Okay, just finished the game. Words are really hard to come by.
The downloadable space has no shortage of games which aspire to be something more than just ordinary shooters and platformers. Limbo, Outland, Braid, flower as well as several other games have tried to evoke emotions and dazzle the eye. A clean, interesting art style is the one thing these games have in common.
I believe Journey is the culmination of what these companies aspired to do. It is the highest peak of a place that you never knew you wanted to see. It is proof positive that the digital space on consoles is a thing you cannot confine to a $1 app.
From top to bottom, Journey is magnificent. Its presentation is at once exhilarating, heartbreaking, mysterious, and dangerous. The game visits the same sorts of forgotten realms Team ICO showed us so many years earlier, but this time with an unparalleled triumph of high definition beauty. Gameplay is simple and fun, while allowing players to experience the world together. Music is what brings the experience from a level of great to utterly brilliant, as you feel precisely what the developers intended.
I cannot possibly give this game a higher recommendation. It is pure class without the pretense. Pure joy without needing to borrow from its action-based contemporaries. A feast for the eyes and the soul. You will be moved.
10/10
