Product Info

Platform

Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Publisher

Ratalaika Games

Developer

Venturous

Genre

Adventure, Multiplayer

Players

1-2

File Size (Minimum)

672 MB

Release Date (NA)

Feb 19, 2021

Purchase From

eShop

PSN Store

Microsoft Store

Steam

Voyage is a cinematic adventure game where players can take their time and enjoy the scenery. Beyond that, this indie title from first-time developer Venturous is very simplistic, focusing more on a relaxing experience than anything else.

A Simple, Confusing World

Voyage explains very little of what is happening and why you must explore. You and your partner, which can be controlled by a second player, simply start in a cave and travel across the 2D world seeking a way off the planet. The game’s design and exploring of levels feels much like the artistic indie game GRIS but with little action and no violence involved. Instead, you’ll explore and open areas by completing simple puzzles. For example, you will push crystals to light up areas to open up passages.

At the start of playing your first time, the game introduces you to a set of controls to help you understand its mechanics: moving left and right, telling your partner to stay or follow, and initiating sparks, which will help you figure out what to do next. By using this last command, your character will hold up a crystal that will “spark” areas nearby that you should investigate. If you cannot see or hear the sparks, you’re too far away and have to continue exploring.

Beyond that, the game doesn’t exactly explain what to do and leaves it up to the player(s) to figure it out. Allowing players the chance to discover a world on their own can be fun. However, here, it can be a bit of a chore, since occasionally you’ll have to backtrack in order to unlock areas and continue your travels. Your characters don’t move that fast, and said backtracking can involve tedious tasks, such as making you pull a log across a few screens so that you can use it to row across a lake. Furthermore, with no running or fast-forward command, such actions can really suck the joy out of the experience.

The journey is fairly short overall, being able to be finished in only a few hours. Completing it treats viewers to a short, cinematic animation about the two explorers. There’s no dialogue, though — just visuals explaining the story, leaving more questions than answers.

A Beautiful Canvas

Each level is vastly different and beautifully designed, as if you were exploring a painted canvas. Simply put, they’re stunning. These levels possess a vast amount of details. Between the fluttering of leaves in trees, wind on the plain, and movements of animals, insects, and other creatures, these levels are brimming with life. Moving around the forest feels like a pop-up book and ghost-like figures of travelers appear as you explore. In more than one instance, it was like being in a story from Studio Ghibli. It really is hard to look away from these incredible, serene landscapes. Some areas, such as the desert’s pink and purple colored levels, have narrower color schemes than others, but they still work rather well for their simpler designs. The character designs are equally simple, and the two explorers almost completely melt into the backgrounds sometimes. After all, the focus of this game is always on those attractive landscapes.

It’s almost too much. The spark mechanic is absolutely essential to figuring out what to do because it’s often difficult to visually determine what objects can be interacted with by themselves. At times, there are cues like a ghostly figure appearing, but a little extra clarity would help keep the confusion down.

What isn’t confusing is the soundtrack by Calum Bowen, composer for Snipperclips, Pikuniku and Lovely Planet, which remains soothing and symphonic. There’s nothing disrupting the calm gameplay here. The soundtrack simply flows with the natural beauty of the world.

The Final Stop

Voyage is an indie game for all ages that’s worth a trip if you’re looking for casual exploration in a stunningly beautiful 2D world. It’s unfortunate that the title can be finished so quickly and is occasionally tedious, but the journey is still pretty nice while it lasts.

A PlayStation 4 code provided for this review. Reviewed on the PlayStation 5.