Better late than never, Bastion

I read a lot about Bastion before its release, and it seemed like a game I would appreciate but never love. The rebuilding land gimmick seemed a little silly and the combat looked simplistic. So I waited until it was on sale before buying it, while it racked up awards, and waited until now to actually play it. And for the first chunk of the game I'd say my expectations were about right. I liked the narrator, really liked the gorgeous graphics, which are phenomenal and demonstrate once again that 2D can do things that 3D cannot (The reverse is definitely true as well.) The combat was okay and the story was a little inscrutable but fine, nothing to write home about.

I'm not sure when my opinion began to change exactly because there was no one big turning moment. Just lots of little ones as the world began to fill in and the game began to build on itself in every way. Bastion's gameplay might be a modification of many games that came before but I can't remember a game that was so unified in every way between its themes, gameplay, graphics, and narrative. It's all about construction and moving forward to the point where when the last choice came it didn't feel like a choice at all.

But man did it hit home on an emotional level. The last level of Bastion affected me as much as any game I can think of. It has such a haunting beauty, and even as you are by that point kind of unstoppable, scything through enemies in relentless pursuit of your goal, there was just this gorgeous melancholy and feeling of weightiness. In some ways Bastion reminds me of a Cormac McCarthy novel, maybe not quite as dark (though it is plenty dark) but lyrically beautiful and caught between the real world and the world of dreams. I think it doesn't get counted as an art game because it's fun to play, but it makes an unassailable case for games as art and it stands as a singular experience. To think that this is the first game from this studio...

I know everybody has lavished praise on this game, and I'm super late to the party, but as someone who was a little turned off by the praise and went in thinking of the game as a palate cleanser between big AAA releases, and came out with the feeling you get from experiencing something that's just about perfect, I just wanted to join my voice to the praise chorus. This is a game made by adults for adults, and while I'm still processing it, I know it will find its way to my all-time top ten list by the time I'm done mulling it over.

The evolution of Xbox Live Arcade from hosting old arcade games and new stuff like Screwjumper and Shrek 'N Roll to having some of my favorite games ever has been nothing short of astonishing.