Bastion Impressions

 On your first character through the Shadowlands, the first leveling zone you go to (after a roughly 1-level dip in the Maw as part of the introduction) is Bastion.

Bastion is the most classically heavenly realm of the Shadowlands. Its inhabitants are the Kyrian, angel-like winged blue humanoids whose job it is to ferry souls between the land of the living and the dead (the Val'kyr, it seems, are Kyrian rip-offs.)

Immediately when you arrive, there are a few red flags. The whole system there has new souls, known as Aspirants, shed their entire identity and memories of their past lives so that they can serve impartially in their duties.

While it's framed as a noble and moral path to take, I can certainly understand why some people have chosen to stray from this path.

The first few quests have you just go through the steps on the way to becoming a full Kyrian, but soon, the dark Forsworn (literally dark, like their wings are dark-blue) show up and attack the Temple of Purity, one of the important locations in the realm.

It becomes clear that the Forsworn are in league with the Jailer and the Maw, though it seems their leader is probably not forthright with that among anyone who's not in the inner circle - giving the familiar NPC we see there a little bit of plausible deniability.

The zone's primary story ends as you discover that the Temple of Courage is under attack - but not by the Forsworn, but rather the Maldraxxi, who were sent here to conquer Bastion and take what Anima they have there.

I actually like the way that the story plays out in this regard - we go to Bastion because of the Forsworn who we see working with the Jailer, and now it seems that the next step in the mystery will take us to Maldraxxus. I imagine subsequent quests will have us find some connection to Ardenweald in Maldraxxus, followed by a link to Revendreth in Ardenweald.

The zone is stunningly gorgeous - while I'd probably not want to lose my identity and memory to become a Kyrian, I wouldn't mind spending the afterlife in a place that pretty. There's a definite Elysian Fields vibe to the place, reinforced by all the Greek-sounding names.

Fairly early on, you get your class-specific Covenant ability to play around with here, and later, you get the Covenant-wide one, which is a bit more flavorful than a real combat ability. I think once you hit 60 and choose a covenant, you'll just use yours in any zone, but it's a nice way to let people try out the abilities before they commit. Likewise, you'll get a chance to hang out in the covenant's sanctum, which is a bit reminiscent of the Halls of Valor, (I really hope we get some answers about Odyn and to whom he gave his eye.)

Sadly, when I hearthed back to Oribos, the game crashed again - I've had crashing issues with the hearthstone in the past, so I'm hoping this is a one-off.