The Truth About Journey

Last night I played Thatgamecompany's new downloadable title Journey.

You may have read my colleague Matt Miller's glowing review of this game or seen the myriad other hyper-positive write-ups around the web. Unlike every other gaming journalist, though, I'm not a sellout, and my opinion was not paid for by Sony.

Last night I livetweeted my playthrough and retweeted various reactions from my followers. In this blog post, I've gathered together these tweets in the order that they happened. Read what follows to discover what other game industry professionals don't want you to know about this new classic alongside other TRUE opinions from REAL gamers.

NOTE: Retweets from my followers are clearly marked with a link to each person's Twitter account. Anything not marked is a tweet from me. You can follow me on Twitter @pkollar.

Installing Journey now. I think I'm going to livetweet my playthrough because that seems in keeping with the bombastic nature of this game.

I like #Journey so far, but the 15-minute cutscene at the beginning explicitly laying out the game's themes seems like a bit much.

Also the protagonist's village getting burned down so he needs to go on a heroic quest? Definitely been done before. #Journey

@MrMattJay: I hated the dialogue wheels in #Journey. Felt like none of the decisions made much difference.

@LikChan: yea, wait til you find out the last boss is your father. NOOOOOOO #Journey

Only 10 minutes in and I already unlocked the trophy for decapitating five enemies! #Journey's gore sure is satisfying!

@Sir_JD: And by the time you've finished it, you too will be funding the movement to change its ending #Journey

@RaygunBrown: #Journey would have improved dramatically if I could carry a rail gun. And be an eyeball on legs. Actually...brb...

@JustinMcElroy: If you're not playing #Journey on Ludicrous difficulty, you're not even f*****g playing it ... P***Y.

S**t, before I get too far into #Journey can someone tell me if the on-disc DLC is recommended if I'm into the lore of this universe?

@ALFighter27: I really hated the twist where everything was actually in sand snow globe #Rosebud #Journey

@Wario64: Journey got a lot better when I jumped into a random game and telefragged my partner

@GamingOpinions: At least the lockpicking minigames in #Journey are intuitive and fun.

@loudERIC: #Journey had potential, but the game really goes down hill after you don't get to play as the first detective anymore.

@Samael76: Journey doesn't get really good until about 34.7 hours in.

I normally never do this, but think I'm gonna use microtransactions in the #Journey Online Marketplace to unlock a new weapon pack.

@jamesmielke: The best part is how you can grow your own farm in Journey. On individual floors in small towers.

@TGENick: I highly recommend the Akimbo FM9G a bit unfair but guaranteed to skyrocket your K/D ratio #Journey

@alexgriendling: Make sure to upgrade your health before you get to the turret sequence. That part is a b***h. Also, incendiary ammo. #Journey

@loudERIC: If you buy anything in #Journey just spring for the Bazooka. It's the $20 dollar win button. Can't miss it.

@RowanKaiser: My favorite part of Journey is how you get your health back by doing jerk-off motions with the WiiMote.

Okay, @thatgamecompany you really shouldn't have outsourced the boss battles in #Journey. The quick time events are ridiculously unforgiving

@ncgames: Journey's inventory management could use some work, though. I kept having to trek back to town to sell all my loot.

@BKNY4evr: The lack of Spectator Mode obviously will rate #Journey a mere 7.5 in @gameinformer review.

@Masjord: hey I would avoid multi player in Journey for a bit. Lots of hackers and campers thus far.

@Flunkie: Managing Chocobos was the best part of #Journey

@dustinconwell: How come nobody is mentioning the big twist? When you find out your bionic arm was made out of your wife. THAT WAS SICK 'YO!

@RowanKaiser: I'm okay with Journey using licensed music, but Fall Out Boy? Seriously? That was passe even when it was popular.

Don't worry, I'm only checking Twitter during the absurdly long cutscenes in #Journey. 50 minutes and counting on this one!

LOL when I did character creation in #Journey, I turned the chest slider all the way up. #jiggle

@aaronlinde: The best part of Journey was when it just drops you headlong into Shadow Moses from the original Metal Gear Solid.

@Zerochan: Man, what is with all that shoehorned-in gayness in #Journey? NOT THAT THERE IS ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT I'M JUST TOTALLY HETERO

@EvanKillham: I messed up the third QTE so many times that it asked if I wanted to switch the difficulty to Easy. I was like, "F**k you, game."

@BardicKnowledge: Also I wish that annoying helper cloth in #Journey would shut the hell up. I KNOW ITS A DESERT THANKS

OH, #Journey is the name of the game AND the main character. This s**t is deep!

@mittense: in the nude patch the scarf starts really long and progressively gets more recalling until just before the suicide mission when sex

I think I unlocked the final area in #Journey, but I sort of want to grind slimes until I'm closer to max level.

@TheJWittz: Just heard thatgamecompany developers needed a 94 on metacritic to earn a bonus for #journey. Ouch. . .

@Flunkie: Needing an in-app purchase to disable ads in #Journey was a total buzzkill.

@chriscalla: Whoa, Journey: Episode 2 releasing Fall 2012. Did not expect @thatgamecompany to go the episodic route.

Best part of #Journey: When "Don't Stop Believing" comes blasting in over the late title card.

@Onekumar: I can't believe they added ammo into this one, the last Journey was perfect without it.

@Brelston: Has anyone made a Journey 2 The Mysterious Island joke? Meet The Rock on the way, bounce berries off pecks, art

@pappasman: the 5 hour fetch quest at the end of Journey was really unnessacary.

SERIOUSLY?! The #Journey DLC is just new arena battles and casino games? What the hell, @thatgamecompany?

@DestinLegarie: that "coffee" scene in Journey really made me uncomfortable.

@chriscalla: Major frame rate issues with PS3 version of #Journey, haven't seen any issues with 360 version.

@aaronlinde: F*****g Gears ripoff

@Link4lyfe: the part I hated about journey is that your rival is a Dick and took the last Pokemon, leaving you with a pikachu.

@SamitSarkar: Why didn't you just send that via Journey's Twitter integration?

@benovnstncciano: if you have 100 speech skill you can talk the final reaper in #Journey into opening a banana stand on the pier.

Final thoughts on #Journey: Polished but derivative. Super disappointing but fans of the genre will enjoy it. 7.5/10

And a final thought from @ZeckBecker:

Stop, all these farcical #Journey tweets are making me realize how dumb video games actually are. :c