Eastward
Review

Eastward (2021) is an adventure game about a miner who meets a young girl in a secret facility. Together you explore the decaying cities and discover the truth about her origins and what’s behind the creatures who are destroying everything. The narrative is built as you talk to characters from the towns and villages that you explore, they may help you by giving information or items.

It’s a single-player game but you have the choice of either controlling John, the miner, or the little girl, Sam, as some hidden paths can be found with each character. John has weapons such as a flamethrower, cog-shooter, frying pan and any others you find along the way. Sam has magical powers with spells such as a kinetic blast, and stunning enemies. You can collect ingredients to cook meals that give different health benefits and powers, meaning planning for future battles is necessary.

It blends the story and sense of place that games like Stardew Valley create with the puzzles, exploration and world physics (and cooking) of games like Zelda Breath of the Wild.

Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Eastward 3 years ago. It was re-examined by Rich Adams and updated 5 months ago.