got the special edition as there's not many actual in hand pics online as they are still using stock art i thought i'd take a few pics

3s0FRw6.jpg


For anyone curious of the contents of the Eastward special edition here's whats inside. This is one time where i really wish there was a huge artbook to go with it as i'd have loved to see all the concept art. However sadly not but as the music in this game is amazing the CD soundtrack is more than welcome, 2 disks of killer music. Thought the Sam figure was broken at first with one of the hands broken off then i realised her jumper is pulled down over her hand as you can see it in there.
lcDixmk.jpg

It's a basic looking figure but the paintjob is of decent quality.
iCehEtN.jpg


Box was a total bitch to open though the card is really thin, had to use a butter knife to shimmy the flap up then use my trick of putting clear tape on the inside of the flap where the slits are to stop it locking back in place when i close it as i can guarantee that if someone tries to open it normally they are gonna either totally bend the flap or worse it's gonna tear as they are locked into those slits like crazy.
Click to expand...
Nice!
 
jshackles

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Impotaku said:
Been eagerly waiting for the physical release of this to arrive got the special edition as there's not many actual in hand pics online as they are still using stock art i thought i'd take a few pics

3s0FRw6.jpg


For anyone curious of the contents of the Eastward special edition here's whats inside. This is one time where i really wish there was a huge artbook to go with it as i'd have loved to see all the concept art. However sadly not but as the music in this game is amazing the CD soundtrack is more than welcome, 2 disks of killer music. Thought the Sam figure was broken at first with one of the hands broken off then i realised her jumper is pulled down over her hand as you can see it in there.
lcDixmk.jpg

It's a basic looking figure but the paintjob is of decent quality.
iCehEtN.jpg


Box was a total bitch to open though the card is really thin, had to use a butter knife to shimmy the flap up then use my trick of putting clear tape on the inside of the flap where the slits are to stop it locking back in place when i close it as i can guarantee that if someone tries to open it normally they are gonna either totally bend the flap or worse it's gonna tear as they are locked into those slits like crazy.
Click to expand...
I kinda wish I would have ordered the special edition now, still waiting for my standard edition to arrive.
 
G

gundalf

Member
I'm in chapter 3 and so far loving the game and I think my final verdict will be at 8/10 to 9/10 for sure.

I wish the publisher would had put some more effort into marketing this game, I feel like it deserves much more attention than it gets. Maybe an PlayStation and Xbox release will bring back some more life.
 
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