Eastward

 Switch
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 109 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 71 out of 109
  2. Mixed: 25 out of 109
  3. Negative: 13 out of 109
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  1. Daisuk
    Oct 21, 2021
    6
    It looks absolutely fantastic, and parts of the game are also a joy to play. The game is however hindered a lot by its stop/start-nature, with cut-scenes intruding on the flow and fun of the game far far too often. Given that the story itself is rather lack-luster, in my opinion, this is a pretty grave miss for the game. I played this game for 5-6 hours, I enjoyed probably 30% of it a lot,It looks absolutely fantastic, and parts of the game are also a joy to play. The game is however hindered a lot by its stop/start-nature, with cut-scenes intruding on the flow and fun of the game far far too often. Given that the story itself is rather lack-luster, in my opinion, this is a pretty grave miss for the game. I played this game for 5-6 hours, I enjoyed probably 30% of it a lot, but just couldn't be bothered with the endless cut-scenes in the end, in a game that ultimately just didn't engage me enough.… Expand
  2. Subject98
    Oct 6, 2021
    7
    Was looking forward to this and finished with mixed feelings. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, music, visuals, atmosphere etc, the only strike I'd make against the story is that it's a bit overwritten at times. Stretches of dialogue are not uncommon to last over an hour or even close to 2.

    Where this game lacked for me is the gameplay. Coming from Zelda titles, Alundra, Crosscode etc,    Was looking forward to this and finished with mixed feelings. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, music, visuals, atmosphere etc, the only strike I'd make against the story is that it's a bit overwritten at times. Stretches of dialogue are not uncommon to last over an hour or even close to 2.

    Where this game lacked for me is the gameplay. Coming from Zelda titles, Alundra, Crosscode etc, the dungeons here in Eastward seem to have been designed without much care. Linear, straightforward and require very little thought, finding a key is a minute detour every single time, and the majority of them are over in 20 minutes. I guess if you hate dungeons then you'll like the game more for being that way.

    To highlight a dungeon I liked, one of the first ones 'Ancient Ruins' was probably my favorite. The manner in which it was constructed made it fun to explore. You're not just following a straight line through sewer tunnels, you're exploring the floors of a long abandoned shopping mall. I was hoping this feeling of urban exploration would be expanded upon in future dungeons and I could have forgiven the simplicity of the level design if so, but there were only 1 or 2 others that were interesting. To pluck out one more positive though, there is a dungeon theme they start using later on that's one of the best I've ever heard, called 'industrial'.

    The combat is okay but nothing particularly special. At best it's passable, at worst, being so sluggish can make rooms full of enemies feel like a big mess. Since you have two characters who can both take damage, your partner following you can still take damage even if you successfully avoid an attack as the one you're controlling, which makes it feel pointless to do anything but have a DPS race with the enemies.

    The bad stuff aside, I did really enjoy the boss fights pretty much across the board. Some were better than others but none of them sucked, and for the most part they became crazier and more fun to fight the further I got.

    On the whole I would still recommend this game even if it has some blemishes where gameplay is concerned, because the experience is such a wild emotional rollercoaster ride all the way to the end.    … Expand
  3. jameson95
    Oct 20, 2021
    6
    I don't know how any reviewer gave this game a better score than a 6 or 7. This game has weak dialogue, boring combat, repetitive missions and bland plot.

    I would pass on this one. If you like Earthbound and think this game is fun, this game doesn't resemble it.
  4. brodus13
    Oct 2, 2021
    5
    The music, the visuals, the characters, the combat, the story... All AAA+

