Thank you for making this video. I finished the game yesterday, and was left with a lot of unanswered questions and thoughts by it's conclusion I've been trying to process. A lot of my previous gripes with story pacing, bugs on the switch port, lack of basic QoL options (cutscene skip and a run button to name two) and character writing, suddenly make more sense with this new context. The fact that they were even able to take 5 years of dev time, and publish a version of that concept in only a year and a half that's as functional and visually stunning as we got, can only be described as a modern miracle, and the result of a substantial amount of hard work. I'm hopeful that whatever Team Pixpel's next outing is, they will have learned from the setbacks of this project and create something that blows Eastward out of the water.
It certainly was a big undertaking for the team! I have a few gripes as well (some of which are totally a me problem lol) but overall a great game from a new studio. And yes their next game should be quite enjoyable and a feast on the eyes. Hey thanks so much for checking this one out. I planned on another video coming out last week but sickness had other plans 🤢🤧. Working on the next two now!
So glad you enjoyed the video! Yea, that detail really took me some time to process haha! I kept having to reread the quote to make sure they said that right. But definitely a unique game visually. Happy New Year!
Thank you so much for watching and happy new years to you all! Please feel free to suggest any future video topics. Oh and please accuse the audio hiccup there. I didn't catch it till the end of video exporting.
Agreed! There were some major moments in their development journey and the part where they had to redo most of the game had to be super difficult to overcome.
So I believe I'm halfway through the game right now and after looking at a lot of comments online especially on Reddit, that seems to be a common thing. I did unfortunately get spoiled regarding one particular element in a game that I won't repeat but I assume that it has something to do with the ending and making sense of it lol. Thank you so much for watching!
@@hidden_characters you're probably at about the point it starts to go off the rails (lol, trains). But even with all of the inconsistencies and plot holes, it remains a great game, and maybe my top game of 2021. I've spent hours trying to untangle the all of the knots, but I've come to the conclusion that you just kind of have to accept it as a Dr. Who-style incoherent rollercoaster. Enjoy the rest of it, and great quality vid!
@@dksu That pun is all time great! I'm actually not at that point, probably because I'm taking so much time talking to people, buying things, organizing my inventory, and appreciating the artwork. It's so great that this game has such a large fan base and that so many people consider this to be their game of the year, which is really promising for the development studio going forward! Looking forward to unpacking the story after completion as well haha! Happy New Years!
@@joshuadiaz6914 Thanks so much Joshua!! I've got some really great things planned this whole year and every video is going to be better than the last. There's so many inspiring stories in gaming and I'm glad to share more. Thanks for subbing!
Super cool video, might i suggest you get a better microphone or look up tutorials on how to make it sound better? It sounds a bit "tinny". Again, awesome video!
That is great feedback and I've thought about that for sure. I think the problem may have also been the audio editing on my voice, which made the audio go up and down. I think I fixed it with my last upload but if you think it's not much improvement, Ill definitely have to upgrade lol. Thanks so much and I'm glad you enjoyed.
Great question! Funny thing is, I've not only had the desire to, but have persued designing a game back in 2013/14. I had my idea of a competitive stealth game, inspired by Hitman where your task is to blend into a crowd and complete objectives,while someone in a helicopter tries to spot abs snipe you before your work is done.... And if you haven't picked up by now, this game was already being made. It's called SPY PARTY hahaha! I was crushed that someone "took" my idea (literally everything about spy party was in my notes) and so I stopped and never bothered to revisit it or another idea since. Kind of a bummer story, but I'm sure I'll want to make a have for real in the future.
this is a nice video about the pains it took to make such a wonderful game - though I have issues about the ending the story pacing, I did had a blast with the puzzles and the music! Completed it 3 times!
The ending does have some mixed feelings across the fanbase but definitely no denying the overall package Which is incredible! Glad you enjoyed the video, Anne!
Estward is a gem, such a breath of fresh air. I was hoping someone would do a mini doc about it, great jod by the way, I see a great future for you making this, you deserve way more subs
Yooooo this is such an amazing video and much appreciated!! This was my fav game of 2021 and one of my fav games of all time now! Thank you for spreading light to this absolute gem!
