The game that kicked off Supergiant Games, Bastion, first came out as a digital indie on the last gen of consoles. Then, it was ported over to current gen, mostly because Supergiant was releasing some top-notch indies, but also because Bastion was so badass. Supergiant has been slouch when it comes to offering tons of merch for their fans (their soundtracks are amazing and the vinyl versions are true pieces of art), but never have their games been available on physical format. That is changing now.
Bastion is a tough, creative, and stylistic post-apocalyptic story about the Boy trying to rebuild the world after a catastrophic event called the Calamity. It’s basically and arcade shooter, featuring tons of weapons and powerups. It was everyone’s first introduction to the indie studio that went on to release two more indie superhits, Transistor and Pyre, the latter of which has become one of my favorite games of this entire generation. Recently, Supergiant started up a new newsletter deal, which may mean that they’re going to reveal a new IP soon, but with their second news “Blast,” they’ve dropped this Bastion physical release bomb. Oh yeah, by the way, it’s got a full-color instruction manual, so yeah, pretty badass.
Personally, I’ve already preordered. I’m a collector of Supergiant Games merch and swag, but I haven’t played Bastion since it’s release almost a decade ago. I’m definitely excited to get back into it, but honestly, I’m super excited to flip through an instruction manual, just like the good old days. Binding of Isaac included one in it’s Switch physical release, and it’s my personal opinion that it’s something we should bring back across the board. If only I were in charge.