    If you like top down Zelda, Earthbound, Hotline Miami, Hyper Light Drifter... You'll definitely fall in love with this game like I did.
  5. tom974
    Aug 6, 2022
    7
    A true indie gem here, which would've deserved a little more polish. It would've been a 8 score without the recurrent crashes issue, I couldn't play a single session without it to happen and that quite breaks the flow. Besides, the pixel art is a true master class eventhough I'm not a great fan of the chara design. The story is rather cryptic but naive and dark at the same time. TheA true indie gem here, which would've deserved a little more polish. It would've been a 8 score without the recurrent crashes issue, I couldn't play a single session without it to happen and that quite breaks the flow. Besides, the pixel art is a true master class eventhough I'm not a great fan of the chara design. The story is rather cryptic but naive and dark at the same time. The gameplay picks elements from other 16 bit monuments and manages to create its own feeling. Not often enough are we given the opportunity to play something different, it was well worth the time.… Expand
  6. 1cosmos
    Mar 17, 2022
    6
    For a gorgeous game with so much dialogue, the script is poorly written. I love the quirky characters but the conversations don't live up to standards needed to stick this game. I love the art design of this game. The gameplay is somewhat tedious and combat is somewhat clumsy.
  7. Sunshadow87
    Nov 2, 2022
    6
    Este juego ha sido comparado con Zelda y Mother, juegos de los que bebe directamente (y dragon quest para el minijuego que es otro juego en sí mismo). Sin embargo, tras acabarlo, hay otro juego con el que guarda mucho más parecido, aunque este sea accidental y no a propósito: Ilusion of Time, el 2º juego de la trilogía "Heaven and Earth" que salió para la SNES. Sin embargo, lo que IlusionEste juego ha sido comparado con Zelda y Mother, juegos de los que bebe directamente (y dragon quest para el minijuego que es otro juego en sí mismo). Sin embargo, tras acabarlo, hay otro juego con el que guarda mucho más parecido, aunque este sea accidental y no a propósito: Ilusion of Time, el 2º juego de la trilogía "Heaven and Earth" que salió para la SNES. Sin embargo, lo que Ilusion of Time hizo bien, Eastward lo hace MAL. Elaboro a continuación.

    Eastward destaca especialmente por su historia y sus gráficos, y en menor medida por su banda sonora. Es un action RPG muy centrado en la historia donde alternamos el control entre los dos personajes protagonistas y tenemos fases de exploración en ciudades, y mazmorras, con ocasionales minijuegos intercalados. No hay mapa del mundo, y debido a la historia, el avance es lineal, no pudiendo volver a lugares previamente explorados (con lo que si te dejaste algo, te lo dejaste para el resto del juego). Esta misma descripción se aplica a Ilusion of Time.

    El resto de elementos que no he mencionado de Eastward (narrativa, jugabilidad en las fases de exploración, jugabilidad en las fases de mazmorra, diseño de mazmorras, etc) son, como poco, correctas individualmente, pero el problema radica en que, al unirlas todas en el producto final... no funciona. El juego se hace aburrido. Y creo que el problema principal es que los autores de Eastward no han sabido generar un RITMO de juego en el que todos los elementos casen:

    Eastward es un juego lento y pausado, y lo es en todas sus facetas, lo que acabara quemando a la mayoría de jugadores siendo un juego de 30 horas. Esto es lo que podría haber aprendido de Ilusion of Time, que alterna mucho mejor cambios de ritmo: mazmorras que pueden resultar frenéticas, mezclando puzzles que muchas veces no son sencillos de resolver, con fases de exploración que son dinámicas, y narrativa que muchas veces frena el ritmo volviéndose extremadamente lenta... pero precisamente todos esos cambios te mantienen pegado al mando en Ilusion of Time, haciendo el juego además muy rejugable para conseguir esos missables que hayas perdido en una primera partida. Y esto es lo que Eastward no ha sabido hacer.

    La historia de Eastward es buena, y es prácticamente el único motivo por el que jugarla, aunque no es una historia que sorprenda en el sentido de hacia donde va, si que es una historia bien llevada y emocional con respecto a la relación de los dos protagonistas. Eso sí, sobraría mucho dialogo superfluo de mucho personaje secundario y olvidable que resta más que sumar.    … Expand
  8. SSCheetah
    Nov 17, 2021
    5
    Not terrible, but massively overrated.

    Absolutely wonderful pixel art / overall art direction and style, and the music is great too. (The music's not particularly memorable, but does the job fine.) The combat is simplistic but fun, and there are a few heartwarming story moments. That's where the positives end though. On the Switch, there are performance issues (slowdown, and the game    Not terrible, but massively overrated.

    Absolutely wonderful pixel art / overall art direction and style, and the music is great too. (The music's not particularly memorable, but does the job fine.) The combat is simplistic but fun, and there are a few heartwarming story moments.

