By Kelsey Cameron
First published August 24 2017, Edited 2023
Journey (2012) is a stunning abstract and artistic exploration of the journey through life and death, developed by thatgamecompany. Journey won IGN’s ‘Best Overall Game’ beating the likes of Halo 4, Dishonored and The Walking Dead (Ep. 1).
Although the premise of the game is simple, the beauty and experience with other players offers so much in return.
You start Journey alone looking up at two sculptures standing in the sand on a small hill. The player controls an anthropomorphic sand creature and is tasked with traveling through different environments to reach 'the pious mountain' (pictured below). Throughout the game, players release trapped scrolls, which resemble different animals, in order to grow a long and glorious scroll-like tail. Growing ones tail unlocks new areas and terrain where the longer the tail, the longer the creatures can float and glide through the environment.
The charming aspect about Journey is that you can encounter real players. Player's communicate non-verbally by jumping, leaping, and prompting different sounds directed towards one another. This creates a really interesting dynamic between you and the other player if they choose to stick around and play the game with you.
I had a very emotional experience playing this game. What peaked my interest was the potential to discover and travel through the game with another player; the events of which are truly unique. Like life, the player has experiences and encounters determined by choice and chance that lead to unpredictable moments that make life, or the journey, meaningful.
The first player I encountered had no interest in travelling along with me and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little bit devastated. So I carried on collecting scrolls alone and exploring the different environments at my own pace. It didn’t take long until I discovered another player and we excitedly clicked to each other and experimented with the game together. This player sent a beacon to me when they had discovered some scrolls but eventually went off and explored the space on their own. I thought they had left like the other but to my surprise, their creature was waiting for me to progress to the next level together.
It was probably the most touching game experience I have ever had.
Journey gets progressively darker as you get closer to 'the pious mountain'. At one point, I was attacked and ripped of my glorious tail by a flying skeletal creature who scans the dark with spot lights. I was completely moved when my companion rushed towards my side to see if I was ok. Walking through a snowy terrain we traveled together, huddled for warmth. We continued on, through the snow until it got harder and harder to move. And then we died.
But this wasn't the end. We were lifted by the 'gods' who brought us to the pious mountains and we flew, not floated or glided but flew through the land reflecting over our journey together through the different environments. It was beautiful, emotional, and spiritual in ways I didn't think a videogame could be. The simple premise, of exploring with another person with all preconceptions and prejudice of one another was ripped away as we experienced this journey together, as equals. We then became the two stone sculptures that stood on the sandhill at the beginning of the game – our graves.
Journey symbolises the journey through life and through death while respectfully blending different religious connotations into a singular and inclusive representation of spirituality. Through choice and chance, the player creates their own meanings about the game but also about life and death. Although we were ambiguous creatures, I was always aware that there was a real person behind the avatar and that I myself was real. The creatures as a symbol for one human and all of humanity let me reflect on my own personal life.
I will forever be thankful for this experience and it truly shaped my world view.