Bastion

Here is the launch trailer:


According to Supergiant Games, Bastion is "an original action role-playing game featuring a reactive narrator who marks your every move, lush hand-painted 2D artwork, and tight responsive gameplay that rewards playing with finesse. The game is designed to be simple to pick up and start playing, while offering a lot of rich choices around character customization as well as a deep story and gameworld you can lose yourself in."

On the story, they say that in the game, you play as "a young man (The Kid) who wakes up to find his world shattered to pieces in a surreal catastrophe called the Calamity. You head for a place called the Bastion, where your people were supposed to go in case anything ever went wrong. But all you find there is an old man… who believes he can fix everything that’s happened, but he needs your help. You then seek out the materials necessary to complete the Bastion and realize its true power. This story unfolds through the use of real-time narration, so you will be piecing together the mysteries of the gameworld every step of the way, as the narrator conveys the greater meaning behind your every action."

Bastion's narrator says that a "proper story’s supposed to start at the beginning. Ain’t so simple with this one.”

I, personally, feel that this is a game that should not be missed. I loved this game so much that I played New Game+ 6 times even though there are only four endings. One of the most interesting parts of this game is the customization - when you level up, instead of just getting stronger, you gain customization options for your weapons, special abilities, and general stats. Do you want to be a long-range assassin or a close-range destroyer?

The Kid using an old Scrap Musket.

Bastion lets you shape The Kid into however you want him to be. There is also a Sigils system (think Skulls from Halo) that allow you to gain more XP and Fragments. (the game's currency) All the art in the game was also hand-painted, and the art doesn't disappoint (see below)

Bastion has beautiful (hand-painted!!) art.

In the Mac release, the game also runs in full 1080p, and the controls are fully customizable, both on mouse/keyboard and on a gamepad. It is also DRM-free! In the Steam version, there are cloud saves, (considering this is a 10-12 hour RPG, you might need them) leaderboards for various aspects of the game, and achievements. It also includes all of the DLC, including "The Stranger's Dream", and the Score Attack and No Sweat modes.

According to the system requirements, you need 512 VRAM to play this. (sorry Intel GMA users) You also need a gigabyte of hard drive space.

It's available on the Mac App Store HERE, and will be available on Steam at THIS LINK.

As the narrator says, "The world here is a precarious place. Better watch your step."