Journey's visual and sound design sets new standards for interactive entertainment. This alone makes it an extraordinary work, but it's the way that these aesthetic elements come together with beautifully subtle direction and storytelling to create a lasting emotional effect that elevates this to one of the very best games of our time.
Our editors hand-pick similar games based on a broad set of criteria: they may be direct competitors targeting the same player base, or they could be games that share similar themes, gameplay mechanics, or artistic styles.
All things considered, Journey is a wonderful game that will keep you immersed in its world from the get-go. It truly is a work of art, and everyone should experience it at least once.
Experiences like Journey don't come around very often in any form of media. thatgamecompany's crafted an interactive tour de force that's triumphant in its ability to cycle through human emotions. It's a game that demands your involvement on a spiritual level, rather than a purely mechanical one, and while it's never preachy in its philosophical intentions, it's hard not to get wrapped up in the divine nature of Journey's tale.
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.
Journey's visual and sound design sets new standards for interactive entertainment. This alone makes it an extraordinary work, but it's the way that these aesthetic elements come together with beautifully subtle direction and storytelling to create a lasting emotional effect that elevates this to one of the very best games of our time.
Granted, thatgamecompany's done most of the work for you. The studio has poured the deserts, trashed the temples and filled the world with the floating presence of a nameless almighty. The truly brilliant move, though, was to leave a space at the very centre of the design that only a stranger can fill. The master stroke, as in all great myths, lies not with God, but with the human element.
Those of you that played Flower might notice that Journey mirrors many of its predecessor's emotional milestones. Journey celebrates the poignancy of nature, it startles you with the unexpected, and empowers you in an exhilarating, unforgettable conclusion. The hours spent completing Journey will create memories that last for years.
Those lost moments of grace felt fleeting even as they were happening, and they felt all the more fleeting in retrospect. But there was no way to get them back; nothing for it but to push onward. And so I did, and so you will too. And round and round we'll go.