My Review of Journey (Game)

Recently I finished a short online co-op game called Journey

Starting in the middle of a dessert, you travel on a long journey to the top of the mountain. Game is filled with beautiful graphics, not much puzzles. Mostly a walking adventure that tells a story without words.

From the 2nd level onwards, a random human stranger joins your game. Their steam account nickname is not shown to you. Nor is there any feature in the game for voice or text chat (you could use morse code, but hardly anyone nor me knows it). Despite that, travelling together, through the beep sounds we made, we developed a connection that will last for the next 2 or so hours. When we are figuring out a puzzle, we jump around to give clues as if to say “over here!”.

When the game eventually ends after 2 or so hours. I felt sad knowing it is almost certainly the last time we meet & even if we do meet in the game again through a replay attempt, I may not know if it’s him/her. A part of me kind of feel it’s better if they didn’t join & help my game in the 1st place. An experience I could relate a lot with in real life.

The game story itself while simple, it’s also masterfully told. There is no text written nor words spoken in the whole game, but through the wall paintings, through the scenery, you could tell it’s a story about…