How Journey moves us

For over a decade, Thatgamecompany's Journey has been bringing players to tears. Many find it hard to express why it's so moving. Is it the game's famous incorporation of the Hero's Journey, or is there more going on? This video essay dives in.
All rights go to the respective owners.
Soundtrack for this video: • How Journey Moves Us |... . Inspired by Austin Wintory's OST.
The streamer footage is from ‪@bunnytails‬.
Music by Jelle Goossens ‪@LandOfAbundance‬ - www.masteringfactory.com/
Thumbnail art by Marlijn van Nuenen - / marligne

[@TheEighthWorld]

This man has the perfect voice for this style of video, and boy do you do it right! I always loved games that leave a lasting impression on me, Journey and Outer Wilds being two of those games, and I’m happy that you’ve analyzed both! I’m exited to see what kind of content you have planned for the future.

[@playingitstraight]

Hope I can keep up the streak :) Thanks for watching.

[@magzdilluh]

I took the ending to mean that our life, our energy doesn't disappear: we reemerge to help others on the same path that we were once on

[@JmsNmnn]

I played Journey on its release date in 2012. It's a gaming experience I'm never going to forget. I played it all in one sitting, and I went through an emotional roller coaster while in it. Finding another wandering soul in the form of another real player and forming an unspoken bond with them was so special. This is really one of my favorite games of all time. Great video!

[@playingitstraight]

That sounds recognizable :) Thanks for watching!

[@ScarfKat]

another fantastic video. you have a really unique way of describing these experiences, and it's a really nice breath of fresh air to see someone talking about games in a way that's more focused on what they make us feel. thanks for doing what you do, it's really special

[@Ghally]

This really tugs on some old heartstrings. Especially with that music, holy hell. I'd honestly describe this as an *experience* rather than just a video.

[@devanshbhardwaj1601]

A game that never lost its charm and always lights up my sunday afternoon. Journey's music also never fails to put a smile on my face. Such a great video explaining the emotions i felt and couldn't ever put in words. Looking forward to more of your work.

[@amberleewoodhouse5817]

I played through this game and Flower so many times as a kid. I found them so comforting.

[@playingitstraight]

Yeah, I’m glad Journey did end up having an impact on other game developers in terms of offering comfort.

[@johnnybensonitis7853]

Love your channel, your vids are an tranquil as they are informative, enlightening, and entertaining. And I realize it sounds like I'm blowing smoke hard here but I genuinely mean it. I've been sick the last couple days and your content has been an excellent compliment for this period of rest I'm in here. I just finished Outer Wilds a few nights ago and been consuming all the content I can find on that game and that's how I found your awesome channel. Journey seems like such a perfect game for you to cover here, too, because it really does hit on that same sort of emotional & cerebral level. That young woman you showed playing the game was some of the most wholesome shit I may have ever seen, such a fantastic moment and overall vid, man, much appreciated.

[@playingitstraight]

Thank you for that thoughtful comment. Hope you’re feeling better!

[@johnnybensonitis7853]

@@playingitstraight It was my pleasure, and thank you! Still sick but eh, Rome wasn't built in a day haha.

I played Journey for the first time early in 2022 and I fell in love with it. I'm often watching full gameplays on KZbin and bunnytails' video was one the best (I've seen it before watching your video). Her reactions led me to tears. Great video essay, buddy. Keep journeying.

[@FranklinThe1]

I'll come back and watch this video once I have beat Journey for myself lol.

[@silversong4VR]

Try not to think about "beating" Journey, think more about "experiencing" it. Hope you enjoy when you finally get to play!

[@DMC4EVERUCCI]

I hope you will play it soon! It lasts about 90 minutes thankfully so it takes less then watching a movie in practice.

[@FranklinThe1]

@@DMC4EVERUCCI I just finished it I loved it

[@FranklinThe1]

@@silversong4VR After beating it absolutely you hit the nail right on the head. I loved it.