    That's where the positives end though. On the Switch, there are performance issues (slowdown, and the game crashes when loading a new area after playing for over an hour or so, forcing you to reload). The plot has more holes than Swiss cheese, and leaves you full of questions at the end. There are so many things that feel like they should've been explained that haven't. The irony is, the game is chock-full of cutscenes and dialogue, but the focus of 99% of these is random side characters and info that is irrelevant to the main story. The game therefore comes across as being very narrative-focused but really has very little overarching narrative at all. Gameplay-wise, there are some good puzzles, and combat scenarios, but they do end up getting a bit samey. It would've been nice to see a bit more variety there too.

    Overall, the game isn't bad, but it isn't anything stellar either. I'd recommend it if, like me, you were attracted by the wonderful art style, but you aren't picky about a quality story. Otherwise, maybe find something else.    … Expand
  9. spencerplewe
    Jul 29, 2022
    6
    Narratively dense and tedious, but with gameplay that works well enough, Eastward is an impressively detailed modern 16-bit-adventure, but one that has a nasty habit of leaving too many plot threads dangling.
  10. CJdaDJ
    Sep 21, 2021
    7
    I really wanted to love this game but I only like it. The good: The story, the characters (don't get attached) and the MUSIC!!!

    The bad: Do all leads have to be quiet like Link? That's annoying. Combat is really easy, as are the puzzles. The ugly: You will die...a LOT! It gets so frustrating!!! You and your partner walk together but neither can get touched by enemies or stupid prickly    I really wanted to love this game but I only like it. The good: The story, the characters (don't get attached) and the MUSIC!!!

    The bad: Do all leads have to be quiet like Link? That's annoying. Combat is really easy, as are the puzzles.

    The ugly: You will die...a LOT! It gets so frustrating!!! You and your partner walk together but neither can get touched by enemies or stupid prickly bushes. It's so annoying! Also the enemies will gang on you and you will have a hard time escaping. The miasma chases always suck.

    I will power thru or rage quit. lol    … Expand
  11. Rex_miles
    Apr 16, 2023
    6
    No está mal, pero la niña se me hacía muy cansina por su "inocencia" y se me cerraba cada x tiempo (hasta después del jefe final del juego, teniéndolo que repetir). La historia es curiosa y muy variada, pero no me ha llegado a emocionar.
  12. Fradian
    Sep 27, 2021
    5
    It's a beautiful looking game that makes post apocalyptic life seem intriguing and colorful. The detail level makes it impossible to not spend some time just admiring the artwork.
  13. Foxylary
    Jul 31, 2022
    7
    Eastward me marquera plus que la plupart des jeux auxquels j'ai joué ces dernières années. Visuellement impressionnant, soigné et foisonnant détails, un univers riche et captivant, une OST géniale MAIS le jeu n'a pas envie de répondre au multiples questions du joueur concernant des éléments essentiels et cela laisse un arrière goût très frustrant au final.
  14. hotcops
    Oct 9, 2021
    5
    Really wanted to like this game because of its beautiful aesthetic (and, to be sure, it IS beautiful) but it's just kind of boring. Read some reviews to this effect before playing but I dismissed them. Now I have to admit they're right. A lot of running back and forth on pointless quests. Too many boring characters who contribute nothing. Waaaaaaay too much dialogue. Very little actualReally wanted to like this game because of its beautiful aesthetic (and, to be sure, it IS beautiful) but it's just kind of boring. Read some reviews to this effect before playing but I dismissed them. Now I have to admit they're right. A lot of running back and forth on pointless quests. Too many boring characters who contribute nothing. Waaaaaaay too much dialogue. Very little actual puzzle solving or action. Just like a long, boring movie.… Expand
  15. Vis_
    Feb 7, 2023
    6
    Eastward presents a very striking dystopian universe that, unfortunately, is constantly interrupted by dozens of secondary characters that don't contribute with anything to the story. Not only that, but most of the tasks or missions related to them are very boring assignments...

    Personally, I usually like to see video games with characters and side quests that provide an extra, but in    Eastward presents a very striking dystopian universe that, unfortunately, is constantly interrupted by dozens of secondary characters that don't contribute with anything to the story. Not only that, but most of the tasks or missions related to them are very boring assignments...

    Personally, I usually like to see video games with characters and side quests that provide an extra, but in the case of Eastward we find that the characters are not well built, they go completely unnoticed and you will never empathize with them even if the game tries at some points.

