Earthbound-Inspired Indie Game Eastward Gets Rated by ESRB For Nintendo Switch

It looks like the gorgeous-looking Earthbound and Zelda-inspired Eastward is due for a release date soon as the game was rated by ESRB.

Eastward was originally set to launch in 2020 but the game still doesn’t have a release date. It is from indie developer Pixpil Games. The game’s original announcement was met with a lot of praise due to its gorgeous pixel-based art style and stunning artwork. It truly feels like an Earthbound successor and a promising indie game like Undertale.

While Eastward publisher Chucklefish hasn’t shared an announcement on the release date of the game, it was recently rated by ESRB signaling that the development is approaching its end.

Get a look at the ESRB description below. As for the platforms, it has only been rated for the Nintendo Switch so far while it was also confirmed for PC.

This is an adventure game in which players assume the role of a man guiding a girl through a dangerous city. From a 3/4 overhead perspective, players explore the city, interact with characters, and use various weapons (e.g., frying pan, bombs, shotguns, flamethrowers) to battle fantasy creatures (e.g., giant slugs, robots). Battles are frenetic, accompanied by realistic gunfire, explosions, and screen-shaking effects. Some enemies emit small pools of blood when killed. The game contains references to suggestive material: a Wild Love adult magazine, which can be purchased from a store; a dominatrix stating, “The men in this city won’t know what hit them…ready your stakes, boys, because tonight the tents will rise”; a woman depicted with jiggling breasts; a robot making a masturbatory gesture with its hands. One sequence depicts characters drunk on the floor after drinking all night. The words “a*hole” and “b*tch” appear in the game.

Get more details on the game from the Nintendo eShop page which still doesn’t have a release date.