Hitman 2

Make the world your weapon

Introduction

HITMAN 2 is a stealth action game that involves taking part in missions centred around assassination. In this game, the player takes the role of Agent 47, the world’s most proficient assassin whose leaves absolutely no trace behind. HITMAN 2 instead of the first game in this trilogy will be analysed as HITMAN 2 already contains the game content from the first game, and contains some special features not present in the first game.

#9 The lens of the elemental tetrad

Aesthetics

Disregarding some minor shortcuts taken in rendering, each level in HITMAN is designed beautifully. The levels are often based off real life locations, as with this example which captures perfectly the dedication and effort spend in making these levels.

The atmosphere, ambience, and even the way NPCs speak and behave provide for an immersive experience, and you can feel as if you were walking down those roads yourself. As compared to the first season, HITMAN 2 added regional voices for each of the different missions, so a Colombian soldier in Santa Fortuna sounds like one, instead of having a flat American accent.

Most objects in the map are also interactable with in some way, either by directly interacting with the object, such as causing an oil barrel to leak, or are destructible when shot, even if it does not contribute to the assassination, such as shooting lamps and computers.

Mechanics

The game is fundamentally simple. Players control Agent 47 from either a third-person or first-person perspective, interact with objects in the map, and eliminate their targets.

One of the core mechanics of HITMAN is the disguise system. 47 can put on clothes that other NPCs are wearing, allowing him to enter areas which are normally out of bounds to him.

Some NPCs however can see through such disguises, forcing the player to stay on their toes for such enforcers. There is also no one disguise that grants access to the entire map, as such the player needs to switch disguises often if they wish to traverse the map as they like.

While the player is free to complete the missions in any way they like, be it through massacring the entire crowd, or through loud and noisy elimination methods, the game encourages the player to eliminate their targets through accidents or other silent methods without raising suspicion.

Technology

HITMAN was developed on the Glacier Engine, and is playable on PC, PS4, and Xbox 1. While the game does not require powerful hardware to run, it can get choppy if the player decides to go on a murder spree and kill everyone, as the ragdoll physics seems to kick in only for dead/unconscious NPCs.

Story

HITMAN follows the story of Agent 47, who is unknowingly assigned several contracts from a shadow client in the first season. The second season explores this shadow client and the organization they are up against.

Each mission has a story of their own, following NPCs around and listening to their dialogue lines reveals information about the targets, which while are not compulsory to learn, gives the player a better understanding of the targets around them.

One interesting part about the story is that it compiles all the previous games and preserves the continuity. In the trailer above, each of the kills are taken from all the past games.

#6 The lens of curiosity

HITMAN does not explicitly instruct the player how to assassinate their targets. Although scripted events that provide opportunities to kill the target unseen are available, the player does not need to follow these if he wants to and can assassinate their target in any way they like. The player is expected to figure out his own way to kill their targets.

When I first started HITMAN 2, the first mission instructed me to assassinate the target, and only that. Figuring out how the target moved in an unfamiliar and hostile environment was quite a challenge for a first-time player.

Furthermore, the sheer multitude of ways to kill a target, be it strangling them with a wire, pushing them off cliffs, poisoning their food, drowning them in a pool, electrocuting them, or even killing them with an exploding propane tank spur the player to think: “How else can I kill this target?”, and contributes greatly to replayablilty, as each mission can be tackled in many different ways.

Even smacking someone into the ocean with a fish is fair game

#23 The lens of motivation

The actual gameplay for HITMAN is very short, comprising of only 6 missions per season. What makes it replayable though in addition to the ways missions can be tackled is the Mastery and Challenges section.

Each mission has a mastery level, where higher mastery levels unlock more starting locations, as well as more items such as the remote explosive. Mastery levels are increased by completing challenges, or just through normal gameplay.

Challenges can range from being very easy, such as putting on a certain disguise, or very difficult (Silent assassin suit only which will be explained later). Some challenges also unlock items, the most notable of which is awarded for achieving Silent assassin suit only on all difficulties for all missions, in this case, a “Classic Lockpick”.

While some of these rewards are only reskins of an existing functional item (the classic lockpick is a reskin of a standard lockpick), these challenges provide motivation for the player to keep trying again.

#38 The lens of challenge

HITMAN provides challenge that is limited only by the players’ limits. Although the player can clear missions easily through liberal use of the scripted events, they may challenge themselves in any way when clearing the missions.

