It is no secret that Flower for the PS Platform is one of my favorite games of all time. My love of Flower was my incentive to keep an eye on what the folks from That Game Company were up too, waiting in anticipation of their next release. When their new game Journey for the PS3 was released in March of 2012, I was ecstatic! I remember when I went to my local game store to pick up a copy, there were two young men behind the counter. I asked them first, what they thought of the game. They both exclaimed together “Awesome!”. The next question I ask them was “Describe to me the game play?” With that question they just looked at each other, then at me, one of them then replied “Um…I don’t know how to describe it…you just have to experience it.” He then added “No worries though, you will definitely love it!” I have to admit, it didn’t take much convincing to sell me. 😉
Journey is all that I hoped it would be and more. It’s just as beautiful and artistic as flower! The creative team at That Game Company Lead by creative director Jenova Chen and lead designer Nick Clark really have produced a masterpiece of game play. Journey is a submersion into an artistic dream world where you emerge as an ambiguous avatar dressed in a red hooded cloak. You are immediately submersed in a world of rolling desert vistas with an epic mountain in the distance. As you explore this world, you experience wondrous, mesmerizing landscapes as you walk, glide, and fly through an expansive and awe-inspiring landscape traveling towards the beacon at the top of the mountain. Journey also has a unique approach to on-line play which encourages players to explore this poetic environment with strangers who cross their path. By traveling together, and just sharing the space they can re-shape their encounter and traverse this world on an even deeper level.
This interactive art piece is complimented with a bewitching, haunting soundtrack of a mercurial nature, in some parts, dominated by a lone cello. In my humble opinion, the music is one of the key elements that make it such a wonderful immersive experience. The music in Journey was composed by Austin Wintory and you can obtain the soundtrack on iTunes. I highly recommend that you do so. I love it, and listen to it often in my studio and sometimes, I am moved to tears. Here is a bit of trivia for you; after its release the Journey soundtrack reached the top 10 of the iTunes charts in more than 20 countries. It also reached Number 116 on the Billboard sales charts, with over 4000 units sold in its first week after release. The second-highest position of any video game music album to date as well as a Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media nomination for the 2013 Grammy Awards. Impressive!
As of July 2015 Journey is now also available for the PS4.