Eastward

 PC
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 105 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 62 out of 105
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 105
  3. Negative: 24 out of 105

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  1. TomasLacerda
    Sep 20, 2021
    7
    + Gorgeous art
    + Great characters
    + Sound design
    + BOTW cooking style
    + 8 bit game inside the game

    - Story is a mess. Uneven and random
    - Villains are shallow and boring
    - Moments where it felt more like fillers than side quests
    - Combat was a bit unbalanced and plain
    - Overall pacing got really frustrating
  2. tremault
    Feb 24, 2022
    7
    Initial impressions, after prologue and fair way into chapter 1. The game has unmistakeable charm and has some engaging gameplay elements that are fundamentally robust. So far though, there are several issues that mar the experience. There are enemies that can drop on your head and there seems to be literally zero sign that it's going to happen. I don't find this to be a satisfyingInitial impressions, after prologue and fair way into chapter 1. The game has unmistakeable charm and has some engaging gameplay elements that are fundamentally robust. So far though, there are several issues that mar the experience. There are enemies that can drop on your head and there seems to be literally zero sign that it's going to happen. I don't find this to be a satisfying 'challenge'. The text sometimes has a tendency to auto advance with very little apparent reason, posing major problems for slower readers. The menu has a very strange arrangement, which can make it confusing to find the item you want to inspect. why aren't the cooking ingredients in the cooking tab for example? why isn't the backpack just on the same tab as quest items? why is the quest screen and the map screen, inbetween the quest items and the backpack? bizarre and nonsensical.
    The pacing also seems really slow so far. despite that, the pace at which I'm collecting quest items seems to suggest the game is really short.
    Other issues... The stuttering. I'm playing on an R7 with a rtx 2080 and 32gb ram. My system should not be struggling with this game.
    when I see electrical cables sparking, I tend to avoid them, yet the game wants you to interact with then, connecting and disconnecting live wires. to say this is irresponsible is an understatement. kids will be playing this.    … Expand
  3. Welkinz
    Feb 19, 2022
    6
    The art and music are so good, which stressed more about how weak the storyline is. Many plots just doesn't make sense. Combat also isn't much fun either.
  4. Krysta
    Oct 26, 2021
    7
    This game feels like the developers one day wanted to make a big pot of soup, but they could never agree on what the soup would taste like, so each one was throwing random ingredients there to see what came out. This is how the story feels like a total disaster after the first chapter. What's the point of having a game that looks good, sounds good, and has simple but engaging gameplay, butThis game feels like the developers one day wanted to make a big pot of soup, but they could never agree on what the soup would taste like, so each one was throwing random ingredients there to see what came out. This is how the story feels like a total disaster after the first chapter. What's the point of having a game that looks good, sounds good, and has simple but engaging gameplay, but the plot of the game doesn't work?… Expand
  5. eded9999
    Sep 21, 2021
    6
    I didn't wanted to be that rough with the game, because i genuinely think that it was made with love.
    But right now, at the end of chapter 6 i'm quite sure i will not continue the game. Its not that i hate it, it's just that i'm boring with it.
    The game has a very strong first impression, the pixelart is beautiful, the Zelda/SNES nostalgia is strong, and the lovely main characters    I didn't wanted to be that rough with the game, because i genuinely think that it was made with love.
    But right now, at the end of chapter 6 i'm quite sure i will not continue the game. Its not that i hate it, it's just that i'm boring with it.

    The game has a very strong first impression, the pixelart is beautiful, the Zelda/SNES nostalgia is strong, and the lovely main characters makes you instantly fall in love with the game. But the more you play the more that motivation goes away...
    Way to heavy (for me) with the JRPG-ish dialog (not skippable) about so many damn things, its like 70% of the game is just sitting on my chair pressing X to read about some mundane quest just to have 30% of actual gameplay or puzzles... Not saying that's inherently bad, just saying it does not hook me, it fail to be interesting to me.
    Also, i can understand that combat is not the focus of the game, but when there is combat it doesn't feel rewarding or entertainment.

