An Underwater Journey

I've had a long day and I'm in no mood for intense, concentrated console fighting or game progression. But don't think there aren't any developers out there who aren't tapping right into this frame of mind.

So now I'm slip-streaming with the fishes, diving down and exploring great caverns, hanging onto dolphins and even onto the mighty whales of the deep.

Ok so, ABZU is made by the same guy who did Journey and Flower, only this is the underwater version, so you can expect - and welcome - the same sort of format and magic. Any tiresome difficulty level or story aspects are sort of side-lined for a more direct, accessible experience. There's something to do with a lost underwater civilisation, a re-connection with the sea-life and a whole lot of dangerous triangles.

What's great though is the way the strengths of those former titles have been elevated or continued here: the sense of space, the quantity of avatar control and the slip-streaming scenes are back, longer and just as thrilling.

A superb family game. Includes an interesting Meditation setting (hidden in the levels) for re-visiting the undersea settings, learning about the correctly-modeled aquatic life and admiring the details. A nice feature now that these games are getting so pretty. It would all make for a great Virtual Reality experience too.

Desert and walking experience (tick)
Magical Seeds and wind experience (tick)
Underwater experience (tick)
What's next... Jungle? Save the Rainforest?

And might I suggest... bring back the multiplayer elements again, or as an additional feature.

Read about the game on Wikipedia

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