History VideoGame / Journey2012

It is, as of March 2012, [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome 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]].

* AndYourRewardIsClothes: [[spoiler:The first four times you complete the game, a new section is added to the pattern on your cape]].
** [[spoiler: Also, collecting all the symbols unlocks a white cape, which starts with a longer scarf that recharges automatically when you're on the ground]].

** ''Or'' a case of ChekhovsGunman instead [[spoiler: since they're probably the six Ancestors you've met through the game, which you may, up until then, have thought were all the same single person]].
* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: 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.
*** But you can very well ScrewDestiny and find a new partner in the next level, going it together.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: For most of the game the peak of the High Mountain looks a bit like an upside down camel toe. [[spoiler: Walking through the peak at the end of the game, and the theme of rebirth, reinforce the vaginal imagery.]]
** On a less sexual note, [[spoiler: the ancient civilization's dependency on the red cloth mirroring [[GreenAesop modern society's dependency on petroleum]].]] Doesn't help that you're in a desert.

* EleventhHourSuperpower: [[spoiler:After the Ancestors revive you near the end of chapter 7, you'll have a maxed out scarf/energy meter.]]
** [[spoiler:After the power up you also periodically become bathed in golden light and gain the ability to truly fly.]]

* FadeToWhite: Happens in every chapter...
** FadeToBlack: ...except for the fourth and fifth ones.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: You know those comets you can see periodically throughout the game? [[spoiler:Those are other travelers who have reached the end of the game. All of the ones you see are scripted, but you see them at the same points where it shows a "player" during the end credits.]]
** On a similar note, the Ancestors that appear to you in the game's cutscenes are just telling you a story with pictures, [[spoiler: until you get to the penultimate level. The cutscene is you looking at a panorama of all the places you've been so far--then the camera holds for a long, lingering shot of what looks like you (and your travel companion, if you have one) attempting to scale the mountain you've been walking towards... and failing.]] Oh, and speaking of things you see throughout the game, [[spoiler: all those stone markers are probably graves]].

** EyeLightsOut:[[spoiler: Eyes which fade as you freeze to death.]]

* TheHerosJourney: Perfect evocation of this story structure.
** The song titles on the [[http://austinwintory.bandcamp.com/album/journey soundtrack]] coincide with steps in The Hero's Journey.

* MindScrew: [[spoiler:In the last chapter, just after exiting the Temple, going over the top of the archway/corridor that leads into the snow takes you into some pretty weird places otherwise inaccessible, including long patches of dark nothingness and the top of the cliff where the silhouettes of cloth creatures are spawning.

* SandIsWater: Played around with. Sometimes, the sand acts like sand. At other times, you can surf through it like water, and watch it glisten and ripple like water as well.

* 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]]''' ''.

* ScienceFantasy: Besides the beautiful sand that submerged the world, glyphs, magical cloth, and the impaired buildings, technology is uncommon at most. You glide using the energy bundled in your scarf, and although there exists an ancient language you can't seem to talk at all, even the game hardly shows any text beside from the logo and closing credits. Singing near large pieces of cloth can release "cloth creatures" from the machines'/[[spoiler: Guardians']] remnants. Glyphs and confluences teach you the history of a civilization started by your ancestors. The reason why the game [[spoiler: takes place AfterTheEnd is the machines powered by energy from red cloth destroyed the world in a war against the ancestor characters]].

* ShoutOut: There are hidden references to ''[=flOw=]'' and ''VideoGame/{{Flower}}'' at certain locations in the game.
** The flower can be found [[http://journey.wikia.com/wiki/Hidden_Desert_Flower here]]. As for the creature from ''[=flOw=]'', use [[http://journey.wikia.com/wiki/Mysterious_Creature this]].

* VideoGameCaringPotential: You can fill your partner's energy gauge by singing or by walking very close to them. [[spoiler:In chapter 7, when the extreme cold constantly drains your energy, you can still replenish it by the latter method, like you're huddling together for warmth.]] [[IntimateHealing How sweet!]]
** [[spoiler:At the end of the game the usernames of your companions are listed, it's become common for players to send messages of thanks to their companions after playing the game.]]
** Also, some clever gamers have devised another method of communication besides singing. It involves tracing in the bit of snow just before [[spoiler: the end of the journey]]. The most common symbol? [[spoiler: A heart.]]
** VideoGameCrueltyPotential: ...or you can just desert them in a ditch somewhere. Your choice. The physical and communicative abilities of the players were also deliberately limited to [[AvertedTrope avoid]] the kind of griefing that's usually associated with online multiplayer.
*** WordOfGod (by Jenova Chen himself) stated that Griefing is exactly the last thing he want to see in the game. The experience that taught him this? Playing ''WorldOfWarcraft'' for years.
* TheWanderingYou: [[spoiler: [[BecauseDestinySaysSo Played with]]. Mostly due to the fact that your character(s) always know where to travel during each journey, or ''end up there''.]] The characters you play as are sometimes referred to as journeymen, wanderers, or travelers since they don't have a name and the game is spent wandering from the desert to the mountain.

