Journey

Journey is a 2012 adventure game developed by thatgamecompany and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 3. It first appeared on PlayStation Network on March 13, 2012, later reaching PlayStation 4 in 2015, Windows in 2019, and iOS in 2019. Jenova Chen directed the project, following the studio’s Flow and Flower. Rather than giving the player dialogue, inventory screens, or a mission log, Journey begins with a red-robed figure awakening in a desert. A luminous mountain, split by a bright opening near its summit, remains the destination throughout the game. The traveler crosses dunes, ruins, subterranean passages, snowy slopes, and the mountain itself. Murals encountered in the ruins present a wordless history of a civilization associated with cloth, power, and conflict. The character can jump and fly by spending energy from a long scarf; glowing cloth symbols lengthen that scarf, allowing longer flight. Animated strips of cloth assist the traveler in several areas, while hostile stone-and-metal guardians appear in later sections and can tear away scarf segments. Journey’s online design is central to its identity. In most connected play, a player may meet one anonymous companion controlled by another person. Neither person receives the other’s account name during the journey, and there is no text or voice chat. Communication is limited to a musical chime and movement. The chime can recharge a companion’s scarf, making cooperation useful even without explicit instructions. Names are shown only after the credits, if the player chooses to view them. The game’s matchmaking is designed so companions can enter and leave without turning the experience into a conventional lobby-based multiplayer game. Austin Wintory composed Journey’s score, which uses cello performed by Tina Guo. The soundtrack earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, making it the first video-game score nominated in that category. Wintory’s music changes around the player’s actions and companionship, including cello lines associated with the traveler. The game received critical recognition. At the 2013 D.I.C.E. Awards, Journey won Game of the Year as well as awards including Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, and Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay. Its visual art was led by Matt Nava, whose desert vistas, cloth creatures, and mountain silhouette helped make the game recognizable. Journey is notable for allowing completion in two hours, while using that structure to frame ascent, loss, rebirth, and reunion without spoken exposition.