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Journey is One of the Best Games You’ll Ever Play [Review]

Every now and then, you hear the old “can video games be art” discussion pop up, and as times goes on, the answer becomes more of a resounding “yes, stop asking,” than something more nebulous. From the very first moment  Thatgamecompany’s downloadable PlayStation Network adventure Journey was shown off years ago, the video game world knew it would be one of those “art” games. It finally released to the masses on March 13, and not only is the game one of the best examples of video games as art, but it’s one of the industry’s finest instances of gaming.

The last in a three game contract developer thatgamecompany has with Sony, Journey is wildly different from their first two offerings, flOw and Flower , two relaxing, meditative style games, the former of which resembling Snake but with amoeba-like creatures, and the latter more difficult to describe, a kind of much more abstract version of Snake . A stark departure from the first two games, Journey focuses on the titular journey of a robed figure across a large, mostly barren desert. The robed figure, who I’ll now refer to as what I called the androgynous character throughout the game, “Little Fella,” has one goal: Get to the mountaintop in the distance. Simple objective, but one of the best journeys in gaming a player can take.

Throughout the quest, players will navigate Little Fella through a ridiculously gorgeous, mostly desert landscape. Little Fella encounters different areas, cordoned off from the previous and upcoming area by a gate which must be activated through a burst of song. Each area allows free roaming exploration, but is home to one main puzzle, which upon completion grants Little Fella access to the gate to the next area. Journey handles the areas’ puzzles similarly to artsy iOS hit Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery , in that each puzzle must be solved in a certain way, but the method used per puzzle isn’t quite used again — diverging from the usual path most video games take, teaching a new skill then making the player use it throughout the rest of the game in a variety of ways.

Players only have a few commands at their disposal. Move, a jump-fly-glide combination, a camera swing, and sing, with sing being the “activate” button, and the jump-fly-glide action requiring use of scarf points (read: action points represented by symbols displayed on Little Fella’s scarf). Players must use these commands to navigate Little Fella across each area toward the ultimate goal of the glowing mountaintop in the distance.

To say Journey is reminiscent of a religious trek would be something of an understatement. The game doesn’t shove any kind of religion or specific religious ideals down players’ throats, but encapsulates broad, basic themes of a higher power and the journey toward self discovery and motivation to which most religions adhere. Even the ending, a trope not infrequently used in various forms of entertainment, speaks to both the journey one takes down the path of faith and self discovery, and efficiently, effectively, and more than satisfyingly wraps up the adventure.

Due to the theme of self discovery and motivation, Journey employs the use of wandering in isolation. To discover that thatgamecompany has fans of Shadow of the Colossus working on the team wouldn’t surprise anyone. However, whereas Shadow of the Colossus strengthened the game’s sense of isolation through a humongous, barren wasteland with the ruins of past habitation,  Journey uses isolation a bit differently, and as (if not more) effectively, via two mechanics.

The first is the aforementioned sing command. Players can make Little Fella sing anywhere, not just when the game requires something to be activated, and based on speed and length of button presses, and the current area in which Little Fella sings, a seemingly random note is generated. So, as Little Fella treks across a lonely desert with nothing to do but gawk at the gorgeous scenery until arriving at the next puzzle, players will find themselves playing with the sing button, creating unique songs. The effect of Little Fella singing songs full of melancholic tones while walking across a lonely desert is nothing short of powerful, even more so because the player is pressing the sing button for the same exact reason Little Fella would be singing on an isolated trek through the desert: Singing keeps Little Fella going through the lonely trek, and making unique songs keeps the player going in between puzzles.

Aside from the singing, Journey ramps up the isolation in such a unique way, that it is one of the most profound experiences in gaming. Throughout the journey, provided there is an established Internet connection, players will randomly run into another robed figure on their own journey to the mountaintop.