* WorldOfSymbolism: Yes, you're allowed to interpret the story. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: many interpretations are bleak, leading most gamers to think that the primary symbols allude to our own RealLife CrapsackWorld, and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything our dependence on natural resources]] ]].

* StuntDouble: Taken literally with the entire fourth level.

* AscendedGlitch[=/=]ThrowItIn: 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 below) to turn the actual ending into something equally moving.

* DoingItForTheArt: The nature of the game aside, thatgamecompany went a year and a half over budget and eventually into bankruptcy just to achieve a satisfactory ending (see AscendedGlitch above).

* FanNickname: Several, but one example would be "Gary the Scarf", named for a scarf attached to ground at the end of the fifth chapter.

* [[spoiler:AfterTheEnd]]: [[spoiler:The robed beings' civilization was destroyed in a civil war.]]

* [[spoiler:AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence]]: [[spoiler:Your character in the ending, and apparently what happened to the robed beings who survived the civil war and made the journey.]]

* [[spoiler:DarkestHour: At the end of the penultimate chapter, your character is left without a scarf, the mountain is more distant than it was at the start of the chapter and it slowly fades away from view as the whiteout intensifies.]]

* [[spoiler:EleventhHourSuperpower]]: [[spoiler:After the Ancestors revive you near the end of chapter 7, you'll have a maxed out scarf/energy meter.]]

** [[spoiler:EyeLightsOut]]:[[spoiler: Eyes which fade as you freeze to death.]]
* [[spoiler:GoIntoTheLight]]: Another interpretation of [[spoiler:the ending of the game]] and a strong contributing factor to the RuleOfSymbolism and emotional impact.

* [[spoiler:HereWeGoAgain]]: [[spoiler:Implied in the ending, when the ascended player character returns to the desert where the game began. Also BookEnds.]]

* [[spoiler:TheHeroDies]]: [[spoiler:Happens twice in the game's seventh and final chapter, first while struggling to the climb the mountain, and second after you reach the top of it. Worse if you have a companion.]]

* [[spoiler:LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair]]: [[spoiler: The ruins and trapped cloth creatures you find throughout the game are the result of the fall of the advanced ancient White Cloak civilization after they wiped themselves out during a war over the red cloth they grew dependent on.]]

* [[spoiler:MomentOfSilence: At the end of the penultimate chapter, it slowly turns very silent as your own life fades away.]]
* MindScrew: In the last chapter, just after exiting the Temple, going over the top of the archway/corridor that leads into the snow takes you into some pretty weird places otherwise inaccessible, including long patches of dark nothingness and the top of the cliff where the silhouettes of cloth creatures are spawning.

* [[spoiler:TerminallyDependentSociety]]: [[spoiler:The scarcity of red banners, which were used as an energy source, started the civilization-ending war.]]

* TheWanderingYou: [[spoiler: [[BecauseDestinySaysSo Played with]]. Mostly due to the fact that your character(s) always know where to travel during each journey, or ''end up there''.]] The characters you play as are sometimes refereed to as journeymen, wanderers, or travelers since they don't have a name and the game is spent wandering from the desert to the mountain.

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. [[spoiler:However, when you finish your current game, it reveals the user names of all the other players you encountered on your journey.]]

* TheWorldIsJustAwesome: Many areas in the game appear to exist solely to make you sit back in your chair with your mouth hanging open.

Your character has only two real abilities: singing, which radiates a sound wave whose size is proportional to how long you hold down the button -- this is used to activate or attract various objects; and jumping, which allows you to go sailing through the air -- this ability uses energy, which can be replenished by touching the floating bits of cloth you encounter throughout the game; the amount of energy, indicated by the length of your character's scarf, can be increased by collecting glowing symbols.

** BIG SPOILER: [[spoiler: Also, collecting all the symbols unlocks a white cape, which starts with a longer scarf that recharges automatically when you're on the ground]].

* [[spoiler:AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence]]: [[spoiler:Your character in the ending, and apparently what happened to the robed beings who survived the civil war and made the journey.]]

* [[spoiler:TheHeroDies]]: [[spoiler:Happens twice in the game's seventh and final chapter, first while struggling to the climb the mountain, and second after you reach the top of it. Worser if you have a companion.]]

* TheWanderingYou: [[spoiler: [[BecauseDestinySaysSo Played with]]. Mostly due the fact that your character(s) always know where to travel during each journey, or ''end up there''.]] The characters you play as are sometimes refereed to as journeymen, wanderers, or travelers since they don't have a name and the game is spent wandering from the desert to the mountain.

* PlayerDataSharing: Subverted; The glowing symbols that can be seen floating above the environments ''look'' like previous players' souls/symbols [[spoiler:returning to the beginning from the top of the mountain, as happens to your own at the end of the game]], especially since other players can actually accompany you if you play online, but careful observation reveals that those symbols are always the same and are essentially static features of the respective levels.