The reason and passion for the existence of Eastward is quite inspiring. Even though the pacing. story and character writing was kind of weak and confusing, I can see their future games getting better at that front overtime.
Awesome vid bro, it was inspiring to hear their story and struggles, left me feeling like i can make my dreams and projects real too, with the right partners 😊✌
Hey Eduardo! Thanks for watching! Im glad you enjoyed and found inspiration. You can definitely do it man! Teammates make everything easier and more possible.
Awesome Layla! So glad you enjoyed the video and video game! Eastward is such a fun and relaxing title. I really loved the mix of gaming influences and inspirations woven together, like the cooking and shop mechanics.
Wow. This was a fantastic video. Just stumbled on it and im glad i watched. Got my subscription from this , and will watch more of your videos now. Keep up the great work and your channel will get the growth it deserves .
Haha I totally understand what you mean. I actually understand the ending a bit more now, but to share, I'd need to go into spoilers 🤐🤐🤫 haha! Thanks for watching!
I don't say this often, but this is a pixel-perfect game. No cititcisms from my side at all, they did a perfect job imo. The only bad thing about it is the european cover art.
Thanks so much! There's definitely a lot of research but I'm trying to find a balance of delivering info while also telling a great story, shining light on the devs. Happy New Years!
Thanks a lot for making this video! I really like this game and inspired to create something similar to this. Great to know how their journey is towards finishing Eastward!
Really appreciate the video. I finished the game last night and found myself lost by some of the incomplete plot threads and took to the internet to see what the lore-heads had pieced together. And... I'm surprisingly let down? There are a lot of standard reviews and a handful of short forum threads, but for a game with such a rich (and opaque) storyline, it's relatively untapped lore-wise. This video is the closest I've come to finding satisfying closure with the game. I can't shake the feeling that because of its Chinese origin, there may be a lot of cultural themes that haven't been as thoroughly experienced by western gaming audiences, and thus, don't have the same resonance. I'd love to see a deeper dive into the game's themes.
Hey John that's a really great point, and I'm sure there's some context lost between cultures here and there. Looking at comments here and from the slim interviews out there, most folks, after finishing, came away with the same thoughts. I also had the same experience, though to be honest, that had more to do with me playing multiple games and spreading out my playthrough for months haha! Hey Thanks for tuning in John!
A team interview or small piece on the team and how/what influenced them and had them make such an interesting game with limited outside of China perspectives.
@@andrewlee88 oh now I get it! I was actually searching quite a while for an interview with them but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any online. That'd be a great listen!
@@andrewlee88 Dude thanks so much! Definitely going to be some great stories from indies games but mostly great, inspiring stories of these amazing developers and their personal journeys. The next video is a 2012 title and my all time favorite action platformer! A story of perseverance and heartbreak 💔
Haha, well that didn't take long! It's a really solid title. Still learning about parts of the story and ending (and want to avoid spoilers here lol). I had issues with the game that were pretty petty but overall really great and as a bonus, it led to me playing earthbound for the first time! But how about you? Any thoughts fresh after beating the game?
@@hidden_characters Game looked beautiful, the writing for the charecters were great i tried to talk to every npc. was getting a little confused with the story after a while also, ill replay it again in the future, maybe try earthborn alot more im sure theres stuff in there that connects to the story Some parts i didnt get what the point was like monkollywood train section i would go in detail with theories but like u said i dont wanna spoil nothing. Im glad i played it though, i wonder what type of game we would of got if they never lost all that work they had, how different it would of been.
@@KyroOuttaSpace oh yeah I get you! And that's a great question. I'd think that if they got the time back that they lost, they'd be able to better flesh out some ideas, story wise. But hey, perhaps DLC will be in the future!