One such example is the Silent Assassin / Suit Only run. This is a considerable challenge as the following criteria must be met:

  • Only kill the targets
  • Do not get compromised
  • No bodies can be found, unless they were the result of accidents/poisoning
  • No evidence of the player must be found.
  • The player must clear the mission with the default suit and cannot change disguises at any point.

As the default suit for each location grants unrestricted areas to only a limited number of areas, which is often those that the targets never walk into, completing the mission without using disguises means that the player will be trespassing most of the time, which NPCs do not take kindly to. Furthermore, just killing the target is not enough, the player must also exit the map though the designated exits, which means the player will need to sneak their way out of the area as well. Careful planning and familiarity with the map and NPC movement is essential for a successful run.

Clearing all missions on the hardest difficulty, and with the SASO restriction was extremely difficult, and I had to plan carefully how my run would be, as the hardest difficulty adds an additional restriction of having only 1 save attempt. Managing to clear each mission in SASO was extremely satisfying as I saw the efforts of planning being rewarded.

#43 The lens of competition

Although HITMAN is largely a single-player game, there are various aspects where the player can compete with others.

HITMAN has a scoring system, where points are awarded for meeting certain criteria, such as never being spotted, and points are deducted for killing NPCs that are not designated targets. After each mission, players can view the leaderboards to see how well they did comparatively.

Additionally, HITMAN 2 introduced a new multiplayer mode, known as Ghost Mode. In Ghost Mode, two players compete against each other to eliminate 5 targets unseen, before their opponent does. The players can observe each other in real-time, but their maps are separate. Though the maps are separate, interfering with the opponent is possible using certain items, that catch the attention of NPCs in the opponent’s map as well as their own. Experienced players are rewarded as they are much more familiar with the map, and thus can make use of tighter windows of opportunity to kill their target.

 

A Hat in Time

A Hat in Time is a 3D platformer where players control Hat Kid and explore open levels to find “Time Pieces”. Other than running, jumping and attacking, players can also wear different hats to use abilities to solve puzzles and get past obstacles. For example, the Sprint Hat allows the player to run, and the Cooking Hat lets the player throw an explosive concoction. Players can also collect “pons” to buy badges that increase Hat Kid’s abilities, yarn balls to stitch into new hats, and “relics” to unlock “Time Rift” bonus levels.

Lens 7: Elemental Tetrad

Mechanics

Natural Mechanics include:

  • Looking around and running
  • Jumping and double jumping
  • Running up walls for a short distance
  • Diving forward while on the ground or in the air
  • Recovering during a dive
  • Walking on tightrope
  • Attacking with umbrella
  • Lock-on aerial attack

Hat abilities include:

  • Sprinting
  • Slowing down time
  • Throwing explosives
  • Transforming into a frozen statue and doing a ground pound
  • Materializing objects that usually appear as green holographic objects

Badge abilities include:

  • Hooking to and swinging from hooks
  • Charging and firing a beam attack
  • Riding a scooter

The game has a lot of mechanics that can be combined together for complex dynamics. For example, you can perform a double jump, dive, then recover to get across a large gap. You could also get creative and transform into a frozen statue (which causes Hat Kid to be slightly lifted up in the air), dive forward and recover to get across the same gap. Thanks to these dynamics, there are many different ways to finish a level.

After completing the game, there are a series of challenges that revisit the same level, but put certain restrictions, like not allowing any jumps. These challenges are difficult and really test the player’s mastery of mechanics and timing.

Story

Hat Kid is traveling in her spaceship on her way back home, when a Mafia man from a planet she is passing by breaks open the spaceship door to collect a toll. That causes the Time Pieces that powers the ship to fall on the planet, so Hat Kid must go down to the planet to search for them.

During her travels, Hat Kid meets many enemies who want the power of the Time Pieces for themselves, like two rival bird movie directors, DJ Grooves and the Conductor. In the final battle, these enemies sacrifice themselves for Hat Kid to overcome the final boss.

With many interesting characters and strong themes of friendship, the story was really fresh and enjoyable.

Aesthetics

The art in A Hat in Time is usually vibrant, with a lot of bright colours. However, there are also moments when the art fits darker themes. For example, when Hat Kid is the detective for a murder mystery, the colours become muted for a noir-like tone.

Character design is simple and unrealistic, making the characters easily recognizable and really likable.

