Day 10 of Game Design- Streaming Journey and Bound

Today’s class was a twitch streaming of two games: Journey and Bound. Both of them were PlayStation exclusive, so these were games that I never had the opportunity to play. Although, Journey there is a PC port released on Steam.

We began with the streaming of Journey. It began in a desert area with glittery sands where the character traverses the vast area to uncover the mystery of a lost civilization. The game takes through different areas that are visually and experientially distinctive. The game’s cover gives an impression that it all takes place in a desert but it just happens in the first part of the game.

The player solves puzzles to move forward and the interactions can be limited. In one of the moments of the game, a dragon crept up from the ground overpowered the atmosphere with a feeling of fear of the moment. This game’s power lies in the way it can dictate the atmosphere at any given moment and the moments don’t feel fake for a moment. During the gameplay, we happened to see another player but couldn’t talk to him. The game only allowed for simple interactions between the players. The art that adorned the walls in the flashbacks was a delight to look at. The story was a simple yet impactful one.

The second game, Bound, began with a pregnant woman walking down ashore. She opens a notebook that had sketches, seemed like made by a child, and the player had to choose one to play a scenario.

This game takes place in the mind of the lady and it seemed as if she was following the orders of her mother to defeat a monster. She danced with arms stretched to clear obstacles in her way. This game was heavily leaning towards the platformer genre. Dancing as a central mechanic could be seen throughout the whole game. The game demanded a greater proficiency in skills than Journey as there were some moderate platformer challenges. Journey’s influence on this game could be clearly seen.

We happened to finish Journey in 2 hours and I guess that Bound’s gameplay must have been short too. These are games that are meant to be played in a single sitting and aim to deliver an experience, rather than a feeling of satisfaction, to the players.