History VideoGame / Journey2012

** At the end of the game, [[spoiler:the usernames of your companions are listed, and it's become common for players to send messages of thanks to their companions after playing the game.]]

* GustyGlade: Mush of the mountain area is crisscrossed with strong winds that will blow your character either back or to the side, depending on the level.

* CivilWar: The custcene murals reveal that the {{precursor|s}} civilization you're exploring the remnants of fell due to a massive whitecloak-versus-whitecloak war over scarce resources.

** If you know the trick, it's actually possible to ascend out of the ceiling of the underground passage and walk along the top of the level. That's right, it has a roof. You can drop back through the roof at another point at the end of the level, without once encountering a single War Machine. The same is true of the penultimate level, where you can climb up to the top of the mountain range and bypass the level almost all the way to the beginning of the [[spoiler:death march to the Mountain itself.]]

* SequenceBreaking: If you have enough cloth power, there are a few sections you can bypass without dealing with the puzzles. Of particular note is the broken bridge early in the game, which normally requires releasing enough cloth creatures to form a bridge between the sections. [[spoiler:If you have the white cape, you can simply fly between the sections. This gets you an achievement.]]

* 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 stil-flickering War Machine head. A few hundred feet later, a Guardian [[JumpScare jumps out of the sand]] at a ribbon creature.

* 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.
** All sections of the game are playable regardless of the length of your scarf, since you can miss certain opportunities to grow it or simply hop to that chapter from the HubLevel.

** Being caught by a Guardian results in getting your scarf torn. You certainly won't be able to restore its proper length again, but fortunately, the subsequent levels of the game are still playable even if your scarf is short.

* SequenceBreaking: If you have enough cloth power, there are a few sections you can bypass without dealing with the puzzles. Of particular note is the broken bridge early in the game, which normally requires releasing enough cloth creatures to form a bridge between the sections. [[spoiler:If you have the white cape, you can simply fly between the sections. This gets you an achievement.

** A flower from ''VideoGame/{{Flower}}'' can be found [[http://journey.wikia.com/wiki/Hidden_Desert_Flower here]].
** A creature from ''[=flOw=]'' was also included in the game [[http://journey.wikia.com/wiki/Mysterious_Creature here]].
* SentientPhlebotinum: The cloth creatures you use to progress through the game behave like animals.

* InvisibleWall: While later stages take place in confined areas, the beginning areas seem like a never-ending desert. Players are kept inside the boundaries by wind picking up the closer to the edge they get, first slowing them down, then blowing them back across the invisible boundary.
* ItsTheJourneyThatCounts: Perhaps a main theme of the game, appropriate considering its title [[spoiler:and implicit in the ending]].

* BrokenBridge: This is the name of the second area of the game, which, appropriately, centers on a long stone bridge which has fallen except for a few remaining sections. Progressing requires freeing scarf creatures, which will repair the bridge using magic fabric.[[spoiler:Though there is a trophy for finishing the level ''without'' filling in all the bridge sections.]]

* GreenAesop: According to the historical murals you are shown, the {{precursor|s}} civilization exploited the natural resource available to them (the cloth), replacing fauna with cityscapes, until there was so little remaining that it caused a {{civil war}} which toppled their society, and the land turned to desert.

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 Creator/Steam.

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 is [[https://www.pcgamesn.com/epic-store-journey-pc to be released in 2019]] exclusively on the Creator/EpicGames Store.

* GustyGlade: Mush of the mountain area is crisscrossed with strong winds that will blow your character either back or two the side, depending on the level.

* OffIntoTheDistanceEnding: [[spoiler:The game ends with the player character (and any companions) walking slowly away from you until they disappear [[GoIntoTheLight into a bright, blinding light}}.]]

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

* 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. A few hundred feet later, a Guardian [[JumpScare jumps out of the sand]] at a ribbon creature.

* GoIntoTheLight: Another interpretation of [[spoiler:the ending of the game]] and a strong contributing factor to the RuleOfSymbolism and emotional impact.
* GustyGlade: At one of the later chapters. Crosses with DeathMountain and SlippySlideyIceWorld.

* HeroicMime: [[SilenceIsGolden It's not only]] [[WorldOfSymbolism that you can't speak]]...
* TheHerosJourney: Perfect evocation of this story structure. The song titles on the [[http://austinwintory.bandcamp.com/album/journey soundtrack]] even coincide with steps in The Hero's Journey.

* 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.]]
* LostSuperweapon: [[spoiler:The guardians which destroyed the civilization. Some are still active.]]

