Journey

Been playing Journey, a game loved by players and critics alike. The short version is this: I rather enjoyed the experience. Can’t say I really love it, but it’s a beautiful flowing little gem, unique and somewhat memorable, and it’s short enough to finish in one sitting which is a good thing. 

It’s got a compelling visual art style, a simple but refined game mechanics, and not really any story except what it might inspire you to imagine with its evocative world. It’s a game but it’s downplaying the usual elements of reward and punishment and challenge, though it does have some of that, including some minor puzzels and some platforming, and even a few enemies of sorts. 

Mostly it’s a journey through a series of landscapes, varied enough — especially visually — to keep the game interesting despite the lack of a tangible story and the simple game mechanics. 

The perhaps most compelling aspect of all is the unusual multiplayer, where you sort of just run into players that are neither enemies nor collaboratiors in any real practical sense, nor can you communicate save for your movements or through generating musical tones. It’s seemingly included solely to give a sense of shared journey and to provide perfectly attuned feels. It’s an interesting concept and it works really well, and at the end of the game you’ll see a list of the players you met during the game. 

What about negatives? Nothing really stands out. It would be easy for me to name games I like more and that can hold my attention far longer, but it would be hard for a developer to make a game that’s “like Journey but better”, simply because it’s doing its thing really well.

In writing this post I started wondering a bit about the world you’re traveling through, which seems to be a lost civilization, and also about who you are exactly and why you travel and whether your ancestors belonged to that fallen world. But I can’t say it occurred to me to ask any of this while playing. It’s just not the kind of game that makes you ask questions or spurs you to think. It’s more about providing an immersive almost meditative feeling, and that’s fine. 

It’s not quite the masterpiece as some would have it, but it’s a terrific and highly polished little game none the less, just about short enough to finish in one not too long sitting and end on a high note.