It's hard to think of a gaming experience that so profoundly rewired my expectations for the medium as this one.
At age 9 I saw a review of it on an Australian TV show called Good Game Spawn Point, and, like a parasite, it wiggled itself into my psyche ever since.
Once I finally got my hands on it a few years later I was spellbound. The colours, the movement, the atmospheres, it all coalesced into this beautiful moving painting. In retrospect, this is kind of my introduction to arthouse cinema, which probably best describes the actual appeal of Journey. It's just the right length that it feels like an interactive film to a more literal degree than most games do.
But it retains a glorious level of maneuverability, and the images it allows reach a level of poignancy I've rarely found elsewhere.
It also, most importantly for me, takes advantage of one of gaming's greatest assets, collaboration. The companion system, which I had somehow totally forgotten before this playthrough, elevates the entire experience. The way they drop in and out, the way you can boost each other, it's as though you've really found another wayward soul who happens to be on the same, well, 'journey' that you are. The later snow stages especially feel all the more affecting as you slowly watch the characters lose the ability to huddle together for warmth. Probably the emotional climax of the experience for me.
For years I've been telling people this was a favourite, but I had no idea how it'd actually hold up. This is a perfect 'once a decade' treat for the soul, and still feels radical for the form. To top it all off, over ten years later, its still just drop dead gorgeous.
At age 9 I saw a review of it on an Australian TV show called Good Game Spawn Point, and, like a parasite, it wiggled itself into my psyche ever since.
Once I finally got my hands on it a few years later I was spellbound. The colours, the movement, the atmospheres, it all coalesced into this beautiful moving painting. In retrospect, this is kind of my introduction to arthouse cinema, which probably best describes the actual appeal of Journey. It's just the right length that it feels like an interactive film to a more literal degree than most games do.
But it retains a glorious level of maneuverability, and the images it allows reach a level of poignancy I've rarely found elsewhere.
It also, most importantly for me, takes advantage of one of gaming's greatest assets, collaboration. The companion system, which I had somehow totally forgotten before this playthrough, elevates the entire experience. The way they drop in and out, the way you can boost each other, it's as though you've really found another wayward soul who happens to be on the same, well, 'journey' that you are. The later snow stages especially feel all the more affecting as you slowly watch the characters lose the ability to huddle together for warmth. Probably the emotional climax of the experience for me.
For years I've been telling people this was a favourite, but I had no idea how it'd actually hold up. This is a perfect 'once a decade' treat for the soul, and still feels radical for the form. To top it all off, over ten years later, its still just drop dead gorgeous.