Eastward test: the GOTY from China

In the Chucklefish incubator (Stardew Valley, Wargroove) since 2018, Eastward first caught the eye of pixel art enthusiasts, before hibernating incognito for nearly three years. A time spent by the small team of the Chinese studio Pixelpil to design the detailed and sumptuous decorations which made the reputation of the game, but also to harmonize the many contours of this extraordinary adventure which did not leave us indifferent. Head east.

Eastward test: the GOTY from China Read the conclusion Eastward

Fascinating universe
Sumptuous decorations
Long, rich and generous adventure
Funny and endearing characters

It lacks a dodge or a way to defend itself
Some stability/performance issues on Switch
A lot of unnecessary back and forth

Eastward has been available since September 16, 2021, on PC and Nintendo Switch for €24,99. Go for it.

The pair, there are not two

John is a taciturn old miner, a needy man who lives frugally in his dilapidated old trailer, screwed in the depths of a filthy underground city. Sam, whom the old man picks up in the opening cutscene, is quite the opposite: she's talkative, curious, full of life and deeply naive. Quickly left to their own devices and driven by the white-haired girl's thirst for freedom, the two heroes embark on a quest for a bigger-than-life identity worthy of the best role-playing games of the 90s (Secret of Mana, Zelda , Mother…), whom Eastward happily summons whenever he gets the chance.

In the dungeons, she can immobilize enemies and activate certain switches remotely with her energy beam, she handles the frying pan like no other to defeat enemies in melee. He also has bombs to explore the surroundings and will quickly be equipped with a larger arsenal as the adventure progresses. The duo, who constantly follow each other, share their life bar: switching from one to the other on the fly with a simple pull of the trigger requires time to adapt to be effective, but you end up getting used to it. to this little gymnastics especially as the beginning of the adventure is rather comprehensive in terms of difficulty. We end up regretting the absence of dodging or means of defending ourselves, especially when the problems of precision or collision come to disturb our games. The system invites a little untimely boring, at least at the start of the adventure: I have more life points, so I'm going to win.

In town, it's not time for fights. We discuss with the local brood to advance in the adventure, we cook good meals using ingredients picked up on the road like Breath of the Wild, we play a game of Earth Born - an 8-bit JRPG a Final Fantasy 1-style croquignole that comes with collectible gatcha creatures - and we're getting ready for the next less peaceful outing. Linear and commanding, Eastward leaves little room for strolling. The construction of the dungeons is particularly simple, the rare secret passages being easily deflowered by the treasure radar which John takes advantage of from the start of the adventure.

From laughter to tears

After the first hours of exposure, we also have the impression of having seen everything or almost. We logically say to ourselves that Pixelpil will politely decline its action/exploration/blabla formula, capitalize on this antagonistic duo and let the genius of its artists speak to offer us a nice feel good adventure as we like them. This is in a true sense, since Eastward constantly renews its offer: new accessories, powers and blasters for the action and adventure part, new earthy encounters, new sumptuous environments, plot twists and strong moments, mysterious and powerful antagonists...

The thing is, the game likes to systematically step aside. John, for example, does not say a word about the adventure, and rather than playing the tough love card like Joel and Ellie in The Last of Us, Eastward explores a new path by letting his heroine engulf all situations. narratives. When a misunderstanding or an obvious trap could have been avoided by a simple intervention from his protector, Sam instead rushes headlong, leading the old man into a new incredible adventure. Sam the exuberant and John the silent have this in common that they deploy the same energy whatever the issue of the moment, stopping at nothing to help a child martyred by his comrades or to win a cooking competition. To save a companion from death or to help a circus find success again, using an SM suit.

Eastward continues without flinching the strong dramatic stakes and the funny sketches, sometimes mixing the two with talent to blur the tracks. Halfway between Dropsy and Professor Layton, he constantly takes the player from behind to sharpen his interest. A tendency supported by the quality of the writing, which stuffs its deceptively naive dialogues with references, puns and absurd aphorisms. We salute the excellent adaptation work of the Spanish translators, who offer us impeccable localization from start to finish. Each encounter, even with an unimportant NPC, is an opportunity for Pixelpil to slip in a clever wink, discreetly break the fourth wall or tackle the clichés of the genre. Special mention to the refrigerators, which punctuate our manual backups with profound or absurd reflections on existence.

Generous to die for

In the same spirit, many ancillary sequences, often staggered, bring a little breath to a formula that has proven itself. The descent of the rapids in a jeep, the baseball game or the zany filming are not necessarily exceptional playful moments - just like the various bosses, which apart from the last one will not be remembered - but they testify to the efforts made by Pixpil so as not to lock the player into a playful routine which also fulfills its purpose very well. Sometimes slow and intimate, sometimes bubbling and mocking, Eastward stays the course and imposes its changes of rhythm without pain. This unusual cadence begins to wear out a little towards the middle of the adventure, but it is only to start again with a vengeance afterwards with a final third of anthology.

JVFR

Eastward is so-ptu-they

The game pays for its propensity to make us multiply unnecessary round trips, our noses glued to the card to optimize FedEx trips. We nevertheless understand the desire of the Chinese studio to make us survey the wide and across the sumptuous sets, which are teeming with details beautifully accentuated by subtle animations. Eastward is handsome even as he does not hesitate to abuse his graphic creations by plunging his environments into fog or darkness, even subjecting it to different times of the day. This is yet another elegant way of highlighting the excellent work done on the lights, with a clear difference between the natural and artificial sources which lends a crazy character to paintings already composed with mastery.

Adventure with a capital A

Eastward's retro-futuristic universe is transcended by this wondrous achievement. The different places visited cheerfully mix technological bazaar and organic matter: rock, earth, wood but also tiles, metal, cables are all perfectly recognizable, although often entangled in a shambles typical of a world between two apocalypses. . The decorations are dense and loaded, but remain perfectly legible. We spot the interactive elements in an instant without these denoting too much of the landscape, for an always impeccable progression in the dungeons or the cities. The Chinese studio has digested many influences, particularly in Japanese animation, to set this universalist fable which seems free of all borders.

JVFR

Not always very successful, the bosses also tend to bring the Switch to its knees...

Between the rather square gameplay, the unforgettable encounters and dialogues and the impressive realization, it is difficult to see in Eastward a simple independent game sold only in dematerialized form for less than 30 €. Driven by its scenario, which is smarter than it seems and tons of ideas at all levels, it offers between 20 and 30 hours of happiness for those who want to put a little good humor into their return to school. The few finishing problems - game that slumps severely during a few bosses, crashes without warning - are largely offset by very regular automatic saves which are added to the possibility of saving manually.

Eastward, the opinion of JVFR

A new paragon of feel-good adventure gaming, Eastward transcends its many youthful mistakes - pointless back-and-forths, limited exploration, finishing issues - with a hair-raising generosity that exudes from every pixel. If you come to Eastward for its generous plastic, you stay there for its humor, its fascinating universe, its implausible characters and its incredible situations, benefiting in passing from the inventiveness and mischief of its creators who definitely stop at nothing to pick us up. Eastward is a marvel, an excellent surprise that easily stands out among our best playful encounters of this year.

Eastward

Beyond his impressive achievement, Eastward imposes an original and offbeat touch on a beaten and hackneyed genre. Long, funny and exciting, it suffers from a few teething problems - finishing, rhythm - which in no way prevent it from being among the best games of this year 2021.