Thank you for making this video. I finished the game yesterday, and was left with a lot of unanswered questions and thoughts by it's conclusion I've been trying to process. A lot of my previous gripes with story pacing, bugs on the switch port, lack of basic QoL options (cutscene skip and a run button to name two) and character writing, suddenly make more sense with this new context. The fact that they were even able to take 5 years of dev time, and publish a version of that concept in only a year and a half that's as functional and visually stunning as we got, can only be described as a modern miracle, and the result of a substantial amount of hard work. I'm hopeful that whatever Team Pixpel's next outing is, they will have learned from the setbacks of this project and create something that blows Eastward out of the water.
It certainly was a big undertaking for the team! I have a few gripes as well (some of which are totally a me problem lol) but overall a great game from a new studio. And yes their next game should be quite enjoyable and a feast on the eyes.
Hey thanks so much for checking this one out. I planned on another video coming out last week but sickness had other plans 🤢🤧. Working on the next two now!
Yo I learned so much from this! Particularly the fact that this is a 3-D game in a 2-D perspective! Excellent work!
So glad you enjoyed the video! Yea, that detail really took me some time to process haha! I kept having to reread the quote to make sure they said that right. But definitely a unique game visually.
Happy New Year!
@@hidden_characters Happy New Years to you as well! Looking forward to what you cover in 22!
@@eckoecko13Thank you, and I can tell you right now that the next two videos are going to be craaazy!
Thank you so much for watching and happy new years to you all! Please feel free to suggest any future video topics.
Oh and please accuse the audio hiccup there. I didn't catch it till the end of video exporting.
This is so nice! You went into depth with the whole thing! Thanks for being super insightful
Sounds like a big story for a small studio. But not so small anymore now.
Agreed! There were some major moments in their development journey and the part where they had to redo most of the game had to be super difficult to overcome.
There should be a dlc about Isabel and Alva. Just an idea.
Hey I think we'd be down for that or any kind of dlc haha. Thanks for watching!
Great vid - absolutely love this game (just beat it for the second time), even though I can't make sense of the plot for the life of me!
So I believe I'm halfway through the game right now and after looking at a lot of comments online especially on Reddit, that seems to be a common thing.
I did unfortunately get spoiled regarding one particular element in a game that I won't repeat but I assume that it has something to do with the ending and making sense of it lol.
Thank you so much for watching!
@@hidden_characters you're probably at about the point it starts to go off the rails (lol, trains). But even with all of the inconsistencies and plot holes, it remains a great game, and maybe my top game of 2021. I've spent hours trying to untangle the all of the knots, but I've come to the conclusion that you just kind of have to accept it as a Dr. Who-style incoherent rollercoaster. Enjoy the rest of it, and great quality vid!
@@dksu That pun is all time great! I'm actually not at that point, probably because I'm taking so much time talking to people, buying things, organizing my inventory, and appreciating the artwork.
It's so great that this game has such a large fan base and that so many people consider this to be their game of the year, which is really promising for the development studio going forward!
Looking forward to unpacking the story after completion as well haha! Happy New Years!
Awesome video! I loved this game so much. Thanks for the video!!
Thanks Joshua! It's got quite the fanbase now which is great for the young studio!
@@hidden_characters Loved how you made this video as well! Really look forward to seeing more videos from you. Subbed!
@@joshuadiaz6914 Thanks so much Joshua!! I've got some really great things planned this whole year and every video is going to be better than the last.
There's so many inspiring stories in gaming and I'm glad to share more. Thanks for subbing!
Super cool video, might i suggest you get a better microphone or look up tutorials on how to make it sound better? It sounds a bit "tinny". Again, awesome video!
That is great feedback and I've thought about that for sure. I think the problem may have also been the audio editing on my voice, which made the audio go up and down.
I think I fixed it with my last upload but if you think it's not much improvement, Ill definitely have to upgrade lol. Thanks so much and I'm glad you enjoyed.
I loved this game so much, since day one, and I had no idea about the struggle of restarting it all during covid. Great story!
This game is treasure for real! Yea I really couldn't imagine their reaction during that time... Thanks so much for watching!
