*=Video
^=Music
All Caps=Recommended
Hover mouse over screenshots for commentary.
December2015
 A pretty loading screen. |  Where you start. |  The ground appears as you walk forward. It doesn't change the actual gameplay much, but it looks pretty cool. |
|---|---|---|
 The Bastion. This is your home base. |  Taking on some baddies. |  Health is in the top left while equipped weapons are shown in the bottom right. |
 The narrator talks throughout most of the game. |  An example of a cutscene. |  There are challenge rooms where you fight waves of enemies. There are narrated as flashbacks, hence the color de-saturation. |
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 This place has some thick bushes that enemies hide in. |  |  |
 I have all 10 totems activated, making the game as hard as possible, but giving me the greatest rewards. |  |  The Bastion is in bad shape . . . |
 Obligatory Platinum Trophy screenshot. |  Another title screen. |
Bastion is on a variety of systems, but for me it's ideal for the Vita. The gameplay is somewhat similar to the Diablo games but without the loot system; rather, there are several unique weapons that can each be upgraded in their own way. The game plays very differently depending on what weapon you choose to use, and the game itself encourages you to switch things around from time to time.
Throughout the game there is a narrator that . . . narrates everything you do. It's a novel idea that doesn't really get old, but for the life of me I can't really recall what the story was about. Essentially, you play as one of the only survivors of some cataclysmic event and are trying to re-assimilate the world itself. You do this through the medium of defeating bad guys.
The game has some unique gameplay mechanics. For example, you can selectively activate idols which make the game harder in specific ways (enemies do double damage, enemies leave bombs upon death, etc) in exchange for more experience and other rewards. It essentially offers a highly sophisticated difficulty system so that the game can be tailored to each player.
The game itself was created by a relatively small team, and I think that's quite an accomplishment. The game has no bugs (that I was aware of), plays well, has good game design ideas, and looks nice. Even though the gameplay wasn't particularly unique, I found myself drawn to it and played it until I got the platinum trophy. I fell under it's spell.