I feel like that game literally changed my life in the 2 hours or whatever it took me to play it.
That game is so beautiful. It made me a better person.
I was absolutely entranced.
My sister plays the game a lot.
She’s earned the white robe, and plays regularly to show other players around, and draw them hearts in the sand/snow.
That’s really adorable, thanks for sharing!
Very cool. Thanks
I saw so much praise for this game, which got me to buy. Then I genuinely felt like I played a different game than everybody else.
Not that I thought it was bad or anything, I just walked across the landscape for 2h15m and then haven’t thought about it since.
The amazing part for me is running into a stranger and we have to communicate with the limited system in game. Outside of that it’s a competent “walking simulator” with decent puzzles and great art. If that’s not your thing I get it.
Wait that other person I saw was a real person and not an NPC?? 🤯
Yup. When the game ends, you will see a list of player IDs you’ve met during your journey
That’s so wild. I met one person and I was just following them around to see where the “AI” was taking them. I thought it was very advanced for an older game 😅 I think I may not be the smartest
Don’t feel too bad lol. It’s structured to feel like a single player game, which they may have done a little too well. You aren’t the only one to not realize.
It’s such a beautiful game! I need to play it again.
Regular players are red, think if you meet someone in white, they 100% the game
IIRC white means you got all the secret glyphs in one playthrough.
Nope. White are real people, too. You respawn white back at the beginning (i think you have the option to, so you could stay red as well) if you managed to find all the glyphs. Ive been the White Traveler lots of times.
I played with my friend over Discord and somehow we got matched with each other the first time, so we didn’t get to play with strangers or anything. Still was fun though.
My partner and I had VERY different experiences.
SPOILERS
I played and got a friend right away, my friend was VERY chirpy and led me around and when I had to poop I tried to communicate it and they KNEW… They were the perfect partner. I really felt like a made a deep connection with this person I couldn’t communicate with. I teared up and when their Steam name showed at the end credits I added them immediately and we have a long chat about our experience.
My partner? First friend joined, was a speedrunner. Just ran ahead without so much as a chirp. Nobody else was joining so we started over. Got another friend who randomly dropped out after a bit. Finally found another friend who also just left about 3/4 of the way through. Frustration; quit.
After I unlocked the White Robe I used to go back into games and find people. Then I’d just chill with them chirping, giving subtle hints on where things were, and being patient while floating around levels. It remains one of my favorite games of all time.
That’s totally what my person was doing, and they definitely had white robe. Bless you for making people’s experiences amazing. You’re the best kind of player!
Oh, sorry. I was absolutely mesmerized.
I’ll be remembering it for quite some time.
My mind is still spinning.
This was exactly my experience as well! The same thing happened with Witcher 3. Sooo much hype but no matter how many times I’ve gone back to it, I just can’t get into it.
Witcher 3 took me a few attempts before I finally got into it. And those types of games were always my favorite.
I don’t think Witcher 3 stuck until the DLCs. Now I’m sad I’m done with the game…
Downvotes just for having an opinion, wild.
I had a similar experience. Funnily enough I love walking simulators, or slow burns with similar mechanics so I was exactly in the target audience for this game but somehow it didn’t click with me. I can understand which elements make the game great, but these elements have been done better by other games (in my opinion). I have great respect for the craft though.
I’m combing through these comments, which games have done this better?
I am definitely interested.
With the emphasis that they have done certain elements better: Brothers: A Tale of two sons (Show, Don’t Tell) , Dark Souls (silent companion), Shadow of the Colossus (feeling of isolation/scale). I might add some more if I find the time.
Oh I definitely prefer the show Don’t tell in journey more, if I’m understanding that category. And I did love Brothers.
I didn’t have a silent companion, but comparing by how many people have told me about the silent companions of this game versus a huge thread about dark souls and elden ring I had recently and nobody mentioning a silent companion, I’m going to grain of salt that one.
Are the silent companions in dark souls like elden ring where you summon friends to help you fight?
I do want to play Shadow of the Colossus, but that game kind of beats everyone in terms of scale right?
Isolation? Hm. Interesting.
I really should play shadow of the Colossus.
Is that still Playstation exclusive or is it anywhere else yet?
I believe it is still an exclusive
Dang. Wasn’t that game super popular? I wonder why it still exclusive.