The music is easily the best part of the game. It’s colourful in open areas, grim in dark areas, exciting in boss fights, tranquil in bonus levels with no enemies, and rushed in timed levels.

Technology

A Hat in Time runs on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, with an upcoming release on the Nintendo Switch, and was made using Unreal Engine 3.

Lens 4: Curiosity

Levels are set in large, open maps, and there are various rewards like relics and yarn balls scattered around, encouraging exploration. There are also portals to bonus levels hidden in each map, so players are always curious about what they can find in each level.

Lens 6: Problem Solving

There are some puzzles in A Hat in Time, often involving getting from one point to another, and requires the abilities of hats and badges. In stealth levels, players also have to make use of cover to avoid the enemies’ line of sight and figure out a path to get to the goal without being spotted.

Lens 24: Novelty

Each chapter introduces new challenges that require new hats or badges to overcome, so the player is always doing something new. The chapters are also structured differently. Chapter 2 is about helping two birds, DJ Grooves and the Conductor, make a movie, and is set in several separate areas; while Chapter 4 is set in a large open area filled with mountain peaks, and has a “free roam” format, meaning that the player can complete the peaks in any order.

Lens 38: Challenge

A Hat in Time is not an easy game. Being a 3D platformer, it requires players to know how and when to make combinations of aerial mechanics to get to the next point. However, it is still fair, because it has checkpoints that ensure that the player does not lose all progress when missing a jump. This provides a level of challenge that is just right for players. Boss fights are also fairly challenging as they have several phases, with different attack patterns for each phase.

Overall, A Hat in Time is a fun, challenging game with quite a deep level of mechanics and really cute, colourful aesthetics.

http://hatintime.com/

Overwatch

Description, Link and Screenshot

Overwatch is a multiplayer first-person shooter game where each player controls one out of six hero shooters in a team. Developed by Blizzard Entertainment and released in May 2016, Overwatch has gained immense popularity and is recognised as an esport with the establishment of the Overwatch League in 2017.

The main goal of Overwatch is for players in a team to work together to defeat opposing teams by defending certain or escorting payloads to a certain point in the map. Besides this competitive mode, Overwatch also offers various other modes such as arcade mode and training mode.

https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/

Elemental Tetrad

Story

While the gameplay of Overwatch is not directly dependent on a narrative, a backstory has been developed to enrich the player’s experience and understanding of the game itself.

In the game’s backstory, Overwatch is the name of a global peacekeeping force that fell apart due to a rift between its leaders. The current game environment is set some years following this event, where former Overwatch agents regroup and recruit new allies in an attempt to protect the world, while others work to stop its reformation.

Aesthetics

In Overwatch, there is also a high level of attention to detail in both the visual and audio aspects, which not only increases the player’s involvement with the game, but also contributes to the gameplay in a significant way. For example, noises made by other players allows for quicker detection of enemies and reaction. Additionally, each hero is given unique dialogues and emotes to provide the player an additional layer of understanding about the personality of the characters.

The visual aesthetics Overwatch utilizes very vibrant color schemes, such as in its maps and character skins. The characters, objects, and effects of the game are also designed to be very cartoon-like, which reinforces the playful and unserious nature of Overwatch.

Mechanics

While the specific mechanics of each hero in Overwatch is different, every character has an attack weapon with basic shooting abilities, an ultimate ability and a range of other unique abilities such as healing and sprinting.

Overwatch caters to a wide audience by creating a diverse cast of characters that can accommodate different levels of skill. For instance, certain characters have simpler mechanisms and are more suitable for new or casual players, while others have a very high skill ceiling that allows experienced players to improve and advance quickly.

Technology

Overwatch runs on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows.

Lenses

Lens 2: Surprise

As a multiplayer game, Overwatch is constantly providing its players with the element of surprise through their interactions with other players. The fast pace of the game gives each player limited reaction time, causing the players to act based on instinct and experience. This creates a sense of unpredictability and surprise for players that is sustained through the gameplay.

Lens 5: Endogenous Value

Overwatch uses endogenous value both in and out of the actual gameplay. In the game, players can unlock the hero’s ultimate ability each time they accumulate a certain level of damage to opponents. For such a fast paced game, the usage of endogenous value as such is just enough to motivate a player without being too much of a distraction.

Outside of gameplay, Overwatch provides players with additional incentives such as extra character skins, dialogues and emotes as they progress to each level.