Great video. Not enough people out there giving this game the love it deserves. Do you have any interest in creating your own game?
Great question! Funny thing is, I've not only had the desire to, but have persued designing a game back in 2013/14.
I had my idea of a competitive stealth game, inspired by Hitman where your task is to blend into a crowd and complete objectives,while someone in a helicopter tries to spot abs snipe you before your work is done.... And if you haven't picked up by now, this game was already being made.
It's called SPY PARTY hahaha!
I was crushed that someone "took" my idea (literally everything about spy party was in my notes) and so I stopped and never bothered to revisit it or another idea since.
Kind of a bummer story, but I'm sure I'll want to make a have for real in the future.
Call me ignorant, what happened in 2020 in China that affected the dev team so badly?
Most likely Corona. It started at the beginning of 2020 and was first found to have originated from some part of China.
The pandemic. Where were you?
this is a nice video about the pains it took to make such a wonderful game - though I have issues about the ending the story pacing, I did had a blast with the puzzles and the music! Completed it 3 times!
The ending does have some mixed feelings across the fanbase but definitely no denying the overall package Which is incredible! Glad you enjoyed the video, Anne!
Estward is a gem, such a breath of fresh air. I was hoping someone would do a mini doc about it, great jod by the way, I see a great future for you making this, you deserve way more subs
Yooooo this is such an amazing video and much appreciated!! This was my fav game of 2021 and one of my fav games of all time now! Thank you for spreading light to this absolute gem!
Hey thank you, Rez! It was a fun video to make.
This is really great & super well researched! Nice one, looking forward to seeing more of your vids :)
Super glad you enjoyed! Research is definitely a large part in making these and the process is fun. Looking forward to making more that you enjoy!
Just finished the game earlier this week and stumbled upon this video! Great work
Gj man, i listened till the end.
But it was a little painful to listen because of the noise in the voice
Thanks so much for the feedback and that is something I'll work on for the next video. And thank you for watching!
How did they not use some kind of git? Losing assets should never have happened!
Thanks for this interesting documentary!
And now they made a dlc
The reason and passion for the existence of Eastward is quite inspiring. Even though the pacing. story and character writing was kind of weak and confusing, I can see their future games getting better at that front overtime.
Awesome vid bro, it was inspiring to hear their story and struggles, left me feeling like i can make my dreams and projects real too, with the right partners 😊✌
Hey Eduardo! Thanks for watching!
Im glad you enjoyed and found inspiration. You can definitely do it man! Teammates make everything easier and more possible.
Great video, brother! I just subbed
This was an incredibly insightful video! I'm currently playing eastward and I loved to know more about the behind the scenes of this game ❤
Awesome Layla! So glad you enjoyed the video and video game! Eastward is such a fun and relaxing title. I really loved the mix of gaming influences and inspirations woven together, like the cooking and shop mechanics.
Super late to this, but where did you find that video at @6:00? I'm curious about the very early stuff
Ugh so sorry I'm late to this comment. This clip was either in Pixpil's Twitter post (years ago) or in their Tumblr blog.
Wow. This was a fantastic video. Just stumbled on it and im glad i watched. Got my subscription from this , and will watch more of your videos now. Keep up the great work and your channel will get the growth it deserves .
I really appreciate that! Sorry for the late reply btw. I'm working to improve the quality going forward!
I just completed the main story. Thanks for this background info!
informative video man. Please make more of this
Thanks Andrei! On the way hopefully tomorrow!
This is a great video. Hungry for more Eastward after the dlc announcement no one is talking about
This game was absolutely amazing
The plot was a bit odd at the ending tho but i still overall enjoyed it.
Haha I totally understand what you mean. I actually understand the ending a bit more now, but to share, I'd need to go into spoilers 🤐🤐🤫 haha!
Thanks for watching!
I don't say this often, but this is a pixel-perfect game. No cititcisms from my side at all, they did a perfect job imo.
The only bad thing about it is the european cover art.