I stand corrected - there are versions for other platforms available according to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_(2012_video_game)
I’m with you here.
I played it just recently so I didn’t get to play with as many people as I’m sure there were at the start. I did encounter others frequently enough though. Even played with 1 person for a big chunk.
It was fine. It’s pretty and it has soul for sure but it’s not a transcendent experience like so many seem to describe. Maybe I’m broken in my own way, maybe I missed something, maybe I don’t understand art. Who knows.
I had fun though and it was worth the price.
Same here, it’s by all accounts a decently competent but ultimately very basic puzzle platformer. Don’t get the hype.
Dang, you’re patient. I played this back on PS3. Does it even have online players anymore? They are an integral part of the experience, IMO.
I had someone with a super long scarf play basically the entire second half of the game with me. So fun to find ways to communicate with just the little pulses we had.
!Also absolutely heartbreaking when wet froze together at the end!<
I also played their other game Flower, on the PS3. Probably the only time I’ve enjoyed using motion controls on that system.
Fyi Lemmy doesn’t do spoilers the way Reddit does. The syntax for spoilers is:
::: spoiler visible spoiler text Text that's hidden behind a spoiler :::visible spoiler text
Text that’s hidden behind a spoiler
Weird, I did format it that way but it doesn’t seem to stick on editing
Very strange. What client are you using, out of interest? If it’s an app that pivoted from being an old Reddit app into a Lemmy app, it might be an issue worth pointing out to the developer.
Sync, I’ll be sure to let them know. Thanks!
I didn’t see anyone else, and that does sound like a cool mechanic, but this was perfect for me on its own.
I was very happy to find this community because I can wait decades to play a game.
I’ve never heard of this game before, but was going through all time best game lists and there journey was on igns, and it sounded too good to not immediately investigate.
That’s a shame there aren’t any players any more.
I’m a patient gamer, too. I almost never buy games at full price. But I try to strike a balance with online(-ish) games. Some experiences you just can’t have once a game with an online aspect isn’t popular anymore.
PS3 had more shimmery glittery sand. you can add it back into the game by making the changes mentioned in the alternate method at the bottom of this guide. they messed up the sparkles in the later releases. doesn’t hit the same.
Thank you for that!
There are still players. Much more rare I’m sure. I played maybe 4 months ago and met a few people.
I was playing on Steam maybe 2 months ago and I saw two people in my 4ish hours of playing. They both kinda danced around me for a bit then ran off :(
If you’re looking for a similar type of game, I played GRIS recently which reminded me quite a bit of this.
Gris hooked me much more than Journey.
Gris broke me lol. It was so beautiful, so emotional.
Nice, much appreciated
That’s how I felt after finishing Outer Wilds.
I wonder if the outer wilds was less successful than it was because there was another game called outer worlds.
I still don’t know which game is which, and i played on of them
outer worlds was basically a non bethesda 3d fallout game that wasn’t fallout, seemingly largely inspired by firefly in regards to the cast of characters and some aspects of the plot. you even randomly have your ship’s cargo hold filled with cows like the opening sequence of lne episode of firefly.
outer wilds is on my backlog and I know nothing apart from being told to play it repeatedly.
I haven’t played The Outer Worlds, but the screenshots look to me like just a regular old sci-fi game (not necessarily a bad thing though).
But Outer Wilds actually impressed me. If you plan to play it, don’t watch any gameplay videos. Go into it with zero expectations.
I liked outer wilds, played that last year.
I do go on long walking journeys in real life but haven’t ever flown a DIY space ship; maybe that’s why journey hit me harder
Some games you sometimes load just to hang around. This is one of those. Lovely game.
I’d add Valley and Sable to this group.
Thanks, I’ll look them up
Been enjoying my time with Sabel so far. Love the French sci fi comic art style.
Oh this comment had me poring over images, now I’m very excited to play.
Such a relaxing and satisfying exploration/puzzle-platformer. It’s the tone that really sold me.
They have another game called Sky
I was just looking at sky on the Play store.
Have you played sky?
I’ll have to go back and try their older games too.
Sky is wonderful but after you’ve played through it and explored around a bit, the content cycle is pretty obnoxious and requires you to really play damn near every day hardcore to unlock all the stuff in their season pass before it’s gone. Fortunately 99.9% of it is purely cosmetic and the bits that aren’t are just little toys, so you can easily just play it for the actual game content, which doesn’t really go away.