Players do not get to choose who they pair up with, nor can they directly communicate, and are required to use movement cues and — you guessed it — the sing button. During my playthrough, I met at least ten other unique players (a trophy informed me of this), and each one provided a unique, worthwhile experience. Standing close to another robed figure recharges Little Fella’s scarf and causes the pair to glow, but that’s about as standard as the multiplayer experience gets. During one area, my companion didn’t feel like exploring, solved the area’s puzzle, and left me alone in the desert. My next companion, however, followed me around everywhere I went, standing atop desert vistas with me as I swung the camera around, taking in the view. At one point in the game, while traversing through an underground area, my companion and I trekked side-by-side, dodging hulking monsters that ripped our scarves to shreds when were caught, and hiding underneath crumbled ruins. As I reached the end of the area, my companion was nowhere to be found, though a faint glow on the side of the screen let me know he (she?) wasn’t gone. I went back through the subterranean area, dodging the humongous monsters once again until I came across my companion, who was frantically singing in order to catch my attention, standing next to a power-up that would grow my scarf in power. She (he?) was risking their own lengthy scarf just so I could grow mine a little more.

During the latter half of the game, when the sparkling desert sand is replaced by gloomy snow higher atop the mountain, ( spoilers ahead ), the snow freezes all cloth, and thus our scarves, preventing us from using our jump-fly-glide maneuver. Singing, however, breaks the ice for a brief moment, so as my companion and I trekked up the lonely, snowy mountain fighting the cold, heavy wind, we both sang songs, keeping each others’ scarves free of ice, and setting a dreary tone to the already gloomy snowy mountain with our melancholic notes. The higher we got, the harsher the climate became, and the less energy our Little Fellas had — our movement speed drastically slowing, our red robes freezing over, and our songs becoming more faint as we continued. My companion was slightly ahead of me as we got closer to the summit, and our Little Fellas were almost entirely frozen over at that point, hardly able to move, the sing button barely producing any sort of sound. Due to my companion being slightly ahead of me and triggering the sequence first, he (she, it?) collapsed into the snow, almost instantly buried with the help of the wind. I tried to sing out, but the button wasn’t producing sound anymore, and as I navigated over to my companion, seemingly lifeless half-buried in the snow, Little Fella collapsed into the snow as well, adjacent to the robed figure that risked his life to make sure I got that scarf power-up. I was legitimately heartbroken. That isn’t the end of the game, though, so don’t worry. ( spoilers end ).

The brilliant gameplay, absolutely stunning art style and graphics, and a score that is nothing short of incredible, isn’t even the total of Journey’s brilliance, as impressive little touches and attention to detail are stuffed throughout the adventure. Little Fella’s idle animation, for one, is one of the most appropriate, impactful idle animations found in all of video games. Rather than look around, or kick some sand, or oddly sway in one spot like other video games have their characters do, Little Fella sits down into the desert sand or mountain snow, the red parka reminiscent of some sort of lost desert totem. Not long after, the wind begins to cover Little Fella in sand or snow, creating a heavy scene where it looks as though Little Fella has given up on the journey. Thatgamecompany has even taken great detail with the pause screen: Rather than a simple “PAUSE” plastered over the current scene, the game shifts to orchestrated panoramic views of the current area. And like any good game, the music is contextual, picking up at the right moments and dying down when appropriate.

Though Journey is short, around two to three hours with full, methodical exploration of each area, it is priced as such, only $15, a couple bucks more than a ticket to a movie that wouldn’t provide the replay value, or even as great of an experience as Journey provides. Not only is Journey definitively art, but it is one of the best games I have ever played. Those only concerned with games that involve some sort of kill:death ratio, or ones where you can racially slur at other 12-year-olds over voice chat need not apply, but anyone looking for a meaningful, moving, beautiful experience couldn’t do much better than Journey .

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Journey, previously an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC, is heading to Steam

It’s out on june 11th.

By Jay Peters , a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium.

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Journey , thatgamecompany’s classic game that first released on PlayStation 3 in 2012, will be available on Steam on June 11th . Journey was previously only available on PC via the Epic Games Store, where it launched last June .