[@magvad6472]

I think, for me, Journey stood out as a symbolic exploration of our experience of life at its most universal function. Specifically to me, was the presence of buildings and use of them to provide structure and a message. First we start off in the desert, it is warm, barren, and lacking in complexity. We a children being guided by small morsels. No buildings, the few left buried deep in the sand. Then we reach our first challenge...a bridge. An understanding that we need others to move forward. In this section you have to free things to allow them to help you. At this point a player can join, guide you, or learn alongside with you. The bridge is broken, and we must mend it. Then we enter the dunes, we can get lost, we don't know which way is forward other than towards the mountain. We use buildings to guide us and enrich us. Then our first dark truth, a complex of trapped souls...of some previous civilization using this device to reap life from innocent bodies. The building is an obstacle we must climb. Then we move forward, the beauty of civlization becomes clear, the arches and paths and the cascading buildings turned into jumps. We are elated, we are excited, the luxuries of civlization become clear. Then we reach it...the sun on the golden sands...and then we fall. We are then placed in the underbelly of this society, hunted for what we are, and then eventually we must navigate up this massive civizaltion to then reach the summit...now old, tired, weighed down by the power of nature, and then....we fall...and then we enter heaven...and pass on. The warm sand now turned to cold ice that freezes us. All of this, to me, has a directly societal implication and an understanding of the weight of a life and the process of aging and growing old and while you may have all the knowledge you will still get tired faster and faster, until you wittle away in the cold of the mountain. That we are born into this world naive and longing for structure, and then we become confined by it. The relics of a world LONG gone still dictating our lives: societal structures and demands, aging infrastucture from an era where it used to work, and once weapons turned into enemies that now destroy us. As the buildings in the game grow more dense, the more dangerous the game gets. As we move further towards the base of the mountain there are more buildings...but as we move up the mountain, there are less...because so few could get there and maintain those structures. The buildings aren't just "civilization" they are the symbolic manifestation of human constructs: societal constructs, cultural constructs, and how they both guide and confine us along our journey to the top of the mountain. This cycle of human discovery, understanding, and death is a universal one. We are always born in the shadow of a long past civilization and we will die in the pursuit of something more. And while they could have had this experience alone, I think the most POTENT message of the story...is the fact they made it 2 player. That to make it clear that this experience isn't about ourselves, but ourselves and the people we move through that journey with. We are ALL on that journey...but we must die alone. And for myself, I was lucky to go through the game near release, and so the people I met were always red robed, just like me. The beauty of figuring out the world together, to find secrets together, and not have someone who knew all the answers moving me around...was SUCH a bonding element. To get to the end, to say goodbye in the snow...how beautiful of a moment to grant us at the end of your game. It really is the Citizen Kane of gaming and I hope game developers move further and further away from blind entertainment and understand the power of the medium as a medium to promote change and compassion. To move away from pitting us against each other to promote conflict as a base and uncomplex form of entertainment...throwing us into the arena...and instead seeing the power that comes from bringing us together towards a goal. And so, my only issue with Abzu, a game every part Journey's equal in all things...except that it was singleplayer. I would love to see a game in this style with 4 or more players...maybe as you move forward more players can join your lobby until it is an army at the end to achieve a goal...now THAT would be inspiring with the right framing. Much like at the end of Abzu when you and all your animal pals go to take on the rot at the center of the world....only with other HUMANS...to help us build more compassion towards our fellow man, because we are in a time and place in history where compassion is the only way we get out alive.

[@playingitstraight]

Thanks for taking the time to write up this comment! I recognize a lot of what you’re saying, and I agree that a lot of Journey’s value lies in how it connects players in a more compassionate (and maybe gentler) way than we’re used to in the wider culture.

[@gustavochedid1137]

Excellent analysis, great references and authors and quotes throughout the video. It really shows how deep you research each content before putting a new vid. Hoping for your success

[@playingitstraight]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@gustavochedid1137]

This channel is made exactly for my taste on my favorite games, lol. Which means any game you make a video of that I didn't play, I will probably love

[@MrABKOne]

Again. A great video essay done by your channel. Please allow for a method to follow and support what you are creating. There are suggestions that can be added to what you offer and I believe even games that offer too much dialogue can still be considered for what you are trying to convey. Games like What Remains of Edith Finch may offer much in the way of background and dialogue also provide a nuanced approach your channel is perfect for! Edit: With how good this was I forgot to mention that I had to buy the game and play it before experiencing what this video essay had to offer. A great job all around!

[@playingitstraight]

Thank you very much. We’re thinking of starting a Patreon to build a connection with you all and to take suggestions! Stay tuned.

[@marlijnvn3706]

I love Journey and I love this analysis on the game. Felt the same about Sky, it just never did it for me!

[@Zyxxus]

Just stumbled upon your channel today and you've earned an instant subscribe! You've covered two of my most treasured gaming experiences in the first couple of vids I've watched - Journey and Outer Wilds, and I commend you for putting together such wonderful videos that echo so much of my feelings about these games. Thanks. :)

[@playingitstraight]

Thank you! Any other games in that list I should be aware of? ;)

[@AngelofGrace96]

Wow, this was really, really beautiful. I think this has inspired me to go back and play Journey again. Thank you.