Okay, cool.
I don’t mind just playing around in it for a while to see what it’s like, the company has certainly earned my interest in anything else they’ve created; I’m going to start with their older games first
I play it all the time. Its Journey with some FOMO, but they bring some items you missed back every other 2 weeks. Its my chill escape.
Which console do you play on?
Phone and computer. “I run” my dailies on my phone and actually play on computer.
Okay, thanks, appreciate it
Not who you were replying ot but if you liked Journey I wager you’ll love Sky as it is similar but bigger and more varied.
Edited to add: Flower and Flow were both great games as well. thatgamecompany.com are good at what they do.
I love playing Flower so much, it’s my favorite calming game
Take a look at Bulwark, the Falconeer Chronicles. It’s very calm.
I’ve been playing video games for about 30 years and this is hands down one of the best games I’ve ever played.
Edit: other noteworthy mentions - outer wilds, the original ps2 amplitude, and NieR Automata are some other stand out masterpieces of my life.
I dig outer wilds, I’m writing down the other two now, thanks.
Journey was unbelievable.
I literally could not believe how caught up I was in it while enjoying the entire ride.
It’s the one game I would suggest hands down to anyone to play. From non-gamers on up. The game is a short masterpiece and one of a very few to elicit an emotional reaction out of me. I cannot sing it’s praises enough.
I am definitely sharing a boat with you.
Yep, it’s the only game that my one non-gaming sibling has beat, and they still talk about it.
Journey is my favorite game, hands down. It was even more magical in the years after its release and there were still a bunch of active players. Did you encounter any others on their journey in your game?
No! I didn’t even know that was a thing.
Truly unique experience, I’m still reeling from being in that world and following that story.
Some review mentioned that if you could distill a video game into pure poetry, journey would be it.
That’s what got me to check it out, and goddam were they right.
Yeah, my first playthrough, I thought it was just NPCs chirping around me, but it turned out that they were real people! As players got more scarce, it was truly a special experience finding someone and going through parts of the game with them. I remember I encountered someone a few levels in and we somehow ended up together until we crawled up the snowy mountain, trying to keep each other from freezing. Not a single word spoken, yet this game has such powerful messaging.
I hope you get the opportunity to encounter your own Journey companion on a playthrough. :)
That sounds amazing, what a beautiful experience.
Me too!!! I still play through it once a year or so and listen to the soundtrack all the time. My favorite game of all time; one of my favorite pieces of art of all time. Guess I’m due for another round!
It made me a better person.
If that is meant literally, how did it make you a better person?
I appreciated the combined poetry of something so much it made me more tolerant, appreciative, optimistic and excited about life and people on the whole.
Turned the dial.
I’m sad that they had to monetize sky the way they did to keep the service up. It’s clearly what they wanted out of journey but couldn’t accomplish the first go. If you like journey, play sky, children of the light
Cool, thanks I will.
Wasn’t Abzu made by the same studio? Also very chill game
Not the same studio, but same director and music composer
I sat my girlfriend down to play Journey a few years ago. She’d never played it and went in blind.
The realisation at the end that the other pilgrim was another actual player blew her mind.
I’d never heard from this game and was excited to try it blind, you just made me revive my acct to tell you how upset I am at this spoiler and I don’t even know what the game is about!
That’s fair… probably should have spoiler tagged it. My bad.
There’s still time
Yep, 4 hours later and it still spoiled it for me.
oof, me too. :/
So sad tbh
Hey no worries haha! Sorry if that seemed rash!
Other than that, reading from everyone, I’m definitely trying this.
Should I avoid the post further to enjoy it the most?
I think you’ll be okay. I believe the game drops in an AI if it cannot find another player tbh.
That’s such a cool game concept
Have not – one sentence pitch?
Wandering through poetry.
The soundtrack alone is worth playing the game. The incidental multiplayer where you can’t communicate directly and you don’t see the name of your friend is brilliant.
It’s a game that will stay with you for a long time, sort of like Firewatch in that way.
Are there still enough players to always connect you to someone else?
I played late at night and no one joined in the game, but I played at norml hours twice in a row and found companions. So I guess… Probably usually there are enough people playing
Go for a walk. Maybe meet somebody to walk with.
