Each time you begin to feel comfortable or think you can guess where it’s going, something happens to move the pieces around.īanished from their home town and sent forever eastwards on a train known as Charon, John and Sam must work together and with the people they meet along the way to unravel the secrets of Sam’s past and the shadowy powers behind the Miasma. Other characters that drift in and out of the story such as the world’s only remaining entertainer, Jasper, and the enigmatic badass, Izzy, add fuel to the story’s flickering flame. The relationship between John and Sam is just lovely, as they care for each other, carry each other (literally, when Sam climbs up on his shoulders), and genuinely need each other. For a game that features no spoken dialogue and one protagonist who says absolutely nothing, the story and writing are captivating. She’s also haunted by a creepy, ghostly doppelganger – but that does nothing to mute her cheery disposition. Sam, on the other hand, was found by John and claims to have seen the Surface. John is a hunter, miner, and general handy guy to have around (think Joel from The Last of Us with a less prominent mean streak). Set in a world ravaged by a mysterious calamity called the Miasma, Eastward begins in an underground community where your dual protagonists, John and his adopted daughter Sam, spend their time among other survivors.

While it’s a very good game by its own merit, Eastward is built for those gamers who remember playing through Earthbound for the first time, or grew up squinting at a Game Boy screen to play The Legend of Zelda. It’s more down to the fact that Eastward naturally pulls at a certain set of nostalgia strings that I don’t possess. And that’s not because of the lack of violence, bombast, and badass redheads, either. The more complex answer is: I don’t think it was made for me.

“So then why don’t you love it?” I hear you ask. I feel like this game has done everything possible to make me love it, from an incredible soundtrack, beautiful pixel art animation, a compelling story, and a wonderful central relationship that weathers everything this post-apocalyptic world throws at it. If you’ve ever felt the guilt of letting someone down after they’ve just expressed their love for you, you’ll be somewhere close to understanding how I feel reviewing Eastward from PixPil.

Eastward earthborn guide