* MomentOfSilence: [[spoiler:At the end of the penultimate chapter, it slowly turns very silent as your own life fades away.]]
* 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.]]
* MoodMotif: Certain musical instruments heard in the game are associated with various events, with the cello mainly representing the player character. For an example, bass flute is for the white figure seen at the end of most chapters. Certain instruments play only when being with a companion.

* NotQuiteFlight: The character's gliding ability.

* ThePhoenix: [[spoiler: A possible interpretation of the characters. Considering the cycle of re-birth they undergo every time 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.]]

* {{Precursors}}: The White Robes are implied to be this to the Red Robes. They're named 'Ancestors' by the art book.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: How you can tell you're about to be [[spoiler:viciously savaged by a Guardian.]]
* 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.
** The use of marine animal styles for the "cloth creatures" makes the parallel even stronger.
** This is particularly evident in the underground level, where greenish-blue lighting filters in from above, and dust motes float through the light like tiny bubbles. Your character's flight abilities look more like swimming in this environment.
* ScareChord: [[spoiler:When you encounter the first Guardian that comes to life. Can double as a JumpScare as the level has been nothing but calm up to this point.]]
* 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]]''' ''.
* SceneryPorn: Massive desert with gorgeous ruins and realistic cloth, sand and lighting effects? Yes please. Not to mention some of the views that you're able to see throughout the game.
* SceneryGorn: These are the crumbling remains of your main character's once great civilization you're going through.
* 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 after the apocalypse is the machines powered by energy from red cloth destroyed the world in a war against the ancestor characters]].

* SentientPhlebotinum: The cloth creatures.
* 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.

* SocializationBonus: It is possible to complete the game on your own but the entire game is obviously designed to be played with an anonymous Companion over the net. Sticking together also makes some stages easier, since you can [[ThePowerOfFriendship endlessly replenish each other's energy--but not your own]].
* SpiritualSuccessor: The minimalist adventure style seems similar to ''VideoGame/{{Ico}}'' and ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus''. Then ''Journey'' got its own in ''VideoGame/{{Abzu}}''.
%% * StuntDouble: Taken literally with the entire fourth level.
* SuperNotDrowningSkills: Though in truth, it is debatable whether the substances one "swims" in qualify as water in the first place.

* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: [[spoiler:Implied with the Guardians.]]

** Of course, you can go offline and get the achievement by yourself if other players continue to rebuild the bridge. Probably the "easiest" way, relatively speaking, to get this achievement is to [[spoiler:unlock the White Cloak from that achievement, max it as much as possible before the bridge level, take off from the cliff start point without going down to the desert floor at all, and fly from platform to platform until you reach the end.]] It usually takes a minute for the game to instance another player into your world after you start the level, so by moving right away you should get the achievement done before anyone else starts building. [[spoiler:There are also enough symbols in the level to lengthen the white scarf and make the jumps possible from the ground.]]
** Some more experienced players, upon observing they've been paired with a less experienced player, can be a little forceful, not giving the new player a chance to be the one to "sing" to release flags, flying carpets and reveal glyphs, rushing straight to the "solutions" to the puzzles and the locations of items rather than taking the back seat and allowing the newer player to work at their own pace.

** As in many {{MMOs}}, even without chat, players commonly jump up and down, run in circles and have their characters vocalize to indicate the presence of collectible items for others who may still be searching for them. It's also par to show off tricks used to get certain ultra-rare achievements.

* AdventureGame: This game is all about how the player chooses to explore while heading towards the distant split peaked mountain.

* 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. [[spoiler:And so is the very last level, commonly known as Apotheosis, as well as a walk down Muscle Memory Lane.]]

