Eastward
Game Title: Eastward
Released: September 16, 2021
Game Length: 30 Hours
Grade: C+
History
Game Division: Eastward is a little hard to explain when so much of it is segmented apart from itself. There are three main parts to try out: (1) the main game with a series of chapters, (2) the mini-game you play on the console, and (3) the add-on that requires the purchase of the core game to play. The main game has you taking a train to various locations between chapters. You cannot go back once you get on that train after each chapter. Everything around you, including the people that do not leave the settlement, will never be seen again. The console game can be played in its entirety at the last site. The collectable balls you retrieve from the vending machine cycle through a new set of rewards when you obtain all the ones on display (usually within a dozen turns). There is someone in a back alley that will sell you more tokens. Octopia, the farming add-on, is a completely separate game with very little correlation to the main game. Only the characters and assets are used with some subtle references to events of the main game. While not necessary, completing the first chapter will help you understand the relationship between the two a little more and give some background history.
Development: Although the main game was released in 2021, the "second" game was released the beginning of 2024. Despite its appearance, the game does not support two players. You will cycle between the silent protagonist that uses weapons and a magical girl that can fit through small gaps in the landscape. There was a small number of adjustments and changes made within the first few months of release. In Patch 1.1.0, A Fast Travel option was added to the map and an unusual Filter Mode that changes the settings for the screen. Otherwise, a lot of work was done for other languages, support for Steam Deck, adding board game components and vinyl to the special editions, and a cute plushie. Not bad for a couple of guys who had to redo some of the game because of a lockdown. A couple months before Octopia was made available, they supplied a couple of conveniences to the core game. These include Story Fast Forward that enables you to accelerate cutscenes and Fast Travel Points. This is just more quality of life improvements to add to the ability of skipping past that very catchy cooking scene every time you make a meal.
Eastward
Chapters: As stated above, each chapter is pretty much completely cut off from each other. Any sort of secrets, chests, upgrades, or ingredients should be obtained before proceeding to the next one. It is entirely possible to miss out on some important abilities if you aren't careful. Chapter 1 includes an entire underground establishment that acts as a tutorial to learn how to interact with the world and battle monsters. Chapter 2 includes a hypothetical scenario how things would be if you decide to settle down with a small community. Something happens that pushes you further east in Chapter 3 to a big city with an unusual sense of humor with how everything is named after the dam that's nearby. There is a large exploration area that slowly unlocks as you progress the story with a factory and old cemetery. Things get rather crazy as you explore different areas of the city in Chapter 4 & 5 through the maintenance tunnels and the festival. Chapter 6 explores a very unusual setting when you get trapped with a bunch of movie-making monkeys on a train. Chapter 7 throws you into a day that will not end in a fisherman's town. Finally, Chapter 8 has you do battle with the villain of the story.
Gameplay: Much of the game focuses on you conversing with characters and exploring the world. The opening sequence can only do so much until you see things for yourself. There will always be a number of hidden secret areas to discover, some of which will tease a "grand plan" from the villain to "recreate" the world. Each chapter brings you to a new setting that seems specifically designed to explore some sort of new concept. There will be new ingredients to cook, abilities to use, and tools for battle. You can save your game periodically at a refrigerator (they never really explain the device) and use salt as currency for each of the towns. The story leads you on to some devastating results every few hours that "wipes the slate clean" every time the developers feel like moving on to another locale. There are a number of adult areas like rooms inside a casino with role-playing toys or sections where the girl is refused entry. Robots are treated as regular humans and monkeys are the ones that seem to have evolved beyond humans. The idea of civilizations living on in the remnants of advanced technology isn't exactly a new concept but the game does show off a neat, existing world full of different types of communities continuing to survive despite the chaos.
Earth Born
Interface: Within the first few moments of the main game, you will be introduced to something that the children are playing at a local store. It's like an old Final Fantasy game attached to a console that brings up an old television screen (that you can change the color of after you beat the game) when you interact with it. Your first time at the game doesn't take long as you wander around the landscape trying to find companions to defeat the evil boss in the tower after a period of seven days. Anything you unlock from portals to people becomes available in your next game. You can face foes that block the road, venture into caves for a random item, buy equipment from the merchant (changes each day), and learn a random number of abilities as your characters level up. These changes can drastically alter your experience like in the case of a priest that learns how to deal damage instead of using various heals. Any who fall will automatically be replaced by someone in the back row. They will not gain experience but can be revived back at home base. After you are "successful" in your endeavor, you will have a chance at a secondary phase taking down a monster in each region.
Pixballs: Though a person could potentially do all of this without making any progress in the main game, there are a number of collectables obtained from Vending Machines that will "insert" usable items from the menu interface. These can range from simple potions that restore health to grenades that stun the enemy. A Mad Rat specifically needs to be obtained to receive a magic key for those strange locked doors. The Fat Dragon will be given to you from another player in the main game and the other dragons do not appear until you beat Earth Born. A player only needs to find tokens out in the world and use them at any general store. Even if you somehow reached the final chapter and finish the story, there will be an option to backtrack in order to retrieve more pixballs.
Octopia
Gameplay: You start off in some abandoned theme park trying to grow a farm for you and your adopted daughter. There's an axe that works on both trees and rocks, gloves that makes it easier to pick up things, water that squirts out of a can, and a rusty ol' fishing pole. Things are way easier than you expect when seeds are automatically loaded into your hoe, crops only require a split second of you pouring endless water out of your can, and your daughter automatically collects things you pick up like a magnet. The main focus of the game is learning what you can churn together into a meal with the ingredients you pick up. These can range from the eggs you get from chickens, milk from cows, mushrooms from pigs, fish, crops, fruit from trees, and other things you can forage from the ground. Every time you get a new ingredient, enter inside your character's mind and click on the bubbles to formulate a new meal you can cook. Use the various stations to turn those ingredients into something more like milk into cheese.
Progression: Of course, you will be receiving some assistance from other people who move into your quaint little hole in the middle of nowhere. A general store will provide you the goods for new seeds and equipment. A construction crew will help build things as long as you provide the wood, stone, and salt required. You'll be able to find some secrets in the depths with a mining drone such as a rare mushroom (that turns into a portal if you turn the lights off with the rope in the basement) and a surprise guest that immediately turns into a freeloader. Once someone crashes into your house, you'll eventually be able to open up the snowy west or oceanic south. Find some energy gems for them and activate "cheat codes" that instantly grow all crops, lay bombs without using your supply on your mining drone, and other technology shortcuts for you on your farm. After that, you kind of sit around with an endless supply of salt in the hopes some sort of random visitor or event pops up that leads you to another ingredient. To get everything unlocked, you will need to wait after the credits roll. Unfortunately, I ran out patience around 90% completion.
Summary
Review: Everything about this game is filled to the brim with chaos. We are designed to forget about what we experienced every few hours as the world brings forth devastating horrors. I do not like being unable to return to previous areas and lose out on important aspects of the game. I don't like the idea of feeling like my effort was wasted when all the characters around me are now gone. The ending was not satisfactory for what little carried on throughout the whole game. At least the mini-game was a fun distraction and the add-on brings out a more positive outcome from a world without monsters. However, I ultimately do not recommend this game. I started playing this game at the beginning of this year, took a break after every chapter, and finally finished it about six months later.