In the game, you play as a hooded figure traveling toward a tall mountain on the horizon, navigating through a number of different landscapes and environments along the way. At times, you might find another player wandering near you. You can coordinate with that player to solve the game’s puzzles and explore its world together using in-game shouts from your character, forcing you and your partner to create a language of your own as you get closer to the mountain in the distance.

Polygon ’s Russ Frushtick said in his review of the PS3 version that Journey “should be experienced by everyone,” and I agree. I’m happy to see it come to another platform — especially since thatgamecompany said all the way back in December 2015 that the game wouldn’t be coming to Steam . The game joins Metro Exodus and Hades in hitting Steam one year after first launching as an exclusive on the Epic Games Store.

Journey also got a surprise iOS release last August .

• Thatgamecompany’s Journey gets a surprise iOS release
• Metro Exodus is finally coming to Steam after launching as an Epic Games Store exclusive

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Sky will also arrive with cross-platform multiplayer.

Thatgamecompany is best-known for Journey, a singularly beautiful adventure-puzzler with a mysterious co-op element, whereby unknown other players will drop in and out of your own journey as they make theirs. This idea seemed to be the genesis of the studio's next game, Sky: Children of the Light, which initially launched on mobile devices, aiming to expand the idea of semi-anonymous co-op across more players in environments with greater scale.

I played it on release in 2019 and loved it, particularly how it managed to capture so much of what made Journey special in a more open-ended style, packed with mysteries. It is definitely an MMO but it's also one that works like no other, and one where the limits the game places on interaction and identity work to foster a unique atmosphere. All of which is to say that's very good news Sky has now appeared on Steam and can be wishlisted. And according to its store page, will include cross-platform multiplayer.

Sadly there's no release date yet, though you wouldn't expect it to take too much longer as it's already launched on several other platforms. Per the blurb:

"Team up with players from around the world to uncover the secrets of Sky in this peaceful open-world MMORPG. Adventure into darker realms, bring light to your Ancestors, and uncover ancient treasures. The realms of Sky are ever-expanding with fresh features, areas, items, and seasonal events. Meet new friends on an adventure that never ends!"

The game features seven dream realms, and is one of those where it can be as involved or as chilled-out as you like. I'm also conscious that, since I played it, Thatgamecompany has continued to add to the game as well as holding seasonal events, all of which per the Steam listing will be included in this PC release.

Sky really is a sweet game that delivers on the promise of unusual social mechanics, as well as a beautiful one, and I've never played anything else quite like it: Especially having fun with emotes when someone quirky turns up, and exchanging gifts of light. Do keep an eye out for this when it releases because, for free, you really can't go wrong.

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Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."

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Journey (PS4) Review

• First Released Mar 13, 2012 released

The light by which my spirit's born.

By Kevin VanOrd on July 23, 2015 at 10:41AM PDT

This review contains spoilers. For a spoiler-free review of Journey, you can read our original review here .

It was my eighth playthrough and the tears still streamed, almost inexplicably; Journey is a song without words, reliant on its rapturous presentation and liberating movement to stir your mind and move your heart. With many games, I have wished that I could play them again for the first time--to experience that buzz that inevitably diminishes with each return visit. I will never need to waste this wish on Journey, however: each pilgrimage is as bittersweet as the last. How appropriate, given the game's theme of death and rebirth, that it feels so sorrowful, so joyous, and so true , each and every time.

"Journey would be just as effective as a movie," a friend once told me, but I must contradict her. Not that I can argue against the game's sumptuous environments and its sublime musical score, which earned masterpiece status the moment Journey was initially released on the PlayStation 3 in 2012. Certain landscapes have rightfully gained iconic stature, becoming the very definition of video game beauty. One shot depicts the cloaked figure you control standing atop a sand drift and gazing at the mountain you must reach, which rises above the desert and pierces the clouds. The view is a master class in simplicity and color story; the peach-orange tones of the sand give way to a sea-green sky--hushed hues for a hushed visual revelation. Another seminal sight: you skate across the sand from right to left, illuminated by a godly beam of sunlight while watching the remnants of a lost culture rush past. The screen is awash with shades of amber, and the warm sand glimmers as if mixed with golden crystals. Yes, even as a work of cinema, Journey would instill wonder.

