One of the standout games in the Playstation 3’s library was Journey, developed by the indie studio thatgamecompany exclusively for Sony. Journey was, essentially, what it said on the tin — a journey, and little more. The game was wordless and never held your hand — it was a pure experience. Your goal was simply to get from one place to another, with your destination visible as a high peak. It was simple but it worked: Journey frequently lands in the listicles for top 10 PS3 titles.
Matt Nava was the lead artist on Journey, and he’s now left thatgamecompany to set up his own indie studio, Giant Squid. He and his team are currently creating a new offbeat game experience called Abzu. Instead of a man dressed in shawls exploring land, Abzu casts you as a deep sea diver exploring the ocean. At first glance the game seems very similar to Journey, but Nava insists it’s more than it appears. “Abzu is more than that and people will realize that when they play it,” he says. He wasn’t specific as to what he meant.
A playable demo of Abzu was shown off at E3 last June. Colin Campbell of Polygon had nothing but praise: “Of all the games I played at a recent week-long pre-E3 media blitz, this was the one that excited me the most. Abzu, on the evidence we’ve seen so far, is environmental storytelling at its absolute best.” Vague descriptions suggests players will uncover multiple layers to the game simply through examining objects and heading in curious directions. “There is a story,” said Campbell. “There are creatures that are not so friendly. There are human artifacts buried in the sand. In the demo I played, all this added up to plenty of moments when I gasped with delight and surprise.”
Only Nava and his team know what kind of surprises he’s holding back. You’ll be able to take this deep-sea voyage yourself when Abzu launches for Playstation 4 and PC in the first half of 2016.