Lens 6: Problem Solving

Problem solving in Overwatch presents itself in determining the best team composition and gameplay strategy based on the strengths of each character and on the composition of the opposing teams.

Lens 37: Cooperation

As a team game, Overwatch is heavily dependent on the cooperation of players. Each player contributes to the team in a certain way based on the hero’s abilities, where different types of characters have specific roles in the gameplay.

Overwatch

Overwatch

Overwatch is a popular team-based multiplayer first person shooter, developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released in May 2016, and as of May 2018, has 40 million players worldwide.

Personal Experience

I started playing Overwatch since its launch and have had the opportunity to play in local and online tournaments as part of a full team of 6 or more for the past years, thus, my analysis will be based on the competitive mode (and aspect) that the game provides.

Analysis

Lens of Elemental Tetrad – #9

Aesthetics

Overwatch follows an art style and design akin to those found in 3-dimensional animated movies, and has a bright, vibrant colour palette that varies with different levels. This visual style sets the game apart from other first-person shooters and entices new players into their world, whilst ensuring that the basic elements that a first-person shooter possess are not affected, such as the visibility of characters across maps.

Technology

Overwatch was released on Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The minimum system requirements for the PC version of Overwatch calls for an Intel i3 processor and a Nvidia GTX 460, both of which were released back in 2010, therefore, most modern laptops and desktops will be able to run this game just fine. As Overwatch has grown itself to become a worldwide eSports phenomenon, obtaining a higher “frames per second” (fps) count is essential to eSports players, and this title is highly optimized to run on PCs. With my gaming laptop (Intel i7-7700HQ, GTX 1060), the game runs on a buttery smooth average of 150 fps with low settings, which is also essential for maximizing frame rates.

Mechanics

In the competitive mode of the game, one team, consisting of six players, pit their skills against an opposing team, to take turns defending or attacking objective points or advancing payloads, until one team triumphs over the other. If a player on the attacking team contests a point or payload at the last 3 second of a round, the game goes into Overtime, a mechanic which gives a final chance to the attackers. As soon as an attacker is no longer contesting, the overtime meter will deplete until it reaches 0, or resets when an attacker contests the point or payload again.

Players can select from a pool of 29 (and expanding) heroes, categorized into three roles: Tank, Damage, and Support, with each hero having distinctively different abilities and an ultimate, game-changing ability. Players can combine any number of regular abilities or ultimate abilities to ensure that the team wins a fight.

For example, Zarya fires her ultimate, Graviton Surge (an orb that sucks in all enemies into an area) and attempts to combo with DVA’s ultimate, Self-Destruct (launching a self-destructing mech-suit). However, since there is a Reinhardt on the other team, Reinhardt’s shield can protect and negate damage from the self-destructing mech. Therefore, Lucio uses his normal ability, Soundwave, to knock the Reinhardt and his shield out of position, thus the combo was able to land successfully.

The game has no fall damage, no friendly fire (although it has self-damage from area of effect attacks), allowing for chaotic, fast-paced engagements.

Story

Overwatch’s story is not explicitly presented in front of the players and does not attempt to divert attention away from the main, action-packed gameplay. The story serves as a bridge and reason to the game’s setting and existence of certain heroes.

Overwatch is set in the near-future on Earth, where an international task force called Overwatch was formed to maintain global stability amidst the Omnic Crisis, where robots turned against humanity. However, corruption tore Overwatch apart, but the world still needs heroes to combat new crisis.

Overwatch’s story is ever expanding thanks to supplementary materials such as animated shorts, webcomics and hero biographies.

Lens of Resonance – #12

Every hero in the game has a chance of defending itself with its abilities. Players will not feel immediately disadvantaged when being flanked or attacked by an enemy opponent, no matter the hero choice. For example, Ana, a support hero that shoots healing darts with a rifle (and damaging darts if it his opponents), has the main role of healing the team from a distance. However, when an enemy tries to attack, Ana has abilities such as the sleep dart to defend herself in an attempt to shutdown a successful assassination attempt.

Every hero also has an ultimate ability, which if perfectly timed, coordinated and executed, has a higher chance of a game-changing, game-winning play, thus players will never feel that a round is completely lost without at least trying. For example, the Reaper waits until the last few seconds before casting his ultimate, Death Blossom, which damages enemies in a ring around him, enabling the team to continue capturing the point in overtime.

