Stardew Valley Publisher Chucklefish Teaming With New Developer to Make a Charming RPG Called Eastward

There is never a bad time for a charming 2D RPG that utilizes intricately-animated sprites. Heck, I say we need those RPGs now more than ever. Make a billion of them and stuff them all down my throat. Or at least give me Chucklefish's latest project, Eastward, as soon as humanly possible.

Eastward is being developed by Pixpil Games, a small studio based in Shanghai. Pixpil professes a love for The Legend of Zelda, the Mother series, and '90s anime, all of which clearly lend flavoring to Eastward's bizarre world. But the short trailer still exudes a style that belongs to Pixpil alone. The game is post-apocalyptic without seeming grim and hopeless: The signs and buildings crowding the street throw off a rainbow of rusty colors that clearly took a lot of time and care to design.

Eastward's story revolves around a grizzled man named John who's one of the few remaining humans kicking around. John, a "Digger," finds a mysterious girl, Sam, deep within a forbidden facility (now I'm getting Mega Man Legends 2 vibes). After being booted from his village, John and Sam go on a quest. It's not clear what the quest is all about at this point, but the trailer begins with Sam asking if they can get sushi, so for now I'm going to assume Eastward is a game about finding sushi. I'm OK with this.

Eastward doesn't have a release date yet, and it's currently planned for PC and Mac. In the comments for the game's trailer, Chucklefish admits console support isn't out of the question. The publisher eventually brought the PC-exclusive Stardew Valley to consoles and Switch, so never lose sight of your hope. Or your appetite for sushi (even if doing so would be of great benefit to the oceans).