Journey (David Perry Challenge)
Journey is one of the better recent examples that add weight to the argument that video games can be art.
The use of light carefully constructs a set of rules within its universe that not only serve to enhance the player’s experience and overall enjoyment, but by also evoking an overwhelming sense or progress, joy and learning, all without a single word being spoken or written. The ‘Show, don’t tell’ approach was ingrained into the very fiber of Thatgamecompany’s philosophy when Journey’s world came to fruition.
Journey also very closely follow the narrative pattern known as ‘The Hero’s Journey’, a tried and tested method to show an audience a character that undergoes a dramatic metamorphosis through their adventures and emerges on the other side as a hero. Stages of the pattern that I feel apply to Journey the most are ‘The call to adventure’, which is presented as the ray of sunshine at the top of the mountain and ‘Belly of the Whale’, which has the player character navigate through what is exhibited as a dark and unknown area to both the player and character, supplying a sizable foe to be faced with. The ‘call to adventure’ opening of Journey aspires to show a goal, a challenge and a gateway to a barrage of questions, seemingly at once using the sight of one symbol. The fact that this symbol is seen for the first time by the player and seemingly not by the character conveys an effective reverse allegory which helps the player to greatly invest in the adventure that is to come.
Fixed camera angles were used sparingly in this title, being utilised only when necessary to portray a particular point to the player. The ‘Sand Surfing’ section is a great example of this, as its fixed camera angle exists for three purposes: to show the player which direction they should be heading in next, to prevent the first reason becoming too obvious to the player by distracting them with its stunning imagery and to use light to evoke joy and success from the player’s actions so far. The euphoric feeling a player gets while cascading down a golden gradient, all the while knowing that they are succeeding in their goal is reward and incentive enough to continue the story.
The ideal of minimalism is a prominent factor in the design of this game, as it serves to create few distractions from the beauty of the environments and the task at hand. The game also strongly restricts the amount of dialogue consumed by the player during the entirety of Journey. In fact, from the moment you boot the game (not including credits), three whole words are seen and two of those words are ‘journey’. This game religiously follows the school of thought that if a player reaches conclusions about the game on their own with little or no help or guidance, they have had a better experience, whether they loved the game as a result or hated it to its sandy core.
