# *Journey* Notes A sweeping, moving interactive experience about the journey of life, our need for fellowship, and the powers of communication. A stirring game that made waves at its launch during a golden era for PlayStation. As time goes on though and the player base shrinks, a vital piece of its magic is lost to time and memory, not too dissimilar from the game's narrative itself. > [!warning] > Spoilers below! ![[Journey Notes.pdf]] # Journey ### Stats - Started Playing: 1/11/26 - Beat: 1/11/26 - Total Playtime: 1:43:00 ### Legacy - A sweeping, moving interactive experience about the journey of life, our need for fellowship, and the powers of communication. A stirring game that made waves at its launch. A golden era for PlayStation. - It has inspired plenty of “Journey-likes,” including devs that splintered off from thatgamecompany to form Giant Squid, - I worry what the game will lose when the servers shut down one day. It already feels like it lost so much with (seemingly) an incredibly low concurrent player count. ### Overall - I haven’t played since launch. Felt like it was time. - I last played this on PS3 on a CRT. Not even in HD. - I remember this being longer. Probably spent more time exploring the edges. ### Story - Desert wanderer wakes up, sees mountain and goes. - Magic cloth fell from the sky and gave life and energy to all. Then, man creatures wanted to harvest it and war brewed. The civilization was destroyed and buried over time. - Pilgrims journey (heh) to the mountain. ### Gameplay - A simple premise of walk toward the mountain. Controls include a musical sphere that can be used to communicate and wake up scarf creatures. - Collect white pieces and a scarf grows and grows on you. This is a diegetic meter that let’s you know how long you can fly/float. - The kicker is there is this invisible online infrastructure. You will bump into other players and can use the musical sphere to try and communicate. - At launch, waaaaaay back in 2012 (dear lord) there were many, *many* more people playing. In 2026, I ran into one person. And they had the tiniest scarf and would not try alternate methods/follow me to scarf extensions to get over a wall. - At the end of the credits, the game reveals the usernames of all those you interacted with. ### Music/Sound Design - Is there a better score? All hail Austin Wintory. ### Graphics/Performance - Back when sand rendering techniques were how devs showed off graphics and art. Honestly, the industry may have peaked then. ### World - Big endless desert, a factory, and a snowy peak. See big mountain, go to big mountain. - Is there a prettier scene than sand surfing at sunset?