Bastion

Bastion’s story starts with a young boy awakening to a fractured, though beautiful, world. He has no memories, and is referred to only as “the kid” throughout the game. His story is narrated by an older man, who simultaneously tells the story as if he were looking back on it and as if he were helping the kid along. Real-time narration in a game is rare, and this element of storytelling in Bastion has been praised by many as memorable and unique.It turns out that something called “The Calamity” has occurred in this world, an event that broke apart the land and resulted in the deaths of almost everyone living there. The kid makes his way to the Bastion, the last reserve of humanity, and meets an old man there (the narrator). He finds out that he must reconstruct the Bastion by gathering shards and cores, which can generally be found at the end of levels.

While this part of the game is fairly typical, there are two other elements that make for slightly atypical gameplay. The first is the Proving Grounds, where the kid can practice using his weapons and shield. These trials are not easy—they take mechanical skill and strategy to complete at the higher levels. The second element is the ability to activate Gods. The kid discovers lost idols in his journey, and these can be used to make the gameplay harder in various ways—for instance, adding hit points to the monsters, or making it impossible for the kid to be revived after falling from a ledge. One teacher used this mechanic as a way to teach students intersectionality in oppression.

[Spoilers ahead] The kid eventually discovers a couple of other survivors, both of whom are part of a group of nomads who were oppressed by the kid’s people. It comes to light that the Calamity was caused by these nomads in order to prevent their genocide. One of the kid’s new friends betrays those living in the Bastion in order to stop its reconstruction. In the end, the kid is given several options. He can kill or spare the friend who betrayed him, and he can start over (sort of going back in time before the Calamity occurred), or he can choose to carry on as before with his new-found friends, in the hope that he can create a new and better world.

Bastion’s themes include the gray area between right and wrong and the responsibility of individuals who are part of a privileged group for the actions of that group (even if they may not agree with those actions or have personally contributed to them).

Savepoints occur whenever a player enters a new area.

The gameplay settings in Bastion are unique. Players cannot simply go into the "settings" menu and change the game from easy to difficult; rather, they will unlock Idols as they traverse the world, and each Idol can be used to add some type of handicap. For example, one Idol might give enemies more life points, while another might take away some of the player's damage points. These handicaps can be used one at a time or stacked for a variation of difficulties and gameplay experiences.

• What sort of responsibility do you have for the actions of people in your in-group? (People you identify with, or a group you identify as a part of?) If you don’t agree with your group’s actions, do you still have responsibility toward the people those actions may have affected?
• Do you think it’s fair for the kid to feel guilty for his people’s attempted genocide? Even if he didn’t have any hand in it?
• If you chose to spare the friend who betrayed you, why? If you chose to kill him, why did you make that choice?
• Can you find any similarities between Bastion’s history and real-life history?