But Journey is not a film, and its power is not gained by pretty pictures alone, but by your presence in its world. That side-scrolling glide would not choke me up if I couldn't feel the sand beneath my feet, and couldn't hit a ramp in just the right way to propel myself into the air. I wouldn't feel so beat down by the wind if I didn't feel it pushing against me as I trudged forward, and I wouldn't be so euphoric if I didn't personally experience the joy of skimming the ground. You see, you hear, and, vitally, you do . You surf the sand, you ride the wind, you seek shelter from danger, you make a friend. Seeing is believing, but it takes interaction to understand and know.

Describing Journey means describing these moments and these emotions. The mechanical basics are almost secondary, and quickly explainable. As a mysterious robed figure, you cross sand and other terrain en route to a far-off mountain. You make use of only two buttons. By pressing X, you leap into the air and soar, an ability that is limited by the length of the scarf that trails behind you. By pressing circle, you cry out to whatever or whomever might heed your call. Journey is desolate, but you are not alone. You call to flocks of ribbons that hover about like restless robins, and they provide energy to your scarf. You meet cloth creatures that become travel guides and provide magic-carpet rides to higher ground. And presuming you play while connected to the Internet, you may encounter another lone individual in your travels--an individual you can ignore, or one you can accompany, chirping to her when you locate secret hieroglyphs, or when a fearsome ribbon-dragon appears and you don't want to continue alone.

The mechanics are simple, but they establish a direct connection to the heart. Consider that flowing scarf, which trails behind you as you surf and soar, growing larger whenever you locate and touch a glowing flower. On a mundane level, it functions as a power bar that you fill up by making contact with cloth, and deplete by leaping. In context, the scarf is your life force, governing your ability to joyfully drift through the air. Gliding is Journey's most exuberant act, and by limiting its use, the game makes joy itself a currency.

Journey uses this ecstasy-based economy to craft an emotional arc across its entirety, as well as to emphasize individual moments. Your scarf grows longer and longer, but a frightful encounter with that terrible ribbon-monster turns your rippling shawl into a mere stub. You cannot fight--you can only hide. Being discovered is devastating because the scarf is where the cheer and comfort of flight are stored. You were offered a heartwarming gift, only to have it yanked from your hands. Journey also uses this moment to connect you with your wordless cooperative companion. By this stage, you understand the meaning the scarf carries with it. Seeing your sidekick succumb like this forges empathy: you know that the monster has abolished his joy.

This give-and-take is how the final levels gain their potency. Your ability to glide is diminished, then revoked. You no longer drift through sand, but brace yourself against an exhaustive wind. Then, the moment comes when all hope seems lost. You hold your breath and assume the worst. And then, the controller rumbles--just once, like a single heartbeat. And all that was taken away is restored, then multiplied, and multiplied again.

This is the source of those tears. It is not the sadness of the loss, but the bliss of being honored for your perseverance. These are tears of elevation, so perfectly described by Roger Ebert in 2009 . I have heard people describe this final climb in terms of an afterlife, and that's a reasonable interpretation of the scene, in which you float higher and higher towards the mountain's zenith. But even in the moment, whether or not you make this conscious religious association, you might feel weepy in spite of yourself. The gift was given, and it was taken away. And then, you were liberally showered with gifts, and so you ascended, higher and higher, towards your next journey.

It is possible that Journey will not move you. In such a case, it is simply a beautiful game with a glorious soundtrack, grounded by a wistful cello melody later threaded through a warm quilt of winds and strings. The chance you might be swept away, however, makes it worth plunging your feet into the warm sand. If you are returning to Journey, a higher resolution and a higher frame rate are your ostensible rewards for returning--a return that doesn't cost you anything if you already own the game on the PlayStation 3. But Journey's real rewards aren't so pedestrian. Journey offers you comfort. It gives you companionship in a lovely but forsaken world. It gives you reason to dream even when facing loss.