    So at the end those two things combined make the game boring for me.
    Also, it's really annoying not being able to return to old towns, the game just ask for that feature.    … Expand
  6. triadne
    Mar 15, 2023
    7
    Initial impressions, after prologue and fair way into chapter 1. The game has unmistakeable charm and has some engaging gameplay elements that are fundamentally robust. So far though, there are several issues that mar the experience. There are enemies that can drop on your head and there seems to be literally zero sign that it's going to happen. I don't find this to be a satisfyingInitial impressions, after prologue and fair way into chapter 1. The game has unmistakeable charm and has some engaging gameplay elements that are fundamentally robust. So far though, there are several issues that mar the experience. There are enemies that can drop on your head and there seems to be literally zero sign that it's going to happen. I don't find this to be a satisfying 'challenge'. The text sometimes has a tendency to auto advance with very little apparent reason, posing major problems for slower readers. The menu has a very strange arrangement, which can make it confusing to find the item you want to inspect. why aren't the cooking ingredients in the cooking tab for example? why isn't the backpack just on the same tab as quest items? why is the quest screen and the map screen, inbetween the quest items and the backpack? bizarre and nonsensical.
    The pacing also seems really slow so far. despite that, the pace at which I'm collecting quest items seems to suggest the game is really short.
    Other issues... The stuttering. I'm playing on an R7 with a rtx 2080 and 32gb ram. My system should not be struggling with this game.
    when I see electrical cables sparking, I tend to avoid them, yet the game wants you to interact with then, connecting and disconnecting live wires. to say this is irresponsible is an understatement. kids will be playing this.    … Expand
  7. DelTorro
    Dec 11, 2022
    5
    Beautiful pixel art and decent music. The combat is fine, it has an old school appeal to me. But, the story and cutscenes are maddenly boring and long.
  8. pmasterfunk
    Feb 3, 2022
    6
    I like Eastward. I wish I could give it a 10/10, but it has a bunch of niggling issues that really bring down its mathematically analyzed score.

    The game is beautiful. It has some of the best pixel art I've ever seen, and I think it sets a new standard for the style. Animations are fluid, lighting effects are breathtaking, character sprites are expressive and charming, locations are    I like Eastward. I wish I could give it a 10/10, but it has a bunch of niggling issues that really bring down its mathematically analyzed score.

    The game is beautiful. It has some of the best pixel art I've ever seen, and I think it sets a new standard for the style. Animations are fluid, lighting effects are breathtaking, character sprites are expressive and charming, locations are detailed and varied, enemy designs are simple yet effective. 13/10

    The dialogue is great, and it's impossible to not become attached to the plethora of wacky characters in the game. 11/10

    The music is pretty good, but I find the widely varying styles to be a bit distracting. Going from an orchestrated track to full-on chiptune is a bit odd. Still I think the music is solid. 8/10

    The action is mostly classic Zelda-like, with a main swinging attack, and some sub-weapons like bombs. Generally, the gameplay is fun, and some dungeons often have engaging puzzle sections. However, late in the game some basic mechanics get real testy. The main characters don’t get knocked back when hit, and enemies mostly bee-line for them, so when they get hit, enemies just stay on top of them, and once the invincibility window closes BAM! Another hit. Sounds pretty standard, but the enemies' walking speed is often quite a bit higher than the playable characters, so it’s hard to move away, and the invincibility window is EXTREMELY short, so the hits start piling on real fast. Also, lots of late game mooks take tons of hits to kill, over 10 for many of them. This makes fighting them mostly unfun. John's regular attack has a very short hitbox, and it also has a very long cooldown time before he can move, so once you start swinging you don't really want to stop, so I ended up mashing the attack button once I was in a somewhat decent position. I also found hit detection a bit frustrating with some of the smaller enemies. These problems aren't really present in the first half of the game, so for a good chunk of Eastward is fairly unchallenging, and then all of a sudden feces gets real and it's kinda frustrating. Dungeon design is really good thankfully. 6/10 for general gameplay

    Story- and plot-wise I feel like the game has some issues. It's fairly episodic, and I never felt like our heroes had much agency, mostly going from one place to the next either at random or because of outside forces. The pacing of the story can take sharp turns into filler-town when going from chapter to chapter, and that can lead to some odd tonal shifts. The game gets quite dark at times, but then swaps to a really cheery mood and we don’t have a chance to really sit in those dark vibes. Some of the lighter filler is quite good, however (chapter 6 is great).

