Bastion is an
action role-playing video game developed by
independent developer
Supergiant Games and originally published in 2011 by
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. In the game, the player controls "the Kid" as he moves through floating, fantasy-themed environments and fights enemies of various types. It features a dynamic voiceover from a narrator (
Logan Cunningham), and is presented as a two-dimensional game with an
isometric camera and a hand-painted, colorful art style.
Bastion's story follows the Kid as he collects special shards of rock to power a structure, the Bastion, in the wake of an apocalyptic Calamity.
The game was built over the course of two years by a team of seven people split between
San Jose and
New York City. They debuted the game at the September 2010
Penny Arcade Expo, and it went on to be nominated for awards at the 2011
Independent Games Festival and win awards at the
Electronic Entertainment Expo prior to release.
Bastion was published in July 2011 for
Xbox 360 via
Xbox Live Arcade, and in August 2011 through digital distribution for
Microsoft Windows on
Steam. Supergiant Games made it available as a
browser game for
Google Chrome in December 2011. It was released for
Mac OS X and
iOS in 2012, for
PlayStation 4 and
PlayStation Vita in 2015, for
Xbox One in 2016, and
Nintendo Switch in 2018.
Bastion's soundtrack was produced and composed by
Darren Korb, and a soundtrack album was made available for sale in August 2011.
During 2011, the game sold more than 500,000 copies, 200,000 of which were for the Xbox Live Arcade. It sold over three million copies across all platforms by January 2015. The game was widely praised by reviewers, primarily for its story, art direction, narration, and music. Opinions were mixed on the depth of the gameplay, though the variety of options in the combat system was praised.
Bastion has won many nominations and awards since its release, including several for best downloadable game and best music, from review outlets such as
IGN and
Game Informer as well as from the
Spike Video Game Awards, the
Game Developers Conference, and the
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. (
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