• Leave Blank
• Sumptuous visuals
• One of the best game soundtracks written to date
• Simple mechanics that elicit powerful emotions
• Instills empathy between cooperative partners
• Iconic moments that stay with you for years

About the Author

Kevin VanOrd

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The Long Journey Home

OpenCritic Rating

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Critics Recommend

The Long Journey Home Media

THE LONG JOURNEY HOME Teaser

Critic Reviews for The Long Journey Home

When The Long Journey Home focuses on interactions with a diverse and entertaining cast of aliens across its procedurally generated star systems, it's possible to find a degree of wonder and personality that many roguelike seldom achieve. Unfortunately, such interactions take a back seat to a barrage of frustrating minigames with rewards that rarely match the risks. The experience as a whole suffers for it.

Read full review

A savage, sometimes frustrating space exploration game that succeeds because of beautiful design and a compelling universe.

The Long Journey Home promises much more than its punishing gameplay can deliver on

Areajugones

Daedalic has created a very brave space roguelike that features strategy elements and a huge universe to keep us in front of our screens.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

God is a Geek

The Long Journey Home has some great ideas. But ultimately it is a victim of its grand ambition. Repetitive, often frustrating gameplay further mar the experience.

COGconnected

The Long Journey Home is bound to drift to the far left side of my Switch home screen, but I hope it’s not forever. I will keep my eyes peeled for an announcement promising “drastic changes.” In the meantime, I will dream of a better game.

The Long Journey Home is a roguelike that tries to do things differently but it still fails to become accessible enough to a wider audience. While there are some interesting mechanics and features, the bad controls for both ship and lander and the lack of precise information will put more than a few players off.

Gaming Nexus

The Long Journey Home is a roguelike sci-fi survival simulator fueled on hope and hopelessness. Bring them home, commander. But be ready to die a hundred deaths before that ever happens.

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Stellar Blade is more than skin deep

In this sexy but sexless game, the combat is the star

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As I sat down to write this review, I saw that Stellar Blade developer Shift Up had officially announced that the game would be “uncensored” in all regions. Predictably, there was much rejoicing from folks who had been drawn to Stellar Blade protagonist EVE’s shiny buttocks like moths to a flame. To be honest, I can’t blame them; she’s a shockingly attractive virtual person, a trait she shares with pretty much the entire cast of the game, who are all either incredibly hot, badass cyborgs, weird fleshy monsters, or a particularly delectable combination of two or even all three elements. However, as someone who had finished the game earlier that afternoon, I couldn’t help but laugh my sadly unshiny butt off.

While Stellar Blade does feature tight and sometimes revealing clothing, and its protagonist EVE boobing breastily all over the shop, it’s as safe and sexless as the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe . Yes, the fan art and fanfic will be fantastic, but there’s no fan service on display here. I’m actually kinda glad, because now that we’ve got all that junk behind us, we can get to the review and say that Stellar Blade is mostly a darn good time.

Stellar Blade is a flashy character-action game like your Devil May Crys and Ninja Gaidens. There’s a bit of Soulslike in there, but only to the same extent as pretty much every action game these days. Yeah, it’s got checkpoints, respawning enemies, and parrying, but that’s not enough for a whole genre, y’know? The game Stellar Blade is highly reminiscent of, and not just because it’ll launch a thousand cosplays, is Nier: Automata : You’ve got a beautiful balletic blade-wielding badass of a cyborgy-androidy persuasion who descends from space to rid a post-apocalyptic wasteland of rampaging nasties so that all the nice humans can be safe. Oh, and she’s accompanied by a hauntingly lovely soundtrack full of soft, ethereal vocals.

