![]() ![]() Further, the game is full of parallels with such weighty real-world themes as colonialism, exploitation of natural resources, and even the use of nuclear weapons. It is, fundamentally, a story about what to do after a great catastrophe, whether one that is literally apocalyptic or, in a metaphorical sense, more personally so. It would not be reasonable to refer to Bastion’s story as “dark” or “gritty,” but it is certainly very mature. ![]() The art is certainly beautiful, but it stands in sharp contrast to the game’s tone. The characters (even the one with the mustache) all manage to look sort of like children, with disproportionately-large heads and rounded features, and the game’s color palette consists almost entirely of very bright, warm colors. The art style conveys a sort of childlike, fairy-tale, storybook quality tone. The first and most obvious thing is the contradiction between the game’s art style and the maturity of its tone. To help show this, I’m going to look at three separate sets of apparently-contradictory elements which Supergiant Games managed to weave into a harmony. There is a great deal more to Whitehead’s theory than this, but I think it’s an excellent starting point for a discussion of Bastion, as I think that much of the game’s unique appeal stems from its excellence in doing just this. is “better”) the more harmony it produces, which stands in direct relation to either how many different pieces are harmonized, or how wildly different the pieces in question were. I’ve mentioned Whitehead before on this website, in a discussion of scope, but in case you don’t remember that, in Whitehead’s schema, aesthetic value is derived from taking disparate elements (concepts, characters, musical tones) and working them into harmony with one another. (A Small Part of ) Whitehead’s Theory of Aesthetics To help shed some light on how this works, I’m going to draw briefly some from the aesthetic theories of Alfred North Whitehead.įirst, in case you’re unfamiliar with Bastion, watch this trailer to get some idea what the game is about: Much of what makes the game interesting is the way in which it unifies various disparate elements which might, at first glance, seem to be irreconcilable, and then uses that tension to produce a better work of art than they would have made had they chosen more obviously-compatible elements. What I have settled on to write about today is one of the ways that Bastion manages to be as completely unique as it is. Since I was struck by just how darn good Bastion was, both as an enjoyable game and as an excellent piece of interactive storytelling, I was seized by about a dozen different ideas for Ontological Geek articles. It’s almost certainly better than what you were going to be playing anyway. Fundamentally, it’s very good, and you should play it. It’s certainly not perfect, but nothing ever is, and it is definitely good enough that it can be recommended wholly without disclaimers or qualification. It’s now available on both Xbox Live and Steam for about $ 15, and is definitely worth the price. It’s an excellent game, and if you haven’t already played it, you should. About two weeks ago, I finally managed to sit down and play through Bastion, an excellent indie action RPG developed by seven-person studio Supergiant Games that was released in mid-July.
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