Bastion

Bastion begins with a boy waking up in a world that has broken apart into floating fragments, and from the very first moment a gravelly narrator accompanies him, commenting on his every step. The game is an isometric action ride in which the path literally forms beneath his feet, tiles rise out of the void just ahead of the character, creating the impression of a world being born only through the player's movement. Combat combines two chosen weapons, a special ability, and a dodge, with an entire range of weapons available from a hammer and a rifle to a bow and a machete, each upgradable at the arsenal and testable in special challenges.

Progress leads through the individual fragments of the world back to a base, which the player gradually rebuilds. Here decisions are made about upgrades, about tonics that change the game's rules, and about so-called idols that raise difficulty in exchange for better rewards, an elegant way of letting players set their own challenge level. The Vita version contains the complete game including additional modes, and adds touch controls for quick selection, but above all it uses rich colors so the hand-painted backgrounds stand out even on a small screen. The game runs smoothly and loading is short, which suits shorter sessions well. Also included are optional challenges for individual weapons and special memorial levels that flesh out the backstory of the main characters, giving players a reason to return outside the main line and experiment with equipment combinations.

The strongest asset remains the pairing of narrator and music. The commentary reacts to what the player is doing at that very moment, so the storytelling feels like a living blues tale, and the soundtrack blending guitars, folk motifs, and vocals ranks among the most acclaimed in independent creation altogether. The game is often cited as one of the titles that, at the time of its release, helped push the independent scene into the mainstream and showed that small studios could pull off their own storytelling style. On Vita, Bastion is ideal for several longer evenings, and even after years its storytelling idea still feels fresh.