Lens of Cooperation – #44

The game has a built in voice chat system, which allows communication between players. Communication in Overwatch is essential and can be the determining factor in whether a team wins or loses a match. Given a typical Overwatch map, opportunities for flanks and alternative routes are open to both sides, and the location of a high-value target must be conveyed such that everyone in the team can start focusing fire. Support heroes, when flanked, can call for help and it is up to the other players in the team to respond accordingly. Losing a single teammate puts the entire team at a disadvantage, leaving the team in a 5 vs 6 situation.

The development team has also attempted to enhance cooperation between players in Overwatch by providing a “Looking for Group” feature, which allows players to match up with other groups who are looking for players which are good at playing specific roles.

Lens of Action – #31

On the surface, Overwatch might seem like a simple game, but there is underlying complexity within. Complementary team compositions, communication and synergy is all key to defeating opponents. The classic team composition follows a “2-2-2” structure, 2 Damage heroes, 2 Tank heroes, and 2 supports, and depending on which heroes are selected, determines the play-style of the entire team. The 2 most effective “2-2-2” team compositions are “Deathball” and “Dive. “Deathball”, which consist of the tanks “Reinhardt” and “Zarya”, with 2 close to medium ranged damage and support heroes, follows the playstyle where all 6 players stick close to one another and attempts to out-damage and steamroll the opposing team. “Dive” on the other hand, consist of the mobile tanks “Winston” and “Dva”, along with mobile, flanking damage heroes such as “Genji” and “Tracer”. This composition follows the play-style of aggressively jumping in and on top of exposed opponents or support heroes, but it requires more coordination between the damage heroes and tanks to focus a target.

A recent popular team composition that has surfaced is the unusual “3-3” composition, which are 3 tanks and 3 supports, known as the “GOATS” composition. It follows a similar play-style to “Deathball” but is even more aggressive and fast-paced in nature. The objective of a GOATS composition is to obtain ultimate abilities faster than the opposing team on top of out-damaging them.

Due to its effectiveness in competitive play and tournaments, attempts were recently made to reduce its effectiveness through hero balance changes, and to encourage other compositions and play-styles.

The ever-changing META (Most Effective Tactic Available) and balance changes are what keeps the game fresh and unique with every match, and with the inclusion of new, potentially META-changing heroes, ensures the longevity of the game.

Lens of Competition – #43

In competitive play, the game has a “Skill Rating” (SR) system, which assigns a numerical value to a player’s performance and ability within the game. The SR system ranges from 1 to 5000, and includes tiers in ranges, from Bronze tier ( 1 – 1499 ), to Grandmaster tier ( > 4000 ). On top of that, there is a leaderboard which shows the top 500 players in 3 different regions based on SR values, Americas, Asia and Europe.

Players are motivated to keep playing in competitive mode to reach a higher tier and obtain a higher SR value. Winning or losing a game will yield about 25 SR gain/loss on average. Players are also matched up based on similar SRs, to keep the game balanced. If the underlying algorithm thinks that a player belongs to a higher tier, it will start matching player into slightly more challenging games. Thus, the SR value allows for a numerical comparison of a player’s skill and ability between peers and other players, and for some, bragging rights. Players in higher tiers have another motivation of climbing into the highest ranks of being in the leaderboards. With every account, the game keeps track of the player’s highest SR obtained in his/her career.

Journey

Image result for journey game

Introduction

Journey is an indie adventure game by Thatgamecompany and was published by Sony on March 2012. It is currently available for the Playstation 3, 4, and Microsoft Windows. The game was made on PhyreEngine and has won several “game of the year” awards and has also been listed as one of the greatest games of all time.

Journey is an adventure game featuring a mysterious red-cloaked character who explores the ruins of a of a lost civilization in a vast desert. The main goal of the game is the reach the peak of a distant mountain by passing several levels. The game also features a multiplayer mode in which players on the same level may assist each other but may not communicate via voice chat, text, or see each other’s game tags until after the end of the game. Instead, the only mode of communication is a musical chime.