[@Mimi-vu5tw]

Thank you for another captivating in-depth video!

[@salvanwezel]

Nice work! Well polished and engaging video essay about a beauty of a game. I hope more is to come. :)

[@alvaroroblesgar]

Nice video and great analysis! I'll be back for more :)

[@DMC4EVERUCCI]

I would love for you to tackle games like ICO or Shadow of the Colossus sometime in the future. This was just all around impressive in every way, from the editing to the tone to the music to the narration. The ending was especially powerful as well. Looking forward to whatever's next, so happy to have found this channel. (btw I love that you mentioned Sky at the end as well and I feel exactly the same way about it as you described, even though I've been playing it every day for about 2 years)

[@playingitstraight]

Thanks for the tip! SotC still sits high in my top-10, but I haven’t yet found a good way to discuss it that doesn’t just rehash other takes I’ve seen about its narrative. Something about its emptiness could be interesting.. I’ll keep it in mind!

[@passerbycmc]

Anyone great video, really enjoy the approach you take when talking about games.

[@sirtony0114]

This video is great. Your voice is very soothing

[@iwouldprefernotto4381]

This was a really beautiful analysis of what made Journey so special. Liminal spaces have become a bit of a trendy online topic now, and the term gets thrown around so casually, but Journey truly captures that liminality perfectly. Fantastic editing and a strangely soothing voiceover, more please!

[@climate_sentry_123]

Just first minute and i already have strong goosebumps...

[@tat6681]

Good work boy!

[@SamDoesTutorials.]

Fantastic video, thank you! Subscribed. But you have so few. Please make more. I'd love to see a video about Diablo or Fallout. Thank you for your time making these videos, I appreciate it.

[@playingitstraight]

That’s good to hear :) Making more, but they’re quite time-consuming!

[@plantagominor722]

Well said.

[@FaunoAtelie]

This is amazing

[@00Clank]

Looks like I need to finally go play this game so I can watch this video.

[@klibe]

I love this guy

[@renzovanholten5185]

God this one's a real banger

[@leftovernoise]

Aw fuck yes! God journey hit me so hard, excellent video thank you

[@FranklinThe1]

Another game published by Annapurna I have to get that game.

[@c4sualcycl0ps48]

The mobile port was apparently published by Annapurna, it was originally published by Sony Interactive and was worked on with Santa Monica Studios Still, if Annapurna is behind something, there’s a good chance it will be a masterpiece

[@FranklinThe1]

@@c4sualcycl0ps48 huh ok bc on steam it says publisher is Annapurna

[@c4sualcycl0ps48]

@@FranklinThe1 I wonder if the Steam port was also done by Annapurna

[@TRC98]

This is from the same publisher as outer wilds right?

[@FranklinThe1]

Yes

[@KroltanMG]

Commenting before I watch, sorry. I'll update along the way. I'm curious about this, because I played Journey in 2020, and while it was pretty, and compelling to get through, the "thought-provoking, meaningful experience", as the New Yorker put, absolutely failed to land on me, so while I recognise the value other people place in the game, I don't understand it.

[@KroltanMG]

I... never saw another player the entire game. Seems like a pretty big part of the game, unexperienced due to its time.

[@silversong4VR]

No credits to the video footage of the streamer used in the essay? No credit to the amazing composer Austin Wintory? Loved the essay, but these things are basic nods to the artists and content creators.

[@ZedAmadeus]

I get the streamer thing, but all of the songs were covers by Jelle Goossens.

[@playingitstraight]

Thanks for watching and the feedback! The name of the creator (bunnytails) is on screen in the first section of their footage, and the music in this video is custom-built by Jelle, in homage to Wintory's amazing soundtrack. But you're right, and I've added credits to both creators in the description.

[@-datnerd-3125]

I haven't played this game yet, Should I play it in 2022??

[@playingitstraight]

I’d say it’s never too late :)

[@Crazy_Diamond_75]

This game is always worth playing. I had heard so much about it over the years but never owned a Playstation. I bought it when it first came to Epic Game Store a few years ago and thought it was one of the most beautiful experiences I've ever had.

[@ChimeratAlpha]

Hmm... Might take a religious viewpoint to put a religious spin on Journey. That's the mark of a good game, though: multiple interpretations.