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

* BenevolentArchitecture: The levels were designed with this in mind: just head towards the most prominent object in the area and you're probably going in the right direction.
* BilingualBonus: The OneWomanWail credits song, "I Was Born For This", consists of lyrics not only from many different languages but derived from several classic sources:
-->Stat sua cuique dies\\
'''To each his day is given''' (Latin, ''Literature/TheAeneid'')
-->Mæl is me to feran\\
'''Time is it for me to go''' (Old English, ''{{Literature/Beowulf}}'')
-->Aleto men moi nostos\\
'''Lost is my homecoming''' (Greek, ''Literature/TheIliad'')
-->C’est pour cela que je suis née\\
'''I was born for this''' (French, UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc)
-->Kono michi ya, Yuku hito nashini[[note]]though the singer pronounces nashini as 'nishini'[[/note]]\\
Kono michi ya, Aki no kure\\
'''Along this road, goes no one'''\\
'''Along this road, this Autumn eve''' (Japanese, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsuo_Basho Matsuo Basho]])
-->C’est pour cela que je suis née, ne me plaignez pas\\
C’est pour cela que je suis née\\
'''I was born for this, do not pity me'''\\
'''I was born for this''' (French, UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc)
* BookEnds: The last shot of the credits montage is actually the start-of-game screen, complete with "Press Start to begin a new Journey".
* BorderPatrol: While later stages take place in confined areas, the beginning areas seem like a never-ending desert. Players are kept inside the boundaries by wind picking up the closer to the edge they get, first slowing them down, then blowing them back across the invisible boundary.
* CompilationRerelease: The ''Journey Collector's Edition'', released August 28, 2012, includes ''Journey'', ''[=flOw=]'', and ''VideoGame/{{Flower}}'', as well as three unreleased mini-games, videos, commentaries, and other fun extras.
* CrossingTheDesert: The beginning chapters consist of a desert landscape - one that simply places the player in the middle of nowhere, pointed toward a distant mountain split by a crevice full of light. Your objective, whole and entire, is to reach the mountain. The player characters are completely swathed in robes and don't seem to need supplies, fortunately.
* DarkestHour: [[spoiler: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.]]
* DesertPunk: More magic than Sci-fi but the ruins you come across make the setting feel like this sometimes, especially after [[spoiler: finding working War Machines and learning that the deserted lands you have been traveling across are of the AfterTheEnd variety.]]
* {{Determinator}}: [[spoiler:You, in chapter 7, when you keep on walking toward the summit even though you're slowly freezing to death.]] Which then turns into a {{Tearjerker}} when [[spoiler:you finally do freeze to death just as you're reaching the summit. Even worse if you have a partner because you watch them die alongside you.]]
* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler:The Traveler and the 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. Until that point, there was no indication that the Ancestors can interact with the Travelers beyond merely showing them images.]]

** 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.

* 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 glide 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]].

** 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.]]

* DropInDropOutMultiplayer: Sometimes you might not even realize that someone else is around until you see your screen glow because of their singing and it can be easy to leave another player's game by accident. Even if both players exit a level together, that isn't a total guarantee that you'll be with the same person on the other side.
* DyingDream: A possible interpretation of [[spoiler: the events that occur at the end of the game.]]

* EleventhHourSuperpower: [[spoiler:After the Ancestors revive you near the end of chapter 7, you'll have a maxed out scarf/energy meter. You'll also periodically become bathed in golden light and gain the ability to truly fly.]]
* EasterEgg: There's a ''VideoGame/{{Flower}}'' hidden in the pink desert in the third stage of the game, and a creature from ''[=flOw=]'' in the Temple level. Finding them nets you trophies.

* FadeToBlack: Happens at the end of the fourth and fifth chapters.
* FadeToWhite: Happens in every chapter except the fourth and fifth ones.
* FatalForcedMarch: The penultimate level sends the protagonist on a desperate attempt to climb the mountain seen throughout the game: it's a long, brutal slog disrupted by strong gusts of wind and patrolled by hostile {{Magitek}}, and it's made all the more arduous by the fact that your usual gliding powers are disabled by the cold. Worse still, the final leg of the journey takes you through a blizzard, and with the storm surrounding you, your only choice is to continue walking. [[spoiler: It ends with you freezing to death... only to be brought back to life and allowed to continue the journey with your powers enhanced.]]
* 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. About 5 seconds later, a Guardian [[JumpScare jumps out of the sand]] on a ribbon creature.

* MultilingualSong: The ending theme, [[http://journey.wikia.com/wiki/I_Was_Born_For_This "I Was Born For This"]], has verses in Latin, Old English, Classical Greek, French, and Japanese, in that order.

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Looking to the right as you enter the Underground Passage, you can see a huge, derilect Guardian through a partition. As you pass, it starts moving...

** As in many MMOs, even without chat, players commonly jump up and down, run in circles and have their characters vocalize to indicate the presence of collectible items for others who may still be searching for them. It's also par to show off tricks used to get certain ultra-rare achievements.

* HeroicMime: [[SilenceIsGolden It's not only]] [[WorldOfSymbolism you can't speak]]...

** Of course, you can go offline and get the achievement by yourself if other players continue to rebuild the bridge. Probably the "easiest" way, relatively speaking, to get this achievement is to [[spoiler:unlock the White Cloak from that achievement, max it as much as possible before the bridge level, take off from the cliff start point without going down to the desert floor at all, and fly from platform to platform until you reach the end.]] It usually takes a minute for the game to instance another player into your world after you start the level, so by moving right away you should get the achievement done before anyone else starts building.

** Of course, you can go offline and get the achievement by yourself if other players continue to rebuild the bridge.

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

''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 will 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.

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 maximum amount of storable energy, indicated by the length of your character's scarf, can be increased by collecting glowing symbols.

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.