Journey is an indie adventure game released for the PS3 back in 2012, but it’s a still one of the most immersive and interesting attempts at storytelling in the medium. It struck its tone so successfully that PlayStation even included the PS4 port for free in its Play At Home initiative earlier this year, years after its original release.
Few games have been able to emulate the tranquil beauty of Journey, but Rare’s upcoming Everwild appears to be aiming for a similar tone. Journey had a very unique way of handling multiplayer which, while Everwild should not emulate it totally, has a lot to teach the new game if it’s going to have a multiplayer experience that matches the game tonally.
Journey’s multiplayer was created with some fascinating key design choices. First, it was possible to play through the entirety of Journey’s admittedly short story without ever bumping into another player. However, the game was designed in such a way that players would simply stumble across one another on their journeys, and could just as easily lose one another.
There was no way for players in Journey – now on Steam – to communicate with one another through voice, text, or even emotes. Ironically this inability to clearly communicate helped create a sense of solidarity between players who could therefore relate on only one level – their goal to complete their journey and help one another along the way.
The lack of specific communication features in Journey also helped maintain the games’ extremely tranquil tone, as well as making the game more immersive and helping it stay one of the highest rated adventure games on Metacritic. Other players were mysterious and the bonds players formed without direct communication often felt more profound as a result. The other players could disappear around a corner as quickly as they appeared in the game, leaving many players sad to see their only companions go.
Game developer Rare has released few specific details about the gameplay of Everwild, but from what has been revealed so far it appears to be a game where, like Sea of Thieves, players of small groups work together. Everwild’s main tasks seem to focus on sustaining the natural environment and the animals in it, helping fictional beasts migrate, heal, and reproduce to maintain the balance of the natural world. Like Journey as well, it also appears to have some magical elements which add the mysterious and tranquil tone.
Sea of Thieves’ multiplayer is intentionally goofy and at time even chaotic, and shouting commands at one another and rival ships through a loud speaker in-game totally fits into the pirate game in a way that likely would clash with the tone of Everwild. While there should likely be some way for players within groups to communicate clearly in Everwild, the new game could take inspiration from Journey when it comes to player groups running across one another in the game world.
By making players wordlessly cooperate with one another, Rare may decrease the possibilities for players to break other groups’ immersion, avoiding one potential problem Everwild may face. It may also decrease the chances for players to grief one another by upsetting the peaceful ambience of the game using in-game voice functions. If nothing else, running into other groups could feel like a well-integrated part of the natural world if they appear and disappear into the wilderness just like the other players in Journey.
How specifically Everwild‘s gameplay can learn from Journey’s approach to multiplayer will depend on some of the game mechanics which have yet to be revealed for Rare’s upcoming game. When it comes to tone, however, it’s likely that Everwild can look to Journey as one of the best examples of a game which is at once exciting and comforting, and which makes other players feel a part of that tranquil landscape.
Everwild will launch in 2021 for PC and Xbox Series X.
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