    Some "main quest" stuff involves walking all the way to one end of the map, having a mostly pointless conversation, then walking all the way back to the start point, only to be sent back to the other end of the map again. Said maps aren't usually that big, but it's still boring. Having finished the game in just about 25 hours (not 100%), there are still many unknowns to me about the story. I am not averse to open-ended stories, but here it feels like lack or foresight. I can't really say what any character's motivations are beyond "be a good guy" and "be a bad guy". There is no moral dilemma to any of the decisions our heroes make. I know what the bad guys’ aim is, but I don't know why. I don’t understand the relationships between a bunch of characters.

    If the story had made me ponder my own humanity or mortality, I wouldn't really care about the previous points, but it doesn't do that. The premise is really interesting, but it seems like a waste of a setup for a bunch of thinly-related events that don't really offer any overarching theme or questions. 4 out of "Themes are for 8th-grade book reports"

    Within the world of the game, there is a playable arcade game (yo dawg I heard you like video games), called EarthBorn. It’s a short, dumb, frustrating take on old school Dragon Quest games. I love it. 9/10

    Ultimately, after finishing the game I'm not really interested in a second playthrough. It is by no means a bad game, in fact it has many great attributes, namely its visuals, sound, and dialog. It's super charming. The action isn't terrible, but it really isn't worth writing home about. The fact that the story is weak kinda ruins it for me. If it had been a tale of human hubris - which is what the premise kinda implies - I'd have taken all the garbage with it and given this a 10. If it had a New Game+ game, where I could try and find all the chests and recipes I'd missed, I'd give it an 8. But starting a new save file from scratch? Groan. *Edit: an update now allows chapter select, though it's not working with my file right now.*

    You'll probably have to forgive me for my poor math skills, but I give Eastward a [YMS.org voice] 6 out of 10, closer to a 7 than a 5, bye [/YMS.org voice]    … Expand
  9. HolyFoxx
    Jul 30, 2022
    7
    Eastward can be better.
    Firstly, I really like this graphic of the game. It is the most amazing pixel graphic I played. Storytelling is okay but it's so much cutscenes, which makes game boring. And gameplay is so weak, making me more bored.
    I hope dev will make more better game in the future.

Awards & Rankings

48
#48 Best PC Game of 2021
54
#54 Most Discussed PC Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 35 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 30 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 35
  3. Negative: 0 out of 35
  1. Gamersky
    Dec 2, 2021
    85
    Excellent pixel art, profound plot and deep story background, as well as the complementation of puzzle solving and combat, make Eastward an excellent work worth experiencing.
    Read full review
  2. IGN Japan
    Nov 16, 2021
    70
    Eastward’s action and puzzles play things a bit too much by the book, the plot and storytelling don’t really come together, and the dialogue lacks wit. But even with so many negative aspects, the top-notch pixel art is true craftsmanship. These wonderful graphics were enough for me to push through, and perhaps you will too.
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  3. Checkpoint Gaming
    Oct 29, 2021
    90
    Eastward is truly a gem of the pixel adventure-RPG genre. It is plain as day that Pixpil poured their affections for this genre into making this game. They’ve provided fluid and expressive animation rarely seen in pixel games, lively characters, quirky writing, and catchy chiptune soundtracks. It is visually enticing from the beginning and will continue to keep you hooked until you are satisfied with unravelling its narrative. Eastward has easily taken its place as my favourite game of this year. I highly encourage lovers of pixel JRPGs to try this game out for yourselves. John and Sam will cook you up a satisfying adventure you will want to devour whole.
    Read full review
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