As South Africa enters its 21-day lockdown (UPDATE: Now extended by two weeks) in order to combat the spread of the coronavirus, it has left many civilians in the isolation of their homes. Many see this as a great opportunity to spend quality time with some family and loved ones, while others cherish diving into forms of entertainment to occupy their time and pass the weeks (when not working remotely, in that case). To cushion some of the tedium, Nexus has decided to create a daily feature in which we recommend games of varying lengths and content that could pass the time. Our twenty-fourth recommendation in Lockdown Gaming is one of the best games of all time, the awe-inspiring Journey.



When I first played Journey, it was at the peak of my interest in indie games. This was at a time when Indie Game: The Movie introduced me to some of my current favourite games like Super Meat Boy and Fez, while Limbo gave me the artistic representation of darkness that my edgy teenage self always craved. However, upon the release of thatgamecompany's Journey, something clicked within me that, for all intents and purposes, completely changed my life. Yes, today we're talking about one of those life-changing games, and there's no better example than this.

Journey puts us in the cape a desert traveler who one day awakens in the shadow of an enormous mountain emitting a bright light from its peak. The traveler, seemingly with nowhere to go, decides to climb the mountain and find out exactly what that strange light is. Along the way, the traveler may or may not run into other companions to venture up the mountain with, all the while taking in some breathtaking scenery, solving puzzles, and braving harsh climates. Journey is as the title suggests: a game about the journey, but one with a profoundly devastating and self-reflective destination.



For the sake of digging deep into the core themes and ideas of Journey, I will be spoiling the ending from here on out. You have been warned. From a game design standpoint, Journey opts for the "simpler is better" route by not littering the environments with collectibles or meaningless side fluff, but rather just lets the player bask in some of the levels' more serene and stunning beauty. There are hidden secrets to find, but it never feels like its at the expense of exploration and soaking in the scenery. Exploring the different diverse landscapes is engaging and, in some cases, quite haunting.

The player character, this unnamed traveler, only has a couple of gameplay mechanics to work with. Namely, the traveler's scarf will expand in length that allows various actions to be performed such as gliding and boosting. They can also communicate with other players in the world through sound pings, making it rather difficult but undoubtedly ingenious to coordinate tactics and puzzle solutions as players now have to convey their thoughts in action rather than words, and it works to the game's multiplayer benefit. Most of all, this only stresses the message of bonding with complete strangers, undertaking this incredible journey together despite never truly knowing anyone beyond the surface level. I can't tell you how many times I felt like I had become best friends with my companion, only for them to disappear at the end of the game and leave an empty void.



The only enemies you'll ever come across are gigantic floating serpent-like statues who scout the levels for the traveler (or any signs of life, really). They attack any intruders upon detecting them, and these can often result in a one-shot kill if not careful. Their all-seeing eye acts like a giant spotlight as it glides over the landscape, making avoiding them pretty intense and some of the best (and only) stealth sections in the game. Things naturally ramp up towards the end, though, but you never really encounter other enemies as dangerous as these flying stone beasts.

Now we get to the ending of the game. Assuming you followed my previous spoiler warning, head back, play the game to completion (it's only 2-3 hours) and return here. When you're finally at the cusp of the mountain's peak, with the beam of light in the close distance, the player must trudge through thick snow to get to the top. The only thing is, the player dies here. They never truly reach the summit. Their body is whisked away by an angelic figure, and taken to another plain of existence - you guessed it, the top of the mountain. A land overflowing with huge waterfalls, flying graceful creatures, and gorgeous valleys as far as the eye can see. Some might call it paradise.



Journey doesn't just drop this bombshell on players out of nowhere, though. Throughout the game, you'll constantly come across grave sites with tombstones, signalling the death of travelers before you. The narrative only dips its feet in the idea of "angels" or beings from other realms watching over the mountain through glyphs etched on walls in another foreign language. The traveler - the player - is but one of millions who all attempted to journey to the top of the mountain but died along their path to get there. The angels then take the souls of the dead to the top of the mountain, this valley of paradise, only to guide them into the light and... reincarnate them as another weary traveler awakening in the desert, wondering what that strange light is on the mountain. Thus, the cycle begins again.



It's easy to miss the point of Journey entirely and simply see it as a game about a bloke who sees a shiny light on a mountain and dies trying to get there. However, that's the beauty of a game like this. It's open to interpretation in so many ways. Personally, I think it reflects a very real societal theme of the journey being our lives, and the light on the mountain being the end goal of self-fulfillment and meaning to life we're so desperately trying to reach by being good people and helping others. Some may die getting there, at different intervals of the journey, but the destination (death) is always the same and unchanging. The way I see it, death and the meaning of life are one and the same. Upon death, we're meant to reflect on our lives and see how much we actually accomplished in our journey to get there. That, in the pursuit of life's meaning, is the meaning of life. The journey.