** The flower can be found [[http://journey.wikia.com/wiki/Hidden_Desert_Flower here]]. As for the creature from ''flOw'', use [[http://journey.wikia.com/wiki/Mysterious_Creature this]].

* TheWanderingYou: [[spoiler: [[BecauseDestinySaysSo Played with]]. Mostly due the fact that your character(s) always know where to travel during each journey, or ''end up there''.]] The characters you play as are sometimes refered to as journeymen, wanderers, or travelers since they don't have a name and the game is spent wandering from the desert to the mountain.

* TheWanderingYou: To the point the characters you play as are sometimes refered to as journeymen, wanderers, or travelers since they don't have a name and the game is spent wandering from the desert to the mountain.

** The flower can be found [[http://journey.wikia.com/wiki/Hidden_Desert_Flower here]]. As for the creature from flow, use [[http://journey.wikia.com/wiki/Mysterious_Creature this]].

* 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]]''' ''.

* 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]]''' ''.

* DiegeticInterface: While you're never in any danger of dying, your scarf serves as an indicator of your overall energy, determining both how long you're able to fly and your health; [[spoiler:It decreases in length when you suffer through the blizzard (that ultimately kills you) and whenever you're mauled by the guardians]].

* ScienceFantasy: Besides the beautiful sand that submerged the world, glyphs, magical cloth, and the impaired buildings, technology is uncommon at most. You fly using the energy bundled in your scarf, and although there exists an ancient language you can't seem to talk at all, even the game hardly shows any text beside from the logo and closing credits. Singing near large pieces of cloth can release "cloth creatures" from the machines'/[[spoiler: Guardians']] remnants. Glyphs and confluences teach you the history of a civilization started by your ancestors. The reason why the game [[spoiler: takes place AfterTheEnd is the machines powered by energy from red cloth destroyed the world in a war against the ancestor characters]].

* 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 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 pure light''' ''.

* 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 White Robe]].

* WorldOfSymbolism: Yes, you're allowed to interpret the story. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: many interpretations are bleak, leading most gamers to think that the primary symbols allude to our own CrapsackWorld, and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything our dependence on natural resources]] ]].

* WorldOfSymbolism: Yes, you're allowed to interpret the story. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: many interpretations are bleak, leading most gamers to think of the symbols allude to our own CrapsackWorld, and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything our dependence on natural resources]] ]].

* WorldOfSymbolism: Yes, you're allowed to interpret the story. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: many interpretations are bleak, leading most gamers to think of the symbols allude to our own CrapsackWorld, and [[Does this remind you of anything our dependence on natural resources]] ]].

** On a similar note, the Ancestors that appear to you in the game's cutscenes are just telling you a story with pictures, [[spoiler: until you get to the penultimate level. The cutscene is you looking at a panorama of all the places you've been so far--then the camera holds for a long, lingering shot of what looks like you (and your travel companion, if you have one) attempting to scale the mountain you've been walking towards... and failing.]] Oh, and speaking of things you see throughout the game, [[spoiler: all those stone markers are probably graves.]]

* ThePhoenix: [[spoiler: A possible interpretation of the characters. Considering the cycle of re-birth they undergo everytime you beat the game, not to mention their clothes are red or white with yellow designs. This may be enforced by the fact that red is the "coldest" color of natural fire while white is the "hottest", which fits with how white robes have more energy than red robes.]]

* 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 white robe]].

* ScienceFantasy: Besides the beautiful sand that submerged the world, glyphs, magical cloth, and the impaired buildings, technology is uncommon at most. You fly using the energy bundled in your scarf, and although there exists an ancient language you can't seem to talk at all, even the game hardly shows any text beside from the logo and closing credits. Singing near large pieces of cloth can release "cloth creatures" from the machines' remnants. Glyphs and confluences teach you the history of a civilization started by your ancestors. The reason why the game [[spoiler: takes place AfterTheEnd is the machines powered by energy from red banners destroyed the world in a war against the ancestor characters]].

** VideoGameCrueltyPotential: ...or you can just desert them in a ditch somewhere. Your choice. The physical and communicational abilities of the players were also deliberately limited to [[AvertedTrope avoid]] the kind of griefing that's usually associated with online multiplayer.

* WorldOfSymbolism: Yes, you're allowed to interpret the story.

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. [[spoiler:However, when you beat the game, it reveals the user names of all the other players you encountered on your journey.]]

** 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.

* MindScrew: In the last chapter, just after exiting the temple, going over the top of the archway/corridor that leads into the snow takes you into some pretty weird places otherwise inaccessible, including long patches of dark nothingness and the top of the cliff where the silhouettes of cloth creatures are spawning.

* ScarfOfAsskicking: [[AvertedTrope No violence so not asskicking]], but it can grow to roughly four times the length of the character and it lets you fly.