Journey: An epic trek worth undertaking (PS4)

JOURNEY piqued my interest a long time ago.

Yet it somehow took me until this week to actually pick up the game, which was initially released on PS3 in 2012.

And boy am I glad I did. As I am sure most would probably agree, it's fantastic.

It is the type of adventure which doesn't drop an avalanche of plot on the player, opting instead for a much more minimal approach to storytelling and a really organic method of setting objectives.

At the beginning of your 'journey' your character, an unknown figure garbed in a red robe, climbs a sand dune and sees a distant mountain.

Its glimmering peak stands out as a clear, definite destination - and with that your quest has begun.

What follows is a trek across a series of different and gradually more harsh landscapes.

During the course of your adventure, you'll come across a variety of fairly light puzzles.

The majority of these can be solved by making use of the seemingly enchanted cloths scattered around the various areas you'll be travelling through.

Your character possesses the ability to emit a kind of 'chime' which causes some objects to react. 

In the case of the cloth, it often gives them a life of their own; some transforming into billowing bridges between the towering remains of ruins, others transforming into fluttering clouds of mini cloths which boost you into the air.

Contact with the cloth also restores your own ability to jump and glide, a power governed by the length of your character's scarf and the level of charge it holds at the time. The scarf can be extended by finding hidden symbols throughout the game.

Each of the game's areas are broken up by a dialogue-free cut scene, which give some vague insight into the world, its inhabitants and background - but as with the overall plot of the game I felt these were very much left up to the player to interpret.

For me, Journey is up there with the best wordless games I have played.

Like the excellent Inside, for instance, it does not require any dialogue to bestow a sense of awe, fear, joy, sadness, dread or wonder.

Its controls are spot on for the challenges it offers the player - not overly complicated and reliable enough to tackle its relatively simple platforming and puzzle elements.

Visually, Journey is a feast for the eyes. Each of the different areas is gorgeous and I really liked the  animation - particularly for the main character's movement and mannerisms.

All of this is helped by a beautiful soundtrack which perfectly reflects the mood of what you are going through on-screen. 

At times it prompts more serious reflection or intrigue, while at other others igniting pure elation as you soar through the air or unearth some hitherto concealed path forward.

Something which gave me a little surprise was the handful of times I bumped into a companion during my trek. They seemed to be just like me and I wondered at first if they were actually other players somewhere else in the world who were at the same point I was at that exact moment.

It seems however (from what I've read) they they are not actually controlled by other players at that moment, but may be AI based on what other players did. You do find out their names at the conclusion of your adventure, suggesting this may be the case.

Either way, it was a very nice feeling to have some company - if only for some parts of my epic Journey.

If you've not played this one before, it is a stunning game. It's not too long, but there are secrets to be found and I am sure I'll be playing it again to see what else I can uncover.

Overall, this is definitely worth picking up!

Have you played Journey? Let me know your thoughts below!