Last Updated Jul. 14, 2026: Here are answers to frequently asked questions about our first game, Bastion!
What is Bastion?
Bastion is an original action role-playing game featuring a reactive narrator who marks your every move, lush hand-painted 2D artwork, and tight responsive gameplay that rewards playing with finesse. The game is designed to be simple to pick up and start playing, while offering a lot of rich choices around character customization as well as a deep story and gameworld you can lose yourself in. Have a look at our trailers to get a feel for the game:
Launch Trailer
Reveal Trailer
Is Bastion any good?
Bastion earned more than 100 industry accolades from dozens of different publications, including spots on Best of the Year lists from TIME, the Associated Press, NPR, CNN, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Wired, and more.
Where can I play Bastion?
Bastion first launched on Xbox LIVE Arcade on July 20 as the first title in the fourth annual Summer of Arcade, and subsequently launched on a variety of other platforms. As of this writing, you can play it in these places:
· Bastion on Steam· Bastion on Xbox
· Bastion on PlayStation 4
· Bastion on Nintendo Switch
· Bastion on iOS
Release History: We've worked on quite a few versions of this game over the years! Soon after its Xbox 360 debut, Bastion launched on PC on August 16, 2011 on Steam. Bastion launched on December 9, 2011 on the Chrome Web Store, where you could play the game right in your browser! Unfortunately, this version is no longer available due to some Chrome services that are no longer supported. Bastion launched on April 26, 2012 on the Mac App Store, though this version is no longer available due to updated Mac App Store requirements. Bastion for iPad launched on August 29, 2012 on the App Store. An update released on November 14, 2012 added compatibility for iPhone. Bastion for PlayStation 4 launched on April 7, 2015 on the PlayStation Store, then the PS Vita later that year on December 5, 2015 as well as Xbox One on December 12, 2016. Then on September 13, 2018, Bastion launched on Nintendo Switch. We don't have plans for additional versions at this time.
Where can I get technical support for Bastion?
If you experienced any problems running the game and need technical support, please visit our Technical Support Guide.
Is Bastion's soundtrack available?
Yes! The Bastion Original Soundtrack is available on Steam and free streaming on YouTube, our Bandcamp page, Spotify, and various other streaming services. It includes an hour of original music composed and created by our audio director, Darren Korb. Darren started making music for Bastion early in development as we were working to define the exact tone we wanted for the game. As we started building our fantasy frontier world, Darren came up with a musical style he calls "acoustic frontier trip-hop", which struck the balance we were looking for. You'll hear this musical style all throughout the game.
Who is the developer of Bastion?
That's us. Bastion is the debut title from Supergiant Games, and we're an independent studio that started in San Jose, California (we're now in San Francisco). Our team includes former members of Electronic Arts' Command & Conquer franchise and Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare franchise. If you'd like to know more about us, visit our Team page.
How big was the development team?
During Bastion's development, Supergiant Games grew to a core team of seven people including our principal voice actor whose performance is so integral to the game. To learn more about us, visit our Team page. In addition to the core team, we got invaluable assistance from some of our friends and former colleagues in disciplines like animation, 3D modeling, and quality assurance.
How long was the game in development?
Bastion started development in September 2009, so development took a little less than two years for the original Xbox 360 version of the game.
What engine is the game running on?
Bastion runs on our own proprietary tools and technology, which were written in C# by our studio cofounder Gavin Simon expressly for this game.
Which languages does the game support?
Bastion contains English voiceover and text translations in French, Italian, German, and Spanish.
What is the story of the game about?
In Bastion, you play as a young man who wakes up to find his world shattered to pieces in a surreal catastrophe called the Calamity. You head for a place called the Bastion, where your people were supposed to go in case anything ever went wrong. But all you find there is an old man... who believes he can fix everything that's happened, but he needs your help. You then seek out the materials necessary to complete the Bastion and realize its true power.
This story unfolds through the use of real-time reactive narration, so you will be piecing together the mysteries of the gameworld every step of the way, as the narrator conveys the greater meaning behind your every action.
What is the combat in Bastion like?
Bastion is designed to be an active, action-packed experience. In some role-playing games, the difference between victory and defeat can boil down to how high your stats are and how good your equipment is, rather than on your skill as a player. In Bastion, the combat has much more of an action-oriented feel, where you'll have to keep moving to evade or defend against your foes, take advantage of the terrain you're fighting in, and attack when you see an opening.
As you gain experience levels, rather than simply becoming more powerful, you gain access to more and more options with which you can custom-tailor your playstyle to best suit your preferences. The numerous weapons in the game are not designed in a way where each one is bigger and better than the rest. All weapons remain viable throughout the game and can be upgraded and paired in a variety of different ways. The game makes it easy to try different options for customizing your character, so you won't feel like you're locked in to choices you made early on.
How much narration is in the game?
We recorded roughly 3,000 lines of narration for the game with Logan Cunningham, who provides the narrator's voice. The narration is a pervasive part of the experience. It's designed to vary based on how the player goes through each of the different areas of the game, so players will never hear all of the narration their first time through, and probably not the second or third time either. Our aim was for the narration to end up feeling like it was crafted to your own personal play experience.
Does the game offer multiplayer or co-op?
Bastion is a single-player game. We prototyped cooperative play and considered supporting it earlier in development but eventually decided to focus only on single-player because cooperative play did not fit well with the personal journey we aimed to deliver.
Who did the artwork for the game? Is it all 2D?
The art of Bastion was created by our art director Jen Zee. Almost every single asset in the game was something she painted by hand.
What if I have other questions?
We welcome you to contact us! And thank you for reading.
