Bastion: How to Design an Atmospheric Video Game

The indie darling melds narrative, gameplay, UI, difficulty curves, and more into one cohesive tone to sustain immersion

Talking about atmosphere in video games, or any other media, is usually prefaced by two warring inferences. One: it’s tough to define exactly what atmosphere is. Atmosphere is subjective; what the creator intends often mingles with what the audience receives to create something new. Two: Atmosphere’s effects are as concrete as its definition is nebulous. Think of the macabre cyberpunk aesthetic of Blade Runner or the oppressive creepiness of Bioshock, and there’s definitely something more than the sum of parts at play.

In this article, I’ll attempt to pinpoint what constitutes atmosphere in video games and study how Bastion, an delightful indie game released in 2011, benefits from a deliberately authored atmosphere that manifests in its narrative, gameplay, UI, difficulty, and more.

What is game atmosphere?

To understand game atmosphere, we needn’t look beyond this insightful talk by Greg Kasavin, one of the creators of Bastion. He posits two definitions of the term, and both can stand us in good stead as we attempt to understand the elements of Bastion.