Look, as much as I treasure this game I completely understand the (usually clear-headed and astute) swathe of middling reappraisals that I've noticed recently. I think the uniformly positive SHOCK 2 THE INDUSTRY reception this had, along with its legendary/unassailable art game™ status, are somewhat responsible for a glut of lazy contrarian game design theorizing--and the now VERY tired trend of copycat "nonviolent guideposted explorathons" that reek of a certain elitist hostility toward any games that dont fall into this hyper-accessible, beauty obsessed, pseudomeditative format. I'm sick of this very narrow concept of what constitutes an artistic or thoughtful game too!
However, I can't blame Journey for the cultural response that engulfed it, especially because I truly believe that Chen and Santiago operated from an honest and inquisitive place of creation while chasing the ideas that most captivated them--not out of some pompous guiding impulse to shake up the system or merely prove that games could be "more". Watching interviews with Chen where he barely holds back a giant beaming smile while discussing his inspiration for Journey--the sense of disempowerment, awe, and unity felt by those who had seen the Earth from space--showcase an entirely uncynical fascination for an implicitly compelling subject to explore through gameplay. Journey feels incredibly bright eyed and open: its taut aesthetic beauty, welcoming accessibility, ambiguous spirituality, and intimate nonverbal social system don't come across as demands or provocations to me, but as the shared passions of a group of artists culminating into this radiant, excited thing. A lot of the game actually feels metaphorical of the game-creation process for this small studio of friends experimenting together: the stone-carved glyphs and histories of bombastic past creators are present and noted, of course, but they're merely abstract window dressing in the much more personal collaborative journey being discovered.
I do think ThatGameCompany's prominent reputation HAS affected their process, and no longer feel the same spark in their work. I don't know if I believe in the whole "art has a singular soul" concept or even invest too seriously one way or the other in auteur theory in general, but I do know that for me, Journey emits a purity of spirit that makes me feel an intense affinity with those who created it--one that isn't matched by later games with very similar structural trappings. Maybe it's not possible to feel that anymore if you're coming to it with the foreknowledge of the game's reputation and legacy, or if you've already had this sort of experience with one of its many stylistic second cousins. I'm not sure.
However, I can't blame Journey for the cultural response that engulfed it, especially because I truly believe that Chen and Santiago operated from an honest and inquisitive place of creation while chasing the ideas that most captivated them--not out of some pompous guiding impulse to shake up the system or merely prove that games could be "more". Watching interviews with Chen where he barely holds back a giant beaming smile while discussing his inspiration for Journey--the sense of disempowerment, awe, and unity felt by those who had seen the Earth from space--showcase an entirely uncynical fascination for an implicitly compelling subject to explore through gameplay. Journey feels incredibly bright eyed and open: its taut aesthetic beauty, welcoming accessibility, ambiguous spirituality, and intimate nonverbal social system don't come across as demands or provocations to me, but as the shared passions of a group of artists culminating into this radiant, excited thing. A lot of the game actually feels metaphorical of the game-creation process for this small studio of friends experimenting together: the stone-carved glyphs and histories of bombastic past creators are present and noted, of course, but they're merely abstract window dressing in the much more personal collaborative journey being discovered.
I do think ThatGameCompany's prominent reputation HAS affected their process, and no longer feel the same spark in their work. I don't know if I believe in the whole "art has a singular soul" concept or even invest too seriously one way or the other in auteur theory in general, but I do know that for me, Journey emits a purity of spirit that makes me feel an intense affinity with those who created it--one that isn't matched by later games with very similar structural trappings. Maybe it's not possible to feel that anymore if you're coming to it with the foreknowledge of the game's reputation and legacy, or if you've already had this sort of experience with one of its many stylistic second cousins. I'm not sure.
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Hey thanks! Sometimes it can feel more personally alienating to discuss Journey with people who also love it, but in this very measured/canon consensus echo-chambery way. I totally get anyone not feeling that affinity with it and honestly look forward to the more realistic/rigorous discussion about this game and its legacy that seems to be forming!
Good stuff. I think what bothers me the most about this surge of backlash towards Journey is how it refuses to recognize that the game utilizes its mechanics and systems to convey its story and premise in a way that most of its copycats and other artistically pursuing games fail to do so. People have decided this is the one to hate solely because its the kind of game that game journalism swallows up for quick vapid emotional content.
@Hattori, thanks!! I totally agree with you there. Journey is such a holistically accomplished work so laden with interwoven meaning and experience!! It's not the fault of the game that so much of its dna has been copy/pasted wholesale onto a huge array of much less well-considered projects that see its aesthetic trappings as a get-prestige-quick card and launder them thoughtlessly. It's really disorienting for me to see people deride Journey for having some projected air of restrained, scoldy pretense (which feels more like a reactionary response to some of the (admittedly cloying) authorship about the game, not the game itself). I cant imagine viewing Journey in that way when so much of its underpinnings clearly emanate this intense sense of giddy exuberance and open-heartedness--even in the somber/morose parts! Feel like we are somewhat pre-programmed to think of "Art Game Guys" as pompous condemnatory assholes but Jenova Chen =/= Jonathan Blow
yup yup
What are these "elitist art games" you're talking about? I can't think of an example.
I honestly hate the idea that an game can only be art if they follow specific rules like having an message about something, that ends up, more often than not, become integral to make it something even remotely liked by people instead of something that supports it and make it better, be pretty (like Gris) or gross (like LSD Dream Emulator), and more that I could list, not that these games are bad, but every game can be art, and every art is still something to be consumed by other people other than critics, I mean, the OG Doom is more of an art game than any self-proclaimed art game out there.
@HurtingOtherPPl It's usually talking about games such as Gris, usually beautiful, with an message about depression (not always that but still), but not really an game as much as it is an painting you would see in an museum, since gameplay is usually sidelined, if even actually existent in the first place.
@HurtingOtherPPl It's usually talking about games such as Gris, usually beautiful, with an message about depression (not always that but still), but not really an game as much as it is an painting you would see in an museum, since gameplay is usually sidelined, if even actually existent in the first place.
KB0
3 years ago