Eastward (2021)

John and Sam's small, expressive figures live among extraordinarily dense kitchens, stations and improvised homes. The backgrounds establish how people live, while animation makes the pair's different temperaments readable within them. Pixpil combines the pixel artwork with 3D lighting, so it is not simply reproducing an old console image. Some rooms invite a slower look, but the craft pays off through a lived-in world rather than detail for its own sake.