--- title: "Journey" subtitle: "Boldly belated game review" author: Seth publish_date: 2025-04-04 08:00 date: 2025-04-04 08:00 hero_classes: text-light title-h1h2 overlay-dark-gradient hero-large parallax hero_image: steam-deck.webp show_sidebar: true show_breadcrumbs: true show_pagination: true taxonomy: category: blog tag: [ gaming, video game ] --- Since getting a [Steam Deck](https://mixedsignals.ml/games/blog/tech-review-steam-deck), I've actually been playing games in my Steam library. Recently I played and finished **Journey**, and these are my reflections on the game. I have a little bit of history with **Journey**, in a roundabout way. When I had a Playstation 3 back in the 20-teens, a game got released to the Playstation Network (PSN) called **Flower**. I remember it making an impression on fellow gamers because it was an uncommonly calming and peaceful game. You literally play as a flower petal, floating on the wind, gathering other flower petals, and brightening fields with, um, magical flower powers, I guess. There's no tutorial, there's no quest log, no instructions. You just start them game, and against all odds you just intuitively know what you're supposed to do. It was a stunning example of emergent gameplay, and a masterpiece of visuals, audio, and design. Later, the same development studio also released a game called **Journey**. I purchased both **Flower** (which has since been ported to Steam) and **Journey**. **Flower** has been failing to launch, so I haven't been able to revisit it, but **Journey** is in good shape so with no idea of what to expect, I played it. ## Gaming without language or combat As with **Flower**, you start **Journey** with no tutorial, no introduction, no instruction. You move, and _sometimes_ you can float some short distance into the air. You're a figure wearing red robes, standing in a desert. That's the start of the game, and it's both wildly liberating and surprisingly disarming. We play games to achieve a goal, and we make a game fun by setting up arbitrary limitations to how we can achieve that goal. But **Journey** doesn't tell you the goal, and there don't seem to be any limitations. There are no enemies, no hazards, no barriers. You just wander around an empty world. But amazingly, somehow, you make progress. That the games narrative, such as it is, works at all seems almost like a magic trick. You pick up your controller and wander into the desert with no prompts and no tutorial. You find an abandoned structure mostly covered in sand. You find ways to interact with it, and you accidentally summon floating pieces of red cloth that swarm around you, giving you the fleeting power to fly. Just like that, you've discovered that you can sing a note that effects some elements of the environment. It's the one super power you have in the game, and frankly it doesn't seem very useful (yet). As you continue to explore, you uncover more secrets about your environment, and through iconography you formulate theories about the point of the game. The game goes on like this, and your aimlessness gradually transforms from confusion to curiosity. Why is the world the way it is? What's your purpose in the game? What does the game want from you? What do you want from the game? These questions, whether you take them existentially or pragmatically, keeps you on the edge of your seat. You become convinced, rightly so, that if you just keep exploring then you'll find meaning. I got to the endgame after about 20 hours of very relaxed and calming play. I don't guarantee actual enlightenment, but it was a satisfying ending that I felt I'd truly earned. Even though it had only been 20 hours, I'd grown into a habit of playing **Journey**, and I was a little sorry to see it end. I consider myself a replayer of games. Finishing a game never means, for me, that I can't start it back up and play again. I'd play **Journey** again, although I admit that I doubt it would be a drastically different experience. Unless I've missed something, there's very much only one path to the end, and there are definitely invisible walls when you try to go too far off path. That doesn't mean it wouldn't be pleasant to play again, though. It's a beautiful game, it's calming and mysterious, and I think I'd enjoy a second playthrough in a year or two. If you haven't played **Journey**, I recommend it, even if it doesn't seem like the kind of game you usually play. Admittedly, I think the Steam Deck influenced my enjoyment of **Journey**, but I don't think it was the device so much as the big soft sofa I was able to sit in (as opposed to my desk chair) because I was playing on an extremely portable console. You don't need a Steam Deck to enjoy the game, but I do recommend a comfy chair and a hot drink.

Header photo by Valve. Screenshots by Square Enix.