A brand new trailer for the pixel art RPG Eastward has just been revealed and with it came the announcement of its official release date. The title will arrive on September 16 on the Nintendo Switch.
At today's Nintendo Indie World Showcase, a number of upcoming indie games that are coming to Nintendo Switch got a chance to stand in the spotlight. From new information on the Jet Set Radio-inspired Bomb Rush Cyberfunk to the RTS revival of Metal Slug, a large catalog of a variety of different games were shown off during the 20-minute event. The last thing that was shown during the event was a new trailer for the 2-D adventure title Eastward, the latest game coming from Stardew Valley and Risk Rain publisher, Chucklefish, and the first game coming from developer Pixpil. The trailer showed off the game's vibrant pixel art and a few snippets of gameplay. The in-game footage was intercut with shots of an animated character floating in an orange substance, unconscious. The stinger at the end of the trailer was the character jolting awake, followed by the game's title card and the announcement of its release date.
Pixpil is a Shanghai-based indie studio that was founded in 2013 with only three members, with Eastward originally announced back in 2015. In a blog post from that year, they explained that players will be playing as two characters named John and Sam traveling through a post-apocalyptic world. After escaping a subterranean society, the duo set out across the world, where you will face terrifying monsters and creatures.
The developers have cited games like Legend of Zelda as inspirations, but add that they also want to give the game a "JRPG storyline." The game will focus on puzzle-solving and will have dungeon-crawling. As you travel across the land in the little train car featured so prominently in all of the game's trailers, you will find yourself facing off not just with creatures, but with a cast of unique characters as well. Your journey through the pixel art world will be accompanied by music composed by Joel Corelitz, who has done work on games such as Halo Infinite and Death Stranding.
In the description of the trailer, publisher Chucklefish gives a brief overview of what the game is.
"In the near-future, society is starting to collapse, and the human population is at an all-time low. A deadly toxic presence has spread across the land, destroying and devouring everything in its path. Escape a subterranean society and join Eastward’s unlikely duo on an exciting adventure to the land above! Discover beautiful yet bizarre settlements and make new friends as you travel across the world by rail."
Eastward will release on Nintendo Switch and PC on September 16. Check out the new trailer for Eastward below.