Journey is an online adventure game that was developed by Thatgamecompany and available for play on PlayStation, iOS, and Windows. I played on iOS.
The primary gameplay of Journey involves exploration. Players begin controlling a person in a red robe around a desert environment, roaming around collecting scarf pieces and exploring ruins. Collecting pieces of the scarf allows you to jump higher and reach more places, and players are able to interact with their surroundings by emitting a chime. Through its storytelling and unique approach to friendship building, Journey is able to create an immersive world conducive for players to find escape and fully embrace their need for play and discovery.
From the beginning, the gameplay is incredibly peaceful with calming music and vast desert land to explore on your own time.
(Image of character flitting across desert sand, chasing an animated scarf.)
The game thrives on fantasy and discovery, as players are immersed in this expansive world and have freedom to roam and sing to different things to act. The game draws on sense pleasure with music, as there is always whimsical or elegant music playing, and there is auditory feedback when you slide on sand or walk around. At some points, the music builds up as you transition into a new environment, which builds tension and a sense of challenge. The character you play as also emits a small chime to interact with the environment interactivity with the environment.
(Image of character emitting the chime that causes the scarf piece in the ruin to flutter and come out.)
There are also very simple controls and very basic puzzles to explore. A lot of the challenge in the game comes from navigating the terrain. For example, I jumped down a slope and slid through different arch ruins down into a different environment. This simplicity allows for players to adapt their own strategies and playing styles quickly, allowing for player autonomy and a custom gameplay experience.
(Image of exploring different parts of the world, walking over a with a an illuminated red bridge.)
The game also fosters a sense of escapism with the world building and storytelling aspects. At some points in the game, the play transitions to brief moments of storytelling where the main character greets white robed figures and is shown a new part of the storyline behind the civilization in the game. An interesting mechanic of the game is that there is no traditional use of language or text. This aspect of the game adds to the escapism as you almost forget that you’re in this world for so long and that you haven’t conversed. This makes for greater player immersion and is an incredibly unique and complex way to tell the story.
(Image of the transition to storytelling part of game where you don’t control the character briefly
and meet a robed white figure to learn more about the story behind the world.)
At a certain point, the game begins feeling a bit lonely because it is such an expansive world with only you in it. However, the game takes advantage of this feeling as well as the concept of proximity, by gradually introducing you to another player in different instances over time. For example, I realized that some things within my world had already been completed, and I began to realize that there was another character in this world, who I eventually met. At first, I thought this person was an NPC or computer-controlled character. However, we started singing at each other in a way that didn’t feel like a computer. There was no way to directly communicate with this person or learn their name, but we always helped each other along and it created a feeling of relatedness.
(Walking through the world with the other player, helping to unlock trophies together.)
The game places you in a world with players that are at an equal point in the game as you and you all play the same character, creating prosocial player identities as well as feelings of similarity. There is no obligation to interact with these characters and solo play is possible, creating a safe environment with little to no disclosure necessary from players. In this unique way, Journey is able to facilitate friendship building with only a limited amount of ways to interact and communicate. Since the only method of communication is the singing, it makes for more wholesome relationships with no opportunity for toxicity compared to other games where characters are driven to compete with and out-survive other players.
At the same time, the novelty of the game and appreciation for its simplicity seems to wear off after a while. It seems like a game that you appreciate for its visuals and music but the gameplay is fairly simple. At some points, the story felt endless and although I wanted to keep playing with my partner, I wasn’t entirely sure when things would end, or if they would ever. The game also isn’t designed to be played with real-life friends that would make you return to the game, so there is limited replayability. In terms of improvement, it could be beneficial to implement some kind of level boundaries so there is a greater sense of progress. Journey has loose levels as you move through different environments and each time you accomplish certain tasks you unlock trophies and get new pieces of the story. However, these tasks are fairly simple and may not appeal to players who need a greater sense of power or achievement. Implementing more complex puzzles or potentially even mini-games to be completed with multiple other players could allow for Journey to cater to a wider range of audiences and help retain their player base.
