Open-world games are a familiar sight to players. Most usually have treacherous areas, elongated quests that gain the insight of a thickened plot, advancement of a character’s statistics, exploration of entire planets, the list goes on. But there are very few open-world games where players are allowed to just sit back and relax, enjoying the beauty of each location they go to. That’s where Eastshade comes in. Eastshade, a game developed by Eastshade Studios, is a peaceful open-world game that’s deep into character and beauty.
In Eastshade, players take on the role of a travelling painter, venturing the isle of Eastshade to high mountain tops, deep valleys, thick forests, and everything in between, to paint these areas. Now, players won’t have to relive games such as Passpartout, where they have to sit in front of a canvas and actually put their drawing or painting skills to the test. Instead, it sets up more like photography, as shown in the trailer. Line up the shot of where you want your canvas to take life, take it, and then watch as the painting creates itself of the location you’re near. Players can also choose the canvas and canvas size to whatever they desire.
Each time a painting is made, secrets can be unveiled about the location, and about the people. In the trailer, voice overs can be heard about creating paintings for specific people. These little quests can lead to friendships alongside fully voiced conversations with the NPC’s. Becoming friends can lead to more paintings, and more secrets.
But the secrets don’t end there. Players can obtain crafting materials to overcome obstacles and finish quests, in order to reach other places for more paintings. Overall, the game is about exploration, and painting, as a painter does when visiting the isle of Eastshade.
Eastshade did have a number of delays the past few years when it was first announced; back in 2016, it had an expected release date of 2017. But after the long days, and the toils of working on it, Eastshade has an official release date of February 16, 2019. It’s currently up for putting onto a Steam wishlist, but will be out mid-February to play.