Journey (2012 video game)

Journey is a video game developed by Thatgamecompany exclusively for the PlayStation 3 and which is distributed on the PlayStation Network. The game features the player as a robed figure in a vast desert, journeying towards a mountain in the distance. Along the way the player can meet other players on the same journey; the two players can assist each other, but cannot communicate via speech or text and are not shown each others' names. The game was released on March 7, 2012 for PlayStation Plus subscribers, and was fully released on March 13. It has been met with significant critical acclaim. Journey is the last game made under a three game contract between Thatgamecompany and Sony, the first two being Flow and Flower.
==Gameplay==
In Journey, the player takes the role of a robed figure in a desert. After an initial introductory sequence, the player is shown the robed figure sitting on the sand. A graphic appears on screen depicting the PlayStation controller and emphasizing the right joystick control. When the player uses the controller to maneuver the third-person camera to face in the direction of the mountain, the character rises. In this opening section, other simple tutorials take place that teach the player how to fly and shout. Shouting produces a tone of varying intensity (depending on how long the player holds down the appropriate button). Certain elements of the game environment are affected by shouting. After these tutorials, no further assisting text between the game and the player occurs.
The game features no map, only a large mountain in the distance that the player journeys toward. While traveling the player can encounter other players, one at a time, if they are playing online. Players cannot speak to each other, but can help each other in their journey or not as they wish. Players met online will not be identified with a username and voice or text communication will not be possible with the other player. According to designer Jenova Chen, "it's about two strangers who meet online. They don't know who they are or how old they are. All they know is, that is another human being." The only way players can communicate audibly with each other is with a wordless shout. By hitting the button in different patterns, you can create a makeshift language for you and your partners. Players will have symbols on the front of their robes for identification, though these symbols change between play-throughs.
The character's power to fly comes from its scarf. The character comes upon floating pieces of cloth and other variants of such cloth as it progresses through the world. When the character either touches or catches the cloth with its emanating shouts, the character's scarf alights, indicating the ability to fly. Over the course of the game, the player can find glowing symbols hidden in the world that extend both the length of said scarf and the length of the flight when the scarf is used. The power to fly can also be exchanged between players when they meet—players who touch or who catch each other in the boundaries of their shouts can transmit the power to fly to each other.
==Story==
Journey's story is told wordlessly through in-game and pre-rendered cutscenes. The player's character begins on a sand dune in an seemingly endless desert, with a large forbidding mountain with a glowing crevice that splits its peak in the far distance. As the character moves towards the mountain, they find remnants of a once-thriving civilization, eroded by the sand over time. Scattered throughout the ruins are stones that the traveler rests at; these give the traveler the vision of meeting a larger, white robed figure in a circular room, with art on the walls describing the rise and fall of the civilization. This art suggests that the civilization was destroyed by civil war using large creatures or machines from elsewhere against eachother.
The traveler continues to move deeper through the remains of a once sprawling city at the base of the mountain, finding flying creatures that appear to be the survivors of the attacking force that seek out the traveler and attempt to harm him or her. Eventually making it safely to the mountain, the traveler begins to climb it, struggling as they enter the colder climates and are subjected to deep snow and high winds. With the crevice still a far distance away, the traveler falls and collapses in the snow. Several of the white robed figures appear and grant the traveler new energy, allowing them to reach the summit of the mountain and walk into and through the crevice. The screen fills with white at this point.
The player is then shown the game's credits, playing over the ending cinematic showing a shooting star emanating from the crevice and traversing the path the traveler took through the ruins and catching glimpses of other robed travelers heading towards the mountain. Eventually, the star comes to rest at the sand dune where the game started. The player is then given the option of playing the game again.
==Development==
Development of Journey began in 2009, after the release of Flower. The development team for the game is composed of mainly of the creators of Thatgamecompany's previous titles, including Jenova Chen as the creative director and Austin Wintory, the composer for Flow. This team does not include Kellee Santiago, Thatgamecompany's previous game producer, who, in order to concentrate on her role as the company's president, was replaced as a producer by Robin Hunicke. The basic idea for the game, as designed by Chen, was to create a game that moved beyond the "typical defeat/kill/win mentality" of most video games. The team initially created a prototype named Dragon that involved players trying to draw away a large monster from each other, but eventually discarded it after finding that it was too easy for players to ignore the other people in favor of their own objectives. The game is intended to make the player feel "small" and to give them a sense of awe about their surroundings. The co-op aspect of the game is intended to allow the players to feel a connection to other people through exploring with them, rather than talking to them or fighting them.
A PlayStation Home game space based on Journey was released on March 14, 2012 and is similar to the PSN game.
==Soundtrack==
The music in Journey was composed by Austin Wintory, who has scored over twenty five feature films, most notably the 2008 Sundance Audience Award winner Captain Abu Raed, listed by the LA Times as a contender for the 2009 Academy Awards for ‘Best Original Score’ and which also won Austin the Hollywood Music Award for “Best New Composer.” The Hollywood Reporter lists Austin as one of 15 composers “primed to take their place on the A-list,” as well as a nomination by the International Film Music Critics Association for “Breakout Composer of the Year.” Wintory previously worked with ThatGameCompany on the soundtrack for fl0w.
When composing the music for Journey, Austin stated that he tried to remain as culturally unidentifiable as possible. Tina Guo features as the cellist for the soundtrack. She is a close friend of Wintory and has since performed "Woven Variations" with him, which is an orchestral variation on the Journey soundtrack. The soundtrack was released as an album on April 10 on iTunes and PSN.
After its release, the soundtrack reached the top 10 of the iTunes Soundtrack charts in multiple countries, including France and Germany. Also, after its release on the Playstation network, nine out of ten players thought it was "awesome".
==Reception==
Journey has achieved both critical and commercial success. The game has broken the record previously held by Infamous: Festival of Blood as the fastest-selling game ever released on PlayStation Store in both North America and Europe.
GameTrailers and 1UP.com called Journey the Best Download Game at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo.
Journey has averaged a 92 out of 100 ("universal acclaim") on Metacritic from 73 reviews. Gametrailers stated that despite its nature, "Journey still delivers a complete package with the artistic vision intact." PlayStation Official Magazine echoed the words, saying Journey is "one of the few games you'll genuinely reflect on after completion, and an object lesson in how less can be more when it comes to crafting narrative and eliciting investment." IGN rewarded Journey with a 9.0/10. X-Play gave this game a 5/5.
In a April 2, 2012 article on Eurogamer.net, Simon Parkin interviewed Chen about the reception to the game. Chen remarked on a 'Journey Apologise Thread' on the game's beta forum, pointing to it as proof that Journey had brought "the human value into a game and change[d] the player's assumption [of cruelty from others]. After the game's release a blog titled Journey Stories was created to compile the stories of this human value as experienced by players of the game
==Links==
*Official website (English)
*Official website (Japanese)
Category:2012 video games
Category:Most Wanted Games