Story

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The main character

In Journey, the player must reach the peak of a distant mountain. Unlike other games, Journey‘s story is wordless and is only told through its gameplay, art, and cutscenes. The game explores the idea of the voyage of life and does so by contextualizing this voyage via the levels that lead up to the mountain. Each level is a representation of a part of life — the early levels are full of wonder, amazement, and discovery, symbolizing childhood. The later levels are filled with danger, anxiety, and act as a symbol of leaving childhood and into adulthood. The levels then become heavily focused on moving in an upward trajectory, indicating the quickening of time, closer to the end. As the player treks closer to the mountain, the slower the character grows before meeting death. After the ending credits, a shooting star shoots from the mountain and past the levels and back to the beginning where the player sees other robes characters heading toward the mountain.

Mechanics

Image result for journey game flying gif

Image result for journey game gifThe main features of the game is exploration via walking or brief flying. The game’s character features a magical scarf that allows the player to fly temporarily and is recharged by walking or some other means. Touching other glowing symbols scattered throughout the game allows the player to extend the scarf, thus extending its flight life.

Its multiplayer features allows the play with one other stranger (whose username is unknown until after the game’s credits). Players can help each other by completing puzzles together but ultimately, two players are not needed to complete the levels.

Aesthetics

Image result for journey game pink

The game’s aesthetics is largely composed of flat colors, largely in a softer color palette (teals, pinks, gold, etc.) Its art is similar to cel-shading, where the shadows and highlights are flat colors rather than gradients.

Image result for journey game gif

Example of Journey’s use of lighting

Much of the game’s art and colors are meant to evoke some emotion in the player and does not focus its art on realism but rather on evoking the overall theme. One big part of the game is its use of light in its art. Rather than a means to mimic realism and make objects visible, light is used as a medium to create a mood or atmosphere in the game. According to the levels, whether it is the early levels filled with wonder or the later daunting levels, the color of light used is constantly different according to the ambience the game wants to create. Journey‘s use of luminosity to subtly reflect off the clouds of sand in the distant desert or dimly light up the underground level is one that leaves an impact on the player’s mood.

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A more notable key factor of the game’s aesthetic is its use of simple and minimalistic design. There is little clutter throughout the game but instead emphasizes the idea of a vast, empty world. By doing this, the game puts its focus into creating scenes that look at the big picture rather than focusing on little details.

Technology

Journey runs on Playstation 3, 4, and Microsoft Windows. The game requires a minimum of Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.4 Ghz, Windows 7+, Nvidia GeForce GTX 470, and 5 GB of space.

Lens 3: Fun

Image result for journey game gif

Every level, there is always something new that encounters the character or a new landscape that leaves the player in awe. The game is filled with fun things to do. Even when the player is not exploring some daunting level, there is always room to explore the landscape and discover new things.

Lens 4: Curiosity

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The main feature of the game is to evoke curiosity in the player. This is probably my favourite aspect in the game – how the game is elicit curiosity in players.

The biggest way Journey does this is by putting the player in a never-ending landscape with little explicit guidance. Instead, there are little floating red carpet-like creatures than implicitly guide the players, but the player is never required to follow them. Being in such a massive land, the player is pressed to explore beyond the required path.

Lens 6: Problem Solving

Image result for journey game guardianEvery level has some sort of problem that the player must pass, whether it might be avoiding the Guardians (the enemies) or figuring out how to create a bridge between pillars. There is always some sort of puzzle to complete.

Lens 7: Emotion

Image result for journey game flying gif

One of the characteristics of Journey that make the game such an impactful experience is its way of creating emotion. The game does so by emphasizing select features of a game – art and storyline. The storyline is simple – the circle of life from beginning to end. But what makes the story such a profound experience is its art. With its use of clever colors and simple design, Journey’s overall gameplay is one that is able to effortlessly set and change the ambience of the game.

Related imageWhile most other games such as the Walking Dead, The Last of Us, etc. have strong storylines, the gameplay and the story is almost detached. Players don’t even need to play the game but instead simply watch a compilation of the cutscenes and still be able to feel emotion and grow attached to the protagonists. The gameplay in these games act as an additional support to make the stories interactive for players. In this sense, the two features are separate.

However, in Journey, gameplay and plotlines are intertwined together. One cannot work without the other. And this is done through its story told implicitly throughout the gameplay rather than cutting the story into cutscenes. The cutscenes in Journey, rather, are the supporting features but are not necessary in order to feel any attachment to the protagonist or to evoke emotion.

Image result for journey game gif

Overall,  Journey is just an amazing and beautiful game. Highly recommend, 11/10.

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http://thatgamecompany.com/journey/