The kid wakes up, and realizes the world ain't what it used to be no more... The floor rises above his feet and he mutters "what is going on"? That's my description of Bastion, one of the most amazing and smooth games I've played in the early 2010s...

You play as the Kid, implied to have been a soldier in the past, very recent life... You see, a calamity hit the world, left everyone but few people in stone, forever lost to time! Those who survived transcended their humanity into something greater; they've become the monsters you'll face... Degenerated ghouls, slithering blobs of flesh... and the wildlife? Become those polluted fleshy man-eating bugs you'll also face. The kid starts the game as he slept, he knew the calamity was returning, that something was amiss, so he finally mustered the courage to make it to the Bastion, which was said to host all the calamity's survivors of Caeldonia... The kid hurries as his apartment fell around him, one piece at a time. He meets Rucks in the Bastion, an old familiar person, and now must restore the Bastion so to unleash the Bastion's power of Time Travel.

Graphically, this top-down RPG action game is amazing look, amazing sounding, it's just so fascinating how they could've made this in 2011... Props to the devs! The kid gets a ton of weapons, but my favourite so far are the Mortar and the Spear; I just like to cause chaos I guess. As you find cores to upgrade the Bastion, you'll unlock various game mechanics; such as the Memorial that allows you to trade currency for feats of strength, or the Shrine that adds a challenging layer to the game itself. There are a bosses in various areas, but the game doesn't make it a habit to force a "Boss" or "Villain" mechanic upon the player... The Bastion is as it is; there is no point fighting evil when evil is not one person, but a phenomenon for you see; the Calamity IS the evil in Bastion... Those characters you'll that are, or will be, villainous at heart are directly or indirectly affected by the calamity and it's a very nice concept this game has had. Did I also mention the narration? Your character never utters a word, and the entire game is looked at through the scope of Rucks, who narrates every single thing as it happens on the screen... I was surprised to notice that Rucks casts even the smallest of details, like if I switch my spear into the Machete, he'll see something like "He carries a smaller weapon, for the former had a long reach but was too heavy on the shoulder"... You have to see it to believe it, the game is just so... enchanting!

And trust me when I see I usually do NOT play New Game +... But this game, wow, I just found myself without a consciousness of my own just breezing through New Game +... There's no final boss, no "real challenge" in the different stages and yet I continue playing it for no reason other than it's freaking good. Bastion is a 10/10 stroll through a philosopher's dream and I recommend you play it if you haven't, or REPLAY IT if you already have lol.

Game has good bones. Darren on the track!

Good narrator, weaker story, mid gameplay. Worth a run through, fairly short. Well made.