Games I Beat: ABZU

ABZU
Chill Diving Simulation
1 Player
System: PS4
Developer: Giant Squid
Year of Release: 2016
Beaten: January 28th, 2017

Some games just don't appeal to everyone. I feel like Abzu is going to be one of those games. There isn't a lot to this game, if you try to just simply beat it you'll rush through in no time at all, with basically no challenge to be found. This is the kind of game for people who loved Journey. Hell, this game is Journey, but set underwater.

Honestly, it's difficult for me to discern whether or not I like or don't care for this game. The bulk of this game comes from absorbing it's atmosphere, and while I certainly loved it, these kind of games barely manage to satisfy what I'm looking for out of a game.

It's incredibly difficult to describe this game as anything other than Journey, but underwater. There's a vague history that you can try to discern from ancient painting found in a few areas, there are segments where you follow strong currents of the sea and have little to no control, you are tasked with taking your own pace while you explore this seemingly large, but actually quite constrained world. The resemblance is uncanny, sans the co-operative component, which a lot of Journey's appeal can be attributed to, really.

Typically, as alluded to above, I look for something more in a game. I enjoyed my time with Journey, but I never really thought I'd find myself sucked into another similar game. Abzu appealed to me on a personal level. Personally, I find the sea both endlessly fascinating and terrifying. What mysterious lie just below the surface? There is so much that remains unknown about a large percent of what takes up space on our planet. This captures my imagination, and Abzu banks on that heavily. Being able to explore a version of the sea with both mystical and technological bits strewn throughout was fascinating.

Four paragraphs later, what the fuck is Abzu? You find yourself, a mysterious black skinned (suited?) creature in the ocean. Quickly you discover the ability to dive, swim faster, and use a kind of echolocation to activate various things in the environment. That's pretty much it. You swim around and find new locations, and new kinds of fish. Every so often you'll encounter a bit of the mystical, or the technological and eventually the story reveals itself in full. It's nothing ground breaking. Really it's fairly cliched. But this game is all about the Journey, in more than just simply aspiration.

The bottom line is simple, if you want a challenge, or you want to feel like a badass, Abzu will not be for you. But if you're looking for a chill, almost cerebral experience, you just want to swim around and casually interact with some fish this will appeal to you. There's a mechanic in the game where you actively sit and just experience what various life forms around you are experiencing. This sums up the game, really, so well. I'm not looking to open up a debate, but it's debatable as to exactly how much of a game this is. I would liken it more akin to an experience than anything else.

I'd suggest waiting for a sale, but if you just want to unwind, or you enjoyed Journey and feel like enough time has passed, I do recommend picking this up. It's simple, but still potentially affecting.