Game EXP: ABZÛ (NS)

I had known about ABZÛ for a while now in that I knew that it was worked on by a number of people who also worked on the 2012 release of Journey (whom specifically at Giant Squid that worked on Journey I did not know until the writing of this article) and that there was a focus more on the player experience and exploration than a more traditional video game (a la Breath of the Wild or DOOM), but that was what I was wanting after getting a little frustrated with my puzzle-solving skills in Neverout.  I just wanted a game where I could swim in 360 degrees and listen to some gorgeous music, and this is precisely what I got.  I knew that there were going to be some graphical downgrades on the Switch port, partly because it is a Switch port, but also because I was playing in handheld, but the only real downgrade I noticed was during the last part of the game when the music crescendoed to the point that it started to sound like it was blowing out the speakers on the Switch.  Plus, unless you were making direct side-by-side comparisons with another port of ABZÛ then there is a good chance you may not have been able to tell the difference.  Maybe.

But ABZÛ was not all swimming from one environment to another environment as there was a story being told, and I admit that the finer parts of the story were lost a bit on me.  I understand that there was the elimination of "man-made" modernization from the pristine oceans, similar to Saruman's destruction of Fangorn Forest to fuel his machines of war, but beyond that, I think, I am not clear.  Somewhat.  Throughout the game, you uncover small swimming machine-things that allow you to access to additional areas, although these are lost when you swim through fast-moving streams.  And then while you are in these streams, you can swim through small schools of fish that flash and swim along with you for a brief time, but I could not determine what the point or outcome of this was.

There are large open rooms filled with paintings and bas-reliefs of whatever species the player character is that bring to mind Egyptian artwork (because I am not art educated) that hint at a history that I would want to explore more.  Not (yet) having played Journey, but having seen a number of the environments, there were a lot of instances where it felt like I might have been swimming through flooded locations from that game.  Structures and buildings submerged underwater for who knows how long, either before or after the machine cartel took over.  I have also read that some people felt that ABZÛ was too derivative of Journey and that Journey is a superior game, but not having (yet) played Journey, I see no reason to take ABZÛ on its own merits.

There were two instances of a similar mechanic that I at first thought was very cool, and then slightly disappointed by.  As you swim around, the ocean becomes more and more populated by various species of sea creatures.  In one instance I was observing one type of fish (a Blobfish) and along came a Black Scabbard Fish and ate the Blobfish.  To see an interaction like this just happen was very cool, so a while later when I looked up and saw a pod of Sperm Whales swimming towards a giant squid, I was hoping for either a showdown or for one of the creatures to react to the other in some epic clash of the titans-type event.  Apparently, the game was not even aware that these two creatures were meeting because the whale passed through the squid without so much of a by your leave.  I could chalk it up to limitations on the port to the Switch, but I really think that it just ended up being that the squid was never meant to interact with other creatures who were not Sperm Whales as I saw this happen to them on more than one occasion.

You know what, this article is going to get away from me or I am just going to be speculative the whole time and sound like I do not (already) know what I am talking about, so I am going to sum up.

ABZÛ was a beautiful experience that did translate very well to the Switch.  There were some scripted moments, but the majority of them felt very natural so it was like I was actively watching something very cool happen, like I stumbled upon it, even if there was no way to avoid it.  I did have questions, primarily relating to gameplay mechanics and their meaning, but nothing that made me feel that the game was broken in any way.  So here are a bunch of screenshots I took.

ABZÛ was a game that I very much enjoyed, and finishing it just over two-and-a-half hours, it was a nice and mostly relaxing experience and the fact that there was an in-game "Meditate" mechanic should speak volumes about what this game was trying to accomplish.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

A Shrouded Presence