History VideoGame / Journey2012

* SpiritualSuccessor: The minimalist adventure style seems similar to ''VideoGame/{{Ico}}'' and ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus''. Then ''Journey'' got its own in ''VideoGame/{{Abzu}}''.

''Journey'' is a video game for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 created by Creator/ThatGameCompany. You play as a nameless robed figure who is crossing the desert to reach a mountain in the distance. As the game progresses, you pass through several unique environments and ruins, uncovering more of the game's story as you go. It's something of an AdventureGame with light PlatformGame elements.

Compare and contrast ''VideoGame/LostWinds'', which is practically its UsefulNotes/WiiWare and UsefulNotes/{{iOS|Games}} equivalent, ''VideoGame/StarSky'' for UsefulNotes/WiiU and also on UsefulNotes/{{iOS|Games}}, ''VideoGame/{{Abzu}}'', which was developed by some of the same people who created ''Journey'', and ''VideoGame/SkyChildrenOfTheLight'', the next game from thatgamecompany.

It is, as of March 2012, the fastest selling PSN-game [[http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/03/29/journey-is-psns-fastest-selling-game-soundtrack-coming-soon/ of all time]]. In 2015, the game was released for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4. A PC port released in 2019 on the UsefulNotes/EpicGamesStore and in 2020 on Steam.

One of the game's main selling points is its unique form of multiplayer. During the game, you may encounter another player, whom you may travel with if you wish. However, unlike most multiplayer games, you can't see the other player's name or other information except for a unique icon that appears above their head when they sing, which is the only real way to communicate. There is no text or voice chat in the game, so you must rely entirely on your in-game abilities to work with your partner.

* AscendedGlitch: During a phase in which thatgamecompany had trouble getting the ending levels to properly resonate with playtesters, one test ended prematurely when a glitch caused the game to seem like it was over [[spoiler: right after you die in the snowstorm]]. The playtester found this false ending so profoundly moving it brought him to tears; this inspired tgc to put in significant extra effort (see DoingItForTheArt) to turn the actual ending into something equally moving.

* DevelopersForesight: If you play through the game without a companion and then one joins you later, the mural that you see at the end of chapter six will only show one red-cloaked person until it pans to the level where your friend joined, when two will show from there until the endgame. The reverse is also true--if you lose your partner in the Temple (for instance, they go back down for bonuses and you don't), the mural will show you partnered for the sections where you were together ... and facing the winds alone at the end.

* EasterEgg: There's a very special VideoGame/{{flower}} hidden in the pink desert in the third stage of the game, and a creature from ''VideoGame/{{Flow}}'' in the Temple level. Finding them nets you trophies.

* PrideBeforeAFall: The murals show the white robed ancestors mastering their scarf-based technology and rising to the top of the natural order ... before the tragic fall of their civilization.

* MultilingualSong: The OneWomanWail credits song, [[http://journey.wikia.com/wiki/I_Was_Born_For_This "I Was Born For This"]], consists of lyrics not only from many different languages but derived from several classic sources:

* RedEyesTakeWarning: How you can tell you're about to be [[spoiler:viciously savaged by a Guardian. Their searchlight beams turn red (and inescapable) when they spot you.]]

** A [[http://journey.wikia.com/wiki/Hidden_Desert_Flower flower]] from ''VideoGame/{{Flower}}'' can be found in the open desert.
** A [[http://journey.wikia.com/wiki/Mysterious_Creature creature]] from ''[=flOw=]'' appears in the tower once it's been completely filled with energy.

Compare and contrast ''VideoGame/LostWinds'', which is practically its UsefulNotes/WiiWare and UsefulNotes/{{iOS|Games}} equivalent, ''VideoGame/StarSky'' for UsefulNotes/WiiU and also on UsefulNotes/{{iOS|Games}}, ''VideoGame/{{Abzu}}'', which was developed by some of the same people who created ''Journey'', and ''VideoGame/{{Sky}}'', the next game from thatgamecompany.

* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler:The Traveler and any accomanying companion would have frozen to death in the snowstorm, if not for the timely intervention of the six spirits of the Ancestors who give them enough energy to reach the Summit. Before that point, there is no indication that the Ancestors can interact with the Travelers beyond merely showing them images.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: While there is no particular fail state to this game, keeping your companion with you to the end is a task worth persuing.

Decidedly not related to the [[Music/{{Journey}} rock band of the same name]], an arcade game based on the band released in 1983, a video game ''Journey'' released in 1989 on various home computers or several films named ''Journey''.

It is, as of March 2012, the fastest selling PSN-game [[http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/03/29/journey-is-psns-fastest-selling-game-soundtrack-coming-soon/ of all time]]. In 2015, the game was released for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4. A PC port released in 2019 on the Creator/EpicGames Store and in 2020 on Steam.

%%* EarnYourHappyEnding

* AllTheWorldsAreAStage: The Temple is a Final Exam Stage (sans the death risk) the entire purpose of which is to prep you up for the climax.

''Journey'' is a video game for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 created by Creator/ThatGameCompany, best known as the creators of ''VideoGame/{{Flow}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Flower}}''. You play as a nameless robed figure who is crossing the desert to reach a mountain in the distance. As the game progresses, you pass through several unique environments and ruins, uncovering more of the game's story as you go. It's something of an AdventureGame with light PlatformGame elements.

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Looking to the right as you enter the second part of the Underground Passage, you can see a huge, moving machine through a latticework. Something is still working down here. Then you come across a still-flickering War Machine head. A few hundred feet later, a Guardian [[JumpScare jumps out of the sand]] at a ribbon creature.

* JumpScare: Each of the two War Machines awakened in the Underground Passage suddenly roars to life when you get close. It's especially unexpected the first time, when its appearance shatters the subterranean calm of the preceding section.

* ScarfOfAsskicking: [[AvertedTrope No violence so not asskicking]], but it can grow to roughly four times the length of the character and it lets you glide for massive amounts of space. This also depends on [[spoiler: if you chose to begin your journey with a [[NewGamePlus White Robe]]]]. At a certain point [[spoiler:(just after you are revived by the Ancestors)]], you are given the power to ''fly'', and '' '''turn into [[LightemUp pure light]]''' ''.

* SilenceIsGolden: No spoken dialogue ever occurs. It just isn't needed. The only words in the entire game are written the options menu, the title screen, and the ending credits, while the only spoken words are part of the ending song "I Was Born for This", which is in multiple languages and hard to decipher or understand without knowing the lyrics and sources.

* BookEnds: The last shot of the credits montage is actually the start-of-game screen, complete with "Press Start to begin a new Journey".