Supergiant Disappointment

Bastion’s most distinguishing feature is also its weak point. The game’s narrative style conspires with bite-sized level design to undermine an otherwise excellent experience.

Image: supergiantgames.com

Bastion was the debut release from Supergiant Games. But it was also their second, third and fourth title. Since its launch on XBox Live Arcade in July 2011 the game has surfaced multiple times, first on Chrome, then through Steam and most recently on iPad. 

Becasue of this protracted release schedule, the game has generated quite a bit of buzz.

And not without good reason. Bastion may seem like a straight-forward brawler, but it hides a few surprises.

Image: supergiantgames.com

It’s stunningly beautiful for a start, with strong vibrant colours and detailed (if slightly sluggish) animations. The game’s art-style is impeccable, at times reminiscent of 16-bit Japanese work at its best. Think Chrono Trigger but with a distinctly modern style.

The game-world responds dynamically to player action, emerging out of the void and building up brick by brick as you progress. It's visually striking and masks the linear nature of the levels.

And it's all in service of the game's story. Bastion is set in a world destroyed. It's up to the protagonist to make that world whole again. He’s literally pulling the environment back together again around him. And piecing together the history of the land and the calamity that destroyed it.

Image: supergiantgames.com

So far so archetypal-hero-on-a-quest-to-save-the-world. What sets Bastion apart is its storytelling. This isn't gameplay book-ended with a few lines of dialogue. An unreliable narrator in a one-sided conversation with an unknown individual describes your every action as you progress.

And occasionally it works. One scene revels the hero’s background; a series of combat scenarios crafted to represent the nightmares he has about his past. The short section is compelling, both in gameplay terms and in the ideas it communicates. It’s a rare moment of concentrated storytelling from the developer.

When extended across the seven or so hours you’ll spend with Bastion the conceit breaks down. Games are most often played in fits and starts; in the stolen hours a person finds where they can. Bastion's short levels lend themselves to that style of play but the complexities of the story are at odds with the design.

Image: supergiantgames.com

It isn't always possible to make time for a game. Bastion’s form of storytelling places too much responsibility on the player to engage with it.

Important plot points are buried in frantic combat scenarios, or in moments while the player is otherwise distracted by the environment or the art.

This form of embedded story isn't always suited to the medium of videogames. It works best where the player is actively engaged with it; exploring abandoned homes on Halflife 2’s Highway 17 for example. Rather than communicating with you, Bastion is talking at you. The narrator speaks whether you care to listen to him or not.

Image: supergiantgames.com

Worse yet Supergiant Games change Bastion’s rules on occasion to cater to the story. In a scene towards the end of the game, the protagonist effectively becomes invincible in service of an idea intended to be impactful, but which comes across as annoying drudgery.

It would be unfair to knock Bastion for trying something new in a medium dominated by mindless shooters but Supergiant may have bitten off more than they could chew with this novel approach to story-telling. The quality achieved in every other aspect of this debut title only makes the failure of the story to hit home that bit more unfortunate.