Eastward's name sounded like earthbound like both ways of saying directions
Eastward is a phenomenal game
Very much agreed, Joseph!
that isnt pixpels first title game...
awesome video my guy :)
Thanks Mikado!
Good stuff
Thank you! Happy new year!
Good job.. seems well-researched
Thanks so much! There's definitely a lot of research but I'm trying to find a balance of delivering info while also telling a great story, shining light on the devs.
Happy New Years!
Thanks a lot for making this video! I really like this game and inspired to create something similar to this. Great to know how their journey is towards finishing Eastward!
Just finished the game and your video is very helpful in understanding so much about this game.
It's a very unique game with great inspiration! Hey I'm glad you liked it and learned about their journey. Thanks for watching!
Really appreciate the video. I finished the game last night and found myself lost by some of the incomplete plot threads and took to the internet to see what the lore-heads had pieced together. And... I'm surprisingly let down? There are a lot of standard reviews and a handful of short forum threads, but for a game with such a rich (and opaque) storyline, it's relatively untapped lore-wise. This video is the closest I've come to finding satisfying closure with the game. I can't shake the feeling that because of its Chinese origin, there may be a lot of cultural themes that haven't been as thoroughly experienced by western gaming audiences, and thus, don't have the same resonance. I'd love to see a deeper dive into the game's themes.
Hey John that's a really great point, and I'm sure there's some context lost between cultures here and there. Looking at comments here and from the slim interviews out there, most folks, after finishing, came away with the same thoughts.
I also had the same experience, though to be honest, that had more to do with me playing multiple games and spreading out my playthrough for months haha!
Hey Thanks for tuning in John!
Also, that could make for a good video idea in the future!
I'm still waiting for a smart person to come along and do a full synopsis😂
Believe me, you're gonna get to be a great youtuber, behind a great youtube channel.
Uno Reverse Card! Haha thanks so much Constantino. Your kind words mean a ton and awesome people like you make this an increasingly fun experience!
excellent video! I really love this game, I finished a few hours ago and I wanted to know more about it, hope to see more videos like this
Beautiful video man! I know I'm a year late, but this was fantastic. Thank you.
This game is a hidden gem.. A lot of heart. Which is rare in most games today.
This eastward team needs a major inside review.
Thanks for watching. Sorry, I'm not fully sure I understand what you mean.
A team interview or small piece on the team and how/what influenced them and had them make such an interesting game with limited outside of China perspectives.
@@andrewlee88 oh now I get it! I was actually searching quite a while for an interview with them but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any online.
That'd be a great listen!
@@hidden_characters i subbed, keep on these indie titles with a few takes on classics and how those games impacted you! Great editing!!
@@andrewlee88 Dude thanks so much! Definitely going to be some great stories from indies games but mostly great, inspiring stories of these amazing developers and their personal journeys.
The next video is a 2012 title and my all time favorite action platformer! A story of perseverance and heartbreak 💔
bro this vid was legit, keep it up fr, subbed!
this is a hella good made vid been wanting to watch it but wanted to finish the game first
Thanks so much! There's definitely no spoilers here though haha. Enjoy the game!
@@hidden_characters finished it what was your opinion on it?
Haha, well that didn't take long! It's a really solid title. Still learning about parts of the story and ending (and want to avoid spoilers here lol). I had issues with the game that were pretty petty but overall really great and as a bonus, it led to me playing earthbound for the first time!
But how about you? Any thoughts fresh after beating the game?
@@hidden_characters Game looked beautiful, the writing for the charecters were great i tried to talk to every npc. was getting a little confused with the story after a while also, ill replay it again in the future, maybe try earthborn alot more im sure theres stuff in there that connects to the story Some parts i didnt get what the point was like monkollywood train section i would go in detail with theories but like u said i dont wanna spoil nothing. Im glad i played it though, i wonder what type of game we would of got if they never lost all that work they had, how different it would of been.
@@KyroOuttaSpace oh yeah I get you! And that's a great question. I'd think that if they got the time back that they lost, they'd be able to better flesh out some ideas, story wise. But hey, perhaps DLC will be in the future!