Warning - Journey SPOILERS (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Thursday, July 30, 2015, 13:42 (3503 days ago) @ Funkmon
edited by CruelLEGACEY, Thursday, July 30, 2015, 13:50

You asked what it was about Journey that connects with me so strongly. It isn't a simple case of "what the game is about", but the way it makes me feel as I'm going through it. I'll do my best to describe it, but a lot of this will probably sound cheesy because I'm not a good enough writer to do with words what the game does with visuals, music, gameplay, etc. I don't think watching videos does it justice either. You just need to play it. But I'll do my best :)

So, the basic "story" behind Journey is very simple. You are born, you go through "life", you reach the end and die, you go back to the beginning. What makes the game so powerful for me is the way everything starts to take on greater meaning because you begin to see everything as a metaphor for something in your real life. It taps into a lot of basic archetypes and lets the player fill in the blanks.

The game's presentation and production values go a long way as well. The visuals and art design, the music, even the controls and the way your character moves around, all tap in to my emotions and make me feel every situation. There are segments early in the game that bring me right back to the best moments of my childhood; as you slide down shimmering hills with light and color dancing all around you, jumping and gliding with ease, your "friends" with you, all moving together with no worry of where you are going or how you will get there. It is playful, joyful, and simple.

Then, almost suddenly, you drop into a cave and everything changes. Once again, the visuals and music are perfectly evocative. You feel a sense of danger, an impending threat that you don't understand. Your character's floaty jump and methodical pace now feel like weaknesses... you feel incapable of defending yourself from whatever is ahead. Sooner or later, we all face hardships larger than us. Life gets "real". Things aren't so fun and playful anymore. There is danger in the world, and we need to be careful.

Moments like this hit me hard; to travel so far with someone by your side, trying to make your way through danger together, only to watch helplessly as tragedy falls upon them. I know it sounds overly dramatic, but I felt this right in my gut:

The way other players come and go from your game becomes a poignant part of the experience. There is no ceremony to their arrival, no warning of their departure. People just come and go. Some times you run right past someone and never think twice about them. Other times you'll end up partnering with someone for substantial portions of the game. You'll play together, keep each other company, help each other... then you turn your back for a moment, and they're just gone. And you'll never find them again. This aspect of the game hit my wife particularly hard when she played. She isn't generally a gamer at all, but she saw Journey and wanted to try it. She ended up playing most of the way through with a single companion who was incredibly helpful and patient, showing her the way through almost the entire game, helping keep her safe from danger when it came along. After almost 2 hours playing together, my wife was feeling confident enough to take the lead and figure out how to move forward. She turned around and her friend was gone. She was so upset by it, she actually teared up on the spot.

As you get close to the summit of the mountain, you hit the end of the line. You have gone to far for too long, and you just can't go any further. You die. This segment is particularly disturbing if you happen to be with another player at the time. My first time through the game, I was far more upset about watching my friend beside me die than I was about my own fate.

Just when you think the game might actually be over, you are visited one final time by the white robes. There are lots of theories about what exactly they are supposed to be or represent. I like to think that they mean something a little different to everyone. Some have suggested that they are God or angels, some say they are the ghosts of you ancestors. I've seen others suggest that they are your conscious, the little voice in your head; whatever it is that helps guide you and keep you moving forward. They come to you one final time to bring you into the game's version of the afterlife. You continue upwards with easeshow you that your journey is not quite over. You launch from the frozen hillside and soar through the air, fling upwards towards the summit. For the first time since "childhood" everything is effortless and safe. You cannot fall or falter. Then you make it to the top, and you walk towards the bright light. If you've made it this far with another player, you walk together, side by side until the end. If you're alone, there is a strange sense of peace that comes with it. Your journey ends as it begins.

Gets me every time :)