This is the second and final part of the Journey series. You can read the first part here.
Since Journey is a lot of things but not a very long game, I will not provide a “first impression” piece this time around. So there. I said it. Journey is a rather short game. It stays with the player for a much longer time though.
Lumping Journey in together with all the other games out there, providing a ‘subjective’ score for it so that consumers can compare how well it fares compared to the latest Madden and Call of Duty seems wrong. Journey, while undoubtedly being a videogame, is more, is different from all those other products. Sure, it’s possible to describe it as a sort of third person platformer – action adventure. But throwing those labels and score at it won’t do the actual experience any justice.
Journey is most of all like an interactive picture book. Or rather, like a richly illustrated picture book to dive in and get lost. It’s a stunningly gorgeous game. It’s beautiful to behold in every aspect. Overall, Journey is just one big mesmerizing experience. From the red desert sands to the chilly snow levels later on, it’s a game that’s humming with beauty. Interestingly enough it’s both more and less than I hoped for. It’s more in that it’s so tight and perfectly paced, so well done and stunning to behold.
It’s a game that gives the player a world to explore, a world to play with and travel through. It’s all about movement, all about going on about moving ahead. The only waypoint there is, is the eventual goal of the eponymous Journey, a huge mountain in the distance. That’s the goal. The rest is the journey. This leads the player’s robe clad cartoony character through desert sands, strangely almost-but-not-quite Arabic seeming ruined temples. Over snowy mountain slopes and underwater caverns. It’s a game about floaty, graceful and sometimes giddy marching onward.
There are many sights to behold here. Crossing a dune’s ridge to discover a small ruined temple in the next valley. Riding a gigantic carpet dragon shark thing. Too many to mention, too good to describe. That’s a central thing with Journey. It’s less of a game, it’s more of an experience in itself. While that may sound very douchey and stuck up, there is a certain truth here.
Journey is a game of grace. Of quiet moments. Of solitude and fleeting camaraderie. It sets itself apart in a strange form of lush simplicity. It’s everything I hoped it would be. The only thing that it’s not, is very long. Which is fine. The game is maybe an hour and a half long. However it certainly invites several replays. It’s one of those titles that really nobody should miss this year. A little achievement for the art form.
