Written by: Discussion
Date posted: January 14, 2026

Hello! Over the past few years we’ve tried to schedule in a discussion review around Christmas time.

Due to various factors, these discussions haven’t always been written up and published in a timely fashion (or even happened at all) but for once we’ve got ourselves organised to get this one done and out the door in a reasonably quick timeframe.

Bastion is an indie action-RPG game developed by Supergiant Games and first released in 2011. You are ‘the Kid’, a diminutive ass-kicker tasked with battling his way through waves of enemies for the resources necessary to rebuild his homeworld.

While some discussions on this site are clearly flagged for major plot spoilers, this is more of a traditional review, although some minor details are mentioned below.

 

About the only good thing to come out of the past… is history

Stoo: Ok so, Bastion. I first bought this and played it fairly soon after release, then recently realised it more or less qualified as relevant to this site. Or at least we’re a bit less hardline on the ‘pre-2010’ criteria for indie games.

Rik: I think we’re roughly on the Xbox 360 era or earlier as a rough line – like, early 2010s. Perhaps we discussed this last time with Batman [you did – Ed.] but I think of that era as the last one where I was really impressed by the leap in graphics. I’m sure there have been plenty of improvements since but I no longer look at new games and think ‘wow’…

Stoo: Maybe working to console generations, even if we’re PC-oriented, is just as good as some arbitrary year!

Rik: I was trying to recall when I got Bastion, possibly in some indie bundle in 2012 or so. I only knew it as a kind of an indie darling of that era – a contemporary of other successful indie hits e.g. as covered in Indie Game: The Movie.

Stoo: Right, I vaguely recall it coming on my radar after it was recommended by review sites (maybe RPS).

Rik: [After a brief search of emails] Looks like I bought it in 2012 in a bundle with Super Meat Boy, Braid and Limbo, among others.

Stoo: Oh, I have played Limbo also – it’s clever but grim…
 

The gods ain’t gonna catch you if you fall

Stoo: So I guess to describe Bastion briefly to our readers, it’s an isometric-view action game. Or an action-RPG, although the RPG elements are fairly light. Most of it takes place in little islands and paths floating in the sky because the world has gotten broken (killing almost everyone) in a big ‘calamity’. And one of the signature features is the way bridges and paths suddenly fall into places as you approach them.

Rik: It sort of feels like a bit of a run and gun type energy, you feel like you have to keep moving, a bit like in a platformer, with the way that the world falls into place, although only occasionally do you actually have to keep moving to survive.

Stoo: Is there a ground below or are you just in big void? I was unclear on that.

Rik: I felt like there was a void, albeit one that has non-fatal consequences if you fall into it.

Stoo: The narrator (we’ll get onto him) just says something droll and you respawn with a bit less health.

Rik: I can’t say that I’ve ever played anything quite like it – I suppose I thought of Ys: The Oath in Felghana a little bit (covered in a previous, now quite old, discussion).

Stoo: Right, that’s another actiony game with RPG bits…

Rik: But with a bit more emphasis on the latter I guess, Bastion is pretty light.

Stoo: I quite enjoyed the rhythm of the action here – roll, block and parry, attack… it can definitely be frantic at times.

Rik: You have a shield and two weapons…

Stoo: Right, and if you time the shield right it can stun enemies or bounce ranged attacks back.

Rik: You do have to get the hang of blocking, dodging and making use of the different weapons – I agree, definitely enjoyable once you do.

Stoo: Some weapons are hand-to-hand like a machete or hammer, then there are ranged weapons, and you have to choose two for each level.

Rik: I figured it made sense to have one ranged and one melee weapon to hand.

Stoo: Yeah, you’d think that’s most sensible, although I did get a lot of use out of pistols and carbine, since the pistols are rapid fire and the carbine is more about taking a moment to place your shot.

Rik: Now, not to ask a stupid question… but did you feel the later weapons were always an improvement on what you already had? e.g. I quite liked the bow and arrow and stuck with it for a long time, but kind of wondered if I was a bit daft for not switching it out earlier.

Stoo: I assumed weapons are intended to be balanced, so later isn’t necessarily better, just a new option.

Rik: I know that when you find a new weapon on a level you initially have to use it if you pick it up. But I didn’t often think, ‘wow I must keep using this…’ I guess I had a moment of wondering if this might be an RPG element that I wasn’t really understanding until I realised, no it’s probably fine to just use what you like. I suppose there are all of those weapon proving grounds to practice with each one a bit more.

Stoo: Right, so the proving grounds are optional levels that give a reward based on performance, each focusing on one weapon, and you can repeat them as much as you like.

Rik: If I quite enjoyed the weapon proving ground, I was more likely to use it. If I was very bad then I just put it away for good, pretty much.

Stoo: I found some of them pretty tough, even for my favourite weapons.

Rik: You get a prize just for attempting each one, then it tells you what score you’d need to get the next prize. If it seemed achievable then I pressed on, but for some (and I can’t remember which this applies to) I was just like, well there’s no way I’ll do that.