It’s not just the surface elements that Stellar Blade cribs from Nier , but also a willingness to play around with genre in order to keep things fresh. For example, not too far into the game, EVE’s little drone gets an upgrade that allows it to serve as a firearm. For the most part, I didn’t find it a hugely impactful addition to her arsenal, outside of clearly signposted “shoot the glowing thingy” moments. However, certain laboratory-like locations have some kind of electromagnetic field that disables EVE’s hi-tech electro-sword and the drone’s scanning capabilities, while leaving the shootybang protocol intact. Add some mutant monstrosities to the mix, and all of a sudden it’s gone a bit survival horror.

Not all the experiments are so successful. The traversal is generally smooth and enjoyable, but it’s marred in a few places by some interminable precision platforming and even a section where you have to dodge from cover to cover to avoid instant artillery-based death. Even with the occasional misfire, I was glad of the variety, as I’m not convinced that the core combat could sustain the game on its own.

That’s not to say that it’s bad; in fact, it’s a heck of a lot of fun. Stellar Blade starts with a familiar weak attack/strong attack/dodge/parry setup that it absolutely nails. Everything is fast and responsive, and you can string together some impressive-looking combos with the two attack buttons. Pull off a perfect parry enough times and you’ll leave your foe open to a finishing move that will kill most enemies and take a good chunk of health off a boss. Shortly after introducing unblockable attacks that have to be dodged, the game adds a couple of variations to combat. A blue flash means you need to press forward as you dodge, while pink requires pulling back on the stick instead. The former causes you to do a ninja-like dash behind your opponent, leaving them open to attack, while the latter causes you to do a sweet flip-kick and opens up a weak spot for you to shoot at.

As well as the basics, you have a set of special moves that can be performed by holding down the L1 button and the corresponding face button. These cost points drawn from a limited resource pool, which regenerates as you take and deal damage and, like the core moves, can be upgraded with skill points as you level up. Also available are healing items and a small selection of grenade-like weapons.

The problem is that by the time you’re a few hours into Stellar Blade , you’ll have seen everything the combat has to offer. The tantalizingly obscured skill trees on the menu screen get you all excited when the first one is revealed to be the gun drone, but the other two eventually turn out to be another set of special moves, just keyed to R1 this time and with their own energy pool, and a sort of super mode you can activate for short bursts. They’re fun to use, but they don’t bring anything new to the table. There are no new weapons to collect, no different combat styles, and the gear customisation falls squarely into “number go up” territory, rather than changing up how you play.

As a result, Stellar Blade can sometimes feel like a bit of a slog. Enemies are delightfully varied in their appearance, but the tactics you use to defeat them don’t need to be altered much. There are sections that go on for way too long, including a dull dungeon crawl through a sewer, where it feels like the game is throwing large numbers of bullet-sponge enemies just to slow you down. It’s a shame, because when the combat shines, it’s absolutely exhilarating, and most of the boss encounters are fantastic. Thankfully, the last few sections of the game are nice and pacey, alternating big boss fights and exposition without too much corridor-trudging and mob-killing slowing down proceedings.

Story-wise, I ended up pleasantly surprised. It’s 99% standard sci-fi guff for sure, but I’m a sucker for that stuff. There’s so much foreshadowing and hinting at what’s really going on that I was prepared for the big reveals to be whimpers rather than bangs, but some clever misdirection kept a few things genuine surprises. The last few hours of the game were some of my favorites, which I feel is an impressive achievement, as Stellar Blade was getting rather stodgy by that point.

My playthrough clocked in at around 24 hours, having done most of the side quests in the first open-world area but barely touching the second. Stellar Blade is one of the rare games that I feel more positively toward now I’ve finished it than I did halfway through. The rip-roaring opening and rollercoaster of a final act make up for the padded middle that, combined with a lack of combat variety, stops the game short of true excellence. But otherwise, it’s an impressive console debut that suggests a very promising future for Shift Up.

Stellar Blade will be released April 26 on PlayStation 5. The game was reviewed on PlayStation 5 using a pre-release download code provided by Sony. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here .

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