    The story is undoubtedly interesting, but.... I just finished the game and I still don't understand anything, what did I miss? I was hoping to find an answer to at least some of the questions that the story poses throughout the game, but no... You end up with more questions than answers. I get the feeling that there was a lot of polish missing in this section. There are too many things that don't make sense that try to be justified by something similar to transcendental philosophical metaphors that only the developers understand.

    As for the gameplay during the dungeon crawling and puzzle parts, I have to confess that I liked it a lot. The difficulty curve feels fair and well implemented, both in combat and in puzzles. This, along with its unique visuals, has been one of the main reasons why I got hooked on the game. What I do have to mention is that it lacks mechanics such as dodging or defending yourself to fight enemies. The mobility options are very limited.

    In short, it hasn't been bad because it has kept me entertained for 30 hours, but it has disappointed me in many aspects...    … Expand
  16. stephanrewind
    Oct 10, 2022
    5
    The praise that this game gets shows a disturbing trend among players and reviewers alike: the elevation of “story” and art above gameplay. I won’t argue that both the art and the music are some of the best I’ve experienced in the retro, 16-bit inspired genre. However these are the only redeeming qualities of Eastward. Gameplay is bland and uninspired. You can tell the influence of Zelda,The praise that this game gets shows a disturbing trend among players and reviewers alike: the elevation of “story” and art above gameplay. I won’t argue that both the art and the music are some of the best I’ve experienced in the retro, 16-bit inspired genre. However these are the only redeeming qualities of Eastward. Gameplay is bland and uninspired. You can tell the influence of Zelda, but mechanics and puzzles fail to capture any of the excitement and sense of discovery of its reference.

    But the worst offender is the story, if you can call it that. Frankly I’m shocked to hear people praising what amounts to walls of filler dialogue, marred with juvenile humour and clunky attempts at characterization. It all feels like it’s been put together by some kid with no understanding of storytelling.

    Pacing is horrible too, the game constantly killing any momentum with more useless exposition cut scenes. I can’t understand that so many people seem to put story and art over gameplay, especially when story is non existent. What comes out of Eastward is a sense of waste. You want to love the game for its production values, but the chore of playing it makes the feeling more acute as you progress.

    Let’s put it simply: Eastward is a chore. Don’t waste your time and money.    … Expand
  17. laxalmusic
    Oct 11, 2022
    5
    I don't know why all the gaming scene recommend this title like a master piece, but imo is a 5 with an incredible idea with a really bad execution. I'm in love with the art and the story was great, but the game had three big problems:

    1. The "funny/random" dialogues (A really intense moment in the game), 5 minutes later: Joooon! You're a really good actor! Are you serious? All the    I don't know why all the gaming scene recommend this title like a master piece, but imo is a 5 with an incredible idea with a really bad execution. I'm in love with the art and the story was great, but the game had three big problems:

    1. The "funny/random" dialogues

    (A really intense moment in the game), 5 minutes later: Joooon! You're a really good actor!
    Are you serious? All the story main is perfect for a serious game approach.

    2. Filler quests

    Why in the mid and end game you tell me to do unnecessary quests? The game stops abruptly without senses and all the time appears new characters random with stupids infinite "funny" texts again.

    3. Jon

    The problem here is that you're the protagonist (?). Sam is an AMAZING character, but with the most nefarious companion in a game that I ever played. Jon don't do NOTHING! Only fight, like a Frankenstein or something like that.

    I'm really disappointing with this cause the idea and the story are perfect to a game but. It is what it is, a 5    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

92
#92 Best Switch Game of 2021
20
#20 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 32 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 32
  3. Negative: 0 out of 32
  1. Hobby Consolas
    Aug 5, 2022
    86
    Eastward pays tribute to the 90s adventures, mixing ideas from different titles, but keeping its own style. A little gem in the visual department that can entertain you for 25 hours or more, that now, thanks to the latest patch with the Spanish and German translation and all the improvements made, makes the adventure more accessible than ever.
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  2. XGN
    Jun 16, 2022
    70
    Eastward is a charming RPG with a colourful cast of characters, but unfortunately leaves a lot of questions left unanswered. However that doesn't mean you should skip this one, as up until the ending it is enjoyable.
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  3. IGN Adria
    Jun 2, 2022
    70
    Eastward is a great time capsule that very authentically follows the mechanics and style that were present in the games from the 90's. Maybe even too much because some mechanics have remained in the past for a reason.
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