Journey (2012)

Journey is an adventure game developed by thatgamecompany exclusively for the PlayStation 3 and which is distributed on the PlayStation Network. The game features the player as a robed figure in a vast desert, journeying toward a mountain in the distance. Along the way the player can meet other players on the same journey; the two players can assist each other, but cannot communicate via speech or text and are not shown each others' names until after completion. The game was released on March 7, 2012 for PlayStation Plus subscribers, and was fully released on [[March 13. It has been met with significant critical acclaim. Journey is the last game made under a three game contract between thatgamecompany and Sony, the first two being Flow and Flower.

Getting started
Journey is a simple game where you make your way across the desert toward a distant mountain. Along the way you will discover a strange form of life and may encounter other people playing the game, one at a time. Connection to the internet is required for co-op play with others, and signing out of PlayStation Network will allow you to journey alone. Others will join you if your instance of the game matches theirs, meaning that as you change things in the environment, only others whose environment is in the same state can join you. To increase the odds of running into another journeyer, wait at the beginning of chapters before doing anything.

The controls are simple, as are the puzzles and the camera can be controlled by moving the Sixaxis controller instead of using normal thumbstick input. The game is played mainly on sand, so walking across flat sand is relatively slow, going uphill is slower and going downhill is fast, especially if it is steep enough to slide. In the start menu you can go into option to invert the camera.

The game is split into distinct, unnamed chapters, between which will be a cutscene. Your goal in any chapter is to get to the end where you can activate the spirit poles to receive your vision. Along the way is minor puzzle solving and interaction with the ubiquitous red cloths. Once you have completed part of your journey, you can go to chapter select from the options in the start menu, and you will be transported back to the end of the introduction level, losing all saved progress. Chapters you can go directly to will be found in the buildings around the main platform.

As you journey, you can collect glowing symbols to increase the length of your scarf. You scarf grants you the power to fly, but using it drains its power. You can see the amount of flight you have left by how many symbols are on your scarf. As you fly, the symbols will disappear and you will need to replenish your scarf power by touching red cloths or having your partner shout next to you.

In addition to the glowing symbols, there may be other objects hidden around the area, such as glyphs and easter eggs associated with trophies. Glowing symbols and glyphs are tracked in the chapter select area. In the chapter buildings, the glyphs that you have found will light up, showing you in which chapters you are missing them, except for two. The glowing symbols are tracked in total off to the side of the buildings, but you will need to reach the end of a chapter to see how many you've collected out of the total for that chapter by the number of lit up symbols in front of the altar where you receive your vision. Once you have collected all the glowing symbols, you will have access to the white robes in the chapter select area, which allows you to replenish your scarf power by touching the ground.

Introduction
At the beginning of the game, press psx: Start to begin a new journey or psx: Select to continue your last one. If you have previously completed a portion of the game, you can use psx: Start again to go to chapter select after starting a new journey.

After a cutscene of a shooting star, you will see your character sitting in the sand and a prompt to move the Sixaxis controller will appear. Once you have moved the camera behind you so you are facing the small hill with the two flags on top, you will stand up and can begin your journey. Climb to the top of the hill to be introduced to your distant target and the game title will appear. You'll see the desert stretched out below you, with numerous stone markers sticking up out of the ground and a shining light in the distance. Head through the markers to the light and climb up the broken side of the structure and approach the glowing symbol with the circling cloth pieces. You'll get your first scarf piece and the cloths will power up your scarf, letting you fly with psx: X. Once your scarf power is depleted, recharge with the cloths and continue on.

Instead of heading toward the mountain, you can find your first glyph by going to the structure off to the right. Go past the sunken piece of wall with the cloth pieces and inside the building you come to will be the glyph wall with two sets of spirit markers on each side. You can activate them by touching them or shouting. When you do, the blank wall will fill up with a picture, showing you've activated it. Head out of the building and down into the nearby valley. Here you will see a short tower in the middle, surrounded by broken buildings. When you have completed chapters, you can access them in these building around the tower. There is a glowing symbol on a small platform on the side of the tower and one on the side of the tower itself that you can get to by going over the edge from the top or flying.

At the top of the tower, you will see four dusty red cloths that you can activate by touching or shouting. When each cloth is restored, it will be retracted into the platform, and when they're all down a large group of smaller cloths will be released. When you see groups of cloth pieces like this, you can hold psx: C to do your largest shout, and they will lift you up, giving you additional flight time that doesn't take scarf power. Use the cloths to get over to the beam of light on the platform across from you. Here you will see more spirit markers and three symbols below the tablet in the center. The symbols will be lit up corresponding to which glowing symbols you have collected, so if you see any that aren't lit up at the end of chapters, you will know you missed some. Activate the spirit markers and enter the glowing circle on the ground to receive your first vision. When you awake, the gates behind the table will open, letting you move on to the next chapter.

The broken bridge
This the first chapter where you can meet another player. The goal here is to activate large cloth pieces to reform the bridge allowing you to get up to the next tablet. As you enter the area, the first large cloth is directly in front and below you, the cloths for the middle section is on a hill on the right and the cloths for the last two sections are on a hill on the left. Simply move over to them and either run up them or shout to restore them, and they will be sucked into the machines they are on top of and split into smaller cloths that will span the missing bridge sections. When you've rebuilt the bridge, you can cross it and activate the spirit markers to get your next vision.

For the Threshold trophy, you'll need to get across the bridge without restoring all sections. By yourself you can do that by completing the last and middle sections of the bridge, then flying to the top of the first large cloth without activating it, which will let you reach the first bridge piece. With a partner, you can use infinite flying where you fly and shout at the same time, symbiotically replenishing each other's scarves while flying. If you have collected all glowing symbols and have the white robes that let you regain scarf power while on the ground, you don't have to rebuild any part of the bridge, you can just fly from the tops of the bridge arches to the next pieces.

There are three glowing symbols and a hidden glyph in this chapter. From the entrance, you can see the first one glowing off to the left. The other two are on the far end of the area. You can barely see them both from where you start, one behind some falling sand on the left side, approachable from the ground, and one above some falling sand on the right, which can be accessed by flight from a nearby cloth machine. The glyph is hidden behind the falling sand below the third glowing symbol.

The pink desert
In this chapter you just have to cross the desert heading toward the mountain until you reach the dark blowing sand with the towers. There are numerous cloth creatures to find in the desert, as well as a reference to the developer's second PlayStation game, Flower. Finding all the creatures and the flower will give you both the trophies for this chapter. From where you start, slide down and climb the next dune to see the first cloth machine. When you activate it, a cloth creature will come out and try to lead you on to the towers. Head to the right instead, until you come to some broken pillars with a glowing symbol on top.