---
title: eastward
draft: true
---

- aesthetic
- music
- story
  - john's trauma
  - sam's saccharine perspective
    - the aesthetic supports this - music, aesthetics, _general_ tone of the day to day
    - the veil is only lifted occasionally
  - the game actively makes you forget the terror of the world that comes and goes
  - sam's weird alter ego makes two appearances in the first three chapters and then disappears for ages
  - overall the story is a bit disjointed and changes feel a _lot_ 
- gameplay
  - combat
    - game punishes you for just wailing on enemies,
    - swing cooldown makes it hard to move after swinging
  - story scenes
- why i kept coming back
  - game can be a bit slow, but charm is high
  - game is also not that intriguing to begin with , but i think thats because 
  of the aforementioned saccharine perspective shifting all the intrigue to the 
  background
  - got put down a couple of times
  - combat can be surprisingly challenging
- cooking focus
  - detail and music in cooking minigame 
- melancholic phrases from the tv
  - "you've gotten stronger, but getting stronger isn't your goal, is it"
  - mother reference but cool