Stoo: I did find a ‘hack’ where you equip the spirit that gives bonus damage at low health, then just throw yourself off the edge until hurt enough to use it, since most challenges don’t have actual baddies to threaten you. That definitely helped a couple of times!

Rik: Spoken like a seasoned RPG-er!

 

The world fell apart. It wasn’t the end of everything, but it sure felt like it

Rik: So I guess that’s one way there are optional ‘side quests’ that also help you practice, but otherwise it’s fairly linear in terms of going from world to world.

Stoo: There are also the ‘who knows where’ levels that are just gauntlets with about 15 waves of enemies.

Rik: Ah yes, you smoke a pipe or something, and have a dream about killing lots of baddies…

Stoo: Yeah, while the narrator (we’ll get to him!) tells you all about one of the characters.

Rik: Without getting onto the narrator, the story is about trying to repair the broken world, right? You warp from place to place to find ‘cores’ to rebuild the Bastion.

Stoo: Yes, the regular levels are about getting those cores, and each one upgrades the Bastion, which mostly means new shops and facilities appearing in your floating citadel/base.

Rik: And you have a choice about what to rebuild first. You can choose to upgrade weapons or powers, or a build a place to earn rewards for achievements. I think you can also choose make the game harder for more XP, right?

Stoo: Yes, the idols…

Rik: But I don’t think it’s a game in which to get too bogged down in decisions, it’s more about ways to influence how you want to play.

Stoo: Choosing the weapon upgrades is the RPG bit I guess, like which weapons to boost and then you have choices along the way (rate of fire vs critical chance etc.)

Rik: I have to say as an indecisive player I felt it was fairly relaxed about what you chose, which I was glad about. I think even if you upgrade some weapons in a certain way you can reverse that decision later and choose another option with no penalty.

Stoo: If you’re thorough you can upgrade a bunch of weapons, maybe even all of them if you do the weapon challenges and gauntlets enough.

Rik: I was not thorough. I did the challenges I enjoyed and hoped that would be sufficient, which it was.

Stoo: I was able to upgrade the weapons I liked most, at least.

Rik: Yeah, same.

 

Through twisted streets, he ran. With nothing but the City Crest, and an old stranger’s voice to guide him

Stoo: I found the game overall to be not too tough. Or at least, not the main levels?

Rik: No, there was no grinding required I felt. Once you get the hang of how the combat works, it’s pretty light on challenge. I did dread the bosses being tricky, like in Ys, but they weren’t.

Stoo: It’s sort of clever in that it doesn’t have a difficulty setting, but you can customise it with the idol room [Shrine]. Switch on more of them and it gets tougher (enemies are faster or hit harder), plus you get more rewards. I ignored all of that because I am a wimp.

Rik: Yeah, I was like, this isn’t for me.

Stoo: The game is not super-long at all.

Rik: No, 6 hours or so? I’m not sure there’s a lot to master in terms of different baddies. There are one or two later on that are quite dangerous: is there some kind of land shark [‘Anklegator’ – Ed.] or something at the end?

Stoo: Yeah I know what you mean, the ones underground that pop up to attack you, and get faster as they take damage.

Rik: But as I mentioned I was fearing bosses with complicated patterns that you had to memorise, and there’s none of that.

Stoo: No, I think the toughest boss was two of those big flower things? None are especially complex.

Rik: I imagine it could be quite hard if you cranked things up via the idols, but not otherwise.

Stoo: Exactly, I did have a sense sometimes of surviving things I probably shouldn’t when my timing was off. I’m sure with the idols it is far more unforgiving. The final level does throw you a bit by replacing your both your weapons with one new one.

Rik: Is that the big trunk like thing?

Stoo: Yep. It’s powerful but you’re slower, can’t roll, can’t move while blocking, and so you have to adapt to a new fighting style.

Rik: It’s not for too long though. Also I feel like it’s sort of designed to make sure you have something that works for the final level, rather than risk floundering with your own weapon, or a bad choice.

Stoo: Hmm, yes that’s true. I missed my carbine though!

 

Let go of the past, appreciate the present, and move towards the future

Stoo: So I also wanted to discuss the artwork and aesthetics. It looks quite appealing overall, though I’m not sure how much the cutesy character art works for me.

Rik: Is it a bit JRPG-y would you say?

Stoo: Yeah, I guess it nods in that direction, big heads, big eyes.

Rik: I know we’re not discussing the story or narrator yet, but in a way it sort of jars with the delivery.

Stoo: Well, we can head that way! Because I was also interested in the use of music and voice acting.

Rik: I thought it looked and sounded good but you do have this kind of SNES-style RPG presentation with cutesy on-screen characters combined with a quite gravelly voiceover that was meant to be one of those little figures.

Stoo: Right, exactly.

Rik: I was a bit like, ‘that character doesn’t have this voice’.

