Imagine just playing the game and then out of nowhere in one of the last areas thE ANOMALOCARIS SHOWS UP WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH THAT'S WHAT'S ALL ABOUT BABY FUCKING ANOMALOCARIS WOOOOOOOOOOOOO
.......cough.... sorry about that....
Even tho I have yet to play it, it isn't lost on me that after Journey's release, a lot of games followed its steps and tried to be a similar, contemplative experience, with mixed results in some cases, to say the least. Abzu is clearly no exception, this time putting is focus on a underwater setting, and if it one of the objectives was showing off its prettiness, by golly does it deliver it in spades.
Abzu's oceanic landscapes are nothing short of beautiful, magical, even. Swimming across these color filled areas, surrounded by a seemingly never-ending fauna, discovering the small secret zones and letting yourself be guided by these creatures that sometimes it's hard to believe they are real it's by far the best part of the experience, to just immerse (I swear I'm not doing this on purpose) in this little watery world, chill and relax as it sinks in, in that regard, in showing you pretty stuff and amazing set pieces, that is when Abzu shines.
But that's all it is, ''pretty'', and I can't shake off the feeling that its own contemplative nature gets in its own way. This a world overflowing with life, and yet, your interactions with it are the so few its comical. I have made it clear plenty of times that I don't have any problems when a game has only a handful of mechanics, hell, one of my favorite games is a ''walking simulator'', but in Abzu's case, being only able to swim , press a button on certain spots and meditate on some statues it’s just not enough, not considering what the game is showing me. I'm supposed to be saving this sea, and yet I just feel like I'm following a line, repeating the same actions in the same order until a secluded area becomes pretty to look at again, and it isn't until the final zones where I start to notice that the sea is in any real danger. Up until that point I was... doing what the game wanted me to do, the areas were still pretty, yes, but it just feels like I’m watching an aquarium, not really being in the same space as everything else. I was still being amazed by some things, like swimming alongside gigantic whales or rediscovering prehistoric life, but I just felt like a spectator, and that shouldn't be a bad thing, but the story seems to imply otherwise.
The game introduces a ton of elements, like ancient temples and a futuristic civilization that is destroying this world, and these are cool ideas in paper, but not they only really achieve their full potential or even appear just before the game ends. I get and really respect what they were going for, but it's poorly communicated, it clashes extremely hard with what it's shown to us and as such, it fails to give any sense of urgency, and makes its environmental message hit much less that it otherwise could have.
The ending is a cool final set piece, yes, and the music is fantastic, that too, but it just seems like the game tied its own hands in a lot of regards. It's still beautiful only because the sea itself is beautiful , and we should care for that beauty, one that slowly disappearing because of human action, and the game wants to join that conversation, but it doesn't seem to have the courage to really do it and be its own thing, and that's perhaps the worst about, that it seems content to be pretty and have cool set pieces, it doesn't aspire to be something greater.
Then again.... there are Anomalocaris, so it has its ups too.
.......cough.... sorry about that....
Even tho I have yet to play it, it isn't lost on me that after Journey's release, a lot of games followed its steps and tried to be a similar, contemplative experience, with mixed results in some cases, to say the least. Abzu is clearly no exception, this time putting is focus on a underwater setting, and if it one of the objectives was showing off its prettiness, by golly does it deliver it in spades.
Abzu's oceanic landscapes are nothing short of beautiful, magical, even. Swimming across these color filled areas, surrounded by a seemingly never-ending fauna, discovering the small secret zones and letting yourself be guided by these creatures that sometimes it's hard to believe they are real it's by far the best part of the experience, to just immerse (I swear I'm not doing this on purpose) in this little watery world, chill and relax as it sinks in, in that regard, in showing you pretty stuff and amazing set pieces, that is when Abzu shines.
But that's all it is, ''pretty'', and I can't shake off the feeling that its own contemplative nature gets in its own way. This a world overflowing with life, and yet, your interactions with it are the so few its comical. I have made it clear plenty of times that I don't have any problems when a game has only a handful of mechanics, hell, one of my favorite games is a ''walking simulator'', but in Abzu's case, being only able to swim , press a button on certain spots and meditate on some statues it’s just not enough, not considering what the game is showing me. I'm supposed to be saving this sea, and yet I just feel like I'm following a line, repeating the same actions in the same order until a secluded area becomes pretty to look at again, and it isn't until the final zones where I start to notice that the sea is in any real danger. Up until that point I was... doing what the game wanted me to do, the areas were still pretty, yes, but it just feels like I’m watching an aquarium, not really being in the same space as everything else. I was still being amazed by some things, like swimming alongside gigantic whales or rediscovering prehistoric life, but I just felt like a spectator, and that shouldn't be a bad thing, but the story seems to imply otherwise.
The game introduces a ton of elements, like ancient temples and a futuristic civilization that is destroying this world, and these are cool ideas in paper, but not they only really achieve their full potential or even appear just before the game ends. I get and really respect what they were going for, but it's poorly communicated, it clashes extremely hard with what it's shown to us and as such, it fails to give any sense of urgency, and makes its environmental message hit much less that it otherwise could have.
The ending is a cool final set piece, yes, and the music is fantastic, that too, but it just seems like the game tied its own hands in a lot of regards. It's still beautiful only because the sea itself is beautiful , and we should care for that beauty, one that slowly disappearing because of human action, and the game wants to join that conversation, but it doesn't seem to have the courage to really do it and be its own thing, and that's perhaps the worst about, that it seems content to be pretty and have cool set pieces, it doesn't aspire to be something greater.
Then again.... there are Anomalocaris, so it has its ups too.
2 Comments
@Corrugated_Fox I have plans to do so! There are a lot of games that exploded in popularity back in the day that I never played, and Journey is one of them, and one that really interests me. I'll most likely nab it when next sale comes around, I'm really excited to experience it firsthand!
Corrugated_Fox
1 year ago