Stoo: There’s this strong Old West tone to the narrator (old gravelly voiced guy called Rucks who hangs around the Bastion), also to the soundtrack (which is awesome). But that doesn’t carry over to the rest of the game.

Rik: I liked both the performance and the soundtrack but couldn’t quite reconcile them with the visuals.

Stoo: Right, because the visuals look like a modernised SNES RPG.

Rik: And sadly I think sometimes I was tuning out the narration, in terms of the words he was saying, it became part of the soundtrack almost. Like, when you smoke the pipe, I didn’t take in any of the backstory, partly because you have to keep your wits about you…

Stoo: Right, that’s also true. He does talk a lot, either reacting to stuff happening or filling in backstory, but sometimes you just want to focus on that big gas monster or killer bird or whatever. I get that it saves lengthy exposition between levels, and some of his comments are funny – like when he’ll comment on your various weapon combos if you swap them around.

Rik: I did have some difficulty following the story even though there’s only about 4 characters including you.

Stoo: I think I got the gist of it, although I remembered some from playing before.

Rik: I guess we want to avoid mega spoilers, but there is a choice to be made towards the end. I didn’t feel entirely equipped to make it, other than by basing it on a general philosophy of life.

Stoo: I think there are some themes about dwelling on the past vs moving on.

Rik: I chose to move on! But only based on a broad feeling that you shouldn’t try and go back.

Stoo: I also went for moving on.

Rik: How did the story grab you generally? I was mainly motivated by powering through the baddies, rather than seeing more story.

Stoo: It is quite easy to gloss over a lot of the story, in particular the backstories of [supporting characters] Zia and Zulf, which you get in bits and pieces.

Rik: I think when you find things in levels and then talk to those characters about those objects in the Bastion, I didn’t really take that in. And, like I mentioned, I kept having a pause when realising the narrator was the little old guy in the Bastion.

Stoo: The old guy, who looks like a young guy with grey hair and a fake moustache…

 

All he got was more thankless work, from a man that ain’t even asked his name

Stoo: So I think we’ve covered most of my notes.

Rik: Mine too.

Stoo: Oh, I did like that bit where you find the animals (which I think are implied to be sentient in this setting) building a kind of crude Bastion of their own. And it’s all kind of sad and desperate, this scrabble for survival in the ruins of the world, then you have to wreck their place by taking their core for the actual Bastion.

Rik: Hmm, that must have passed me by.

Stoo: It’s somewhere in the middle section of the game, the levels in the wilds. Again, though, you have to be taking in Rucks’ comments while trying not to get murdered by giant birds.

Rik: Oh, that reminds me, we didn’t mention the limited special powers available to you, on top of your weapons.

Stoo: Ah yes, you have a bunch available and have to choose one to equip for each level.

Rik: There was one where you could tame some of the creatures and have them fight for you…

Stoo: I just stayed on the hand grenade when I got it.

Rik: Are we looking at overall impressions then?

Stoo: Yes, I’m finding it oddly difficult to collate my thoughts. I will say the action works pretty well, and I appreciate this not being some massive super-grindy RPG. I don’t need another Diablo right now!

Rik: I enjoyed it as a good short blast.

Stoo: You mentioned it not being what you were expecting?

Rik: I guess because the story passed me by a little, I was expecting a bit more in that regard. And possibly that it might be slower paced, with more of a combination of action and exploration. But this is all based on absolutely minimal prior research. I don’t feel misled!

Stoo: I feel like the story could have been delivered more effectively somehow.

Rik: I don’t see how it can be a priority if it’s delivered over the top of the action. If the action is engaging, which it is, then you’re going to tune out at various points.

Stoo: That might be it. Which is a shame, as there’s this great, melancholy idea of survivors in a ruined world. but it can easily become just a game of rolling around abstract floating platforms and shooting monsters.

Rik: I think I got the melancholy vibe from the narration and the music but as a background thing while doing the stabbing and whacking.

Stoo: Does it need… more interaction with NPCs? More survivors to meet? More exploration, even at the risk of padding the game?

Rik: I think that’s what I expected, but I’m not necessarily complaining, probably because I’m not sure I would have wanted a more traditional RPG experience from this one. I was happy to enjoy it as an action game. But for the story to have more impact I’d need it to do something different.

Stoo: Right, I think I agree.

Rik: I’m glad I played it but not sure it’s quite on the level of running off to tell people it’s great. I must admit that I came across some comments about it being ‘the perfect game’, which made me re-evaluate my preliminary ‘yeah, good, 7/10’ verdict.

Stoo: I was going to go for 8. I think I am often a soft touch, though, so I will agree with you this time!

Rik: Let the record show, internet hordes, that Stoo wanted an 8.

Stoo: I think the more we discuss this game I find myself just a bit unsatisfied!

Rik: Yeah, well certainly no regrets on my part. I think maybe I found it slightly underwhelming perhaps, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Stoo: Same, if I stop nitpicking I can enjoy it as an action game with cool music. So 7/10 it is!

Rik: But if that makes anyone cross, blame me.