My Favourite Journeys in Gaming.

Every time I buy a game I tend to get giddier than a schoolboy after stealing a bottle of his Dad’s whiskey. That same giddiness occurs whenever I see the beginning of a game I’ve completed.

I’m excited because of the journey I am about to embark on, and if it’s a game that I’ve completed, when I start it again I think about the end of that epic yarn and say to myself “This is where it all started. I know what’s coming, but this is where it all began.”

I could talk about the beginnings of these journeys, like the beginning of Fallout 3 where you step out of  the vault for the first time and see the vast expanse of wasteland before you for the first time (which I am not too proud to admit, genuinely frightened me on my premier play through).

However this article is about my favourite journeys in full, so I will be taking the end of  them very much into consideration, and I will begin with the appropriately named Journey. This simple game has one goal: Get from point A to point B. There is no dialogue except for the odd little sounds that your character creates. This simplicity allows for so much of your own interpretation of the story arc that your own projections cement an emotional attachment to, not just your character, but the game itself. The settings are beautiful throughout, and the end (which I shall not spoil) is a real tearjerker…and I’m a sucker for tearjerkers.

Another journey that I rate highly because of its emotional content (though not the weepy kind this time) is Alan Wake. Now I’m not usually someone who enjoys games in the horror genre (while playing F.E.A.R. I had to play it in ten minute segments and would only play it while listening to Anberlin’s album, Cities), but the journey for this game was what kept me hooked. It is really clever how Remedy are able to have the player mimic the emotions of Wake consistently through the game; at the beginning the ‘taken’  are terrifying enemies but by the end of  the game it is no longer terror I felt when they appeared, just a strong desire to overcome them as an obstacle and as I said before it was this element that ranks this game highly in my esteem and in my favourite journeys in gaming.

The final game I will mention is (if you visit this site often) no surprise, as I believe I mention the series at least once every article, and that series is Fallout. The game? Fallout: New Vegas, specifically with the DLC. Why with the DLC? One word. Ulysses. I followed the clues about his existence from the moment I received the collector’s edition box with concept art playing cards. After playing the game I found out that apart from the cards there was no reference to him anywhere (except for in , and that is when I began to stalk him and his trail. From the reference to him right at the beginning of the game in Primm, to the mention of your future battle with him in Dead Money, to being mistaken for him in Honest Hearts, to stalking his trail in Old World Blues, to the final conflict with him in Lonesome Road. Admittedly I may be so in love with this journey because of the time I spent researching it, but surely the journey isn’t just the game, it includes elements outside of it like your social life, emotions and attitude. Ulysses’ story was what provided me with the most enjoyable overall journey.

It’s hard to gleam some sort of deep insight from an article about journeys. I’ve already said that a games journey isn’t just the game itself but what emotions it conjures, the way it causes you to interact with other people and how it challenges your attitude towards various things, whether they are in game or not. I think that rather than challenging a concept or teaching a valuable life lesson from this article, I would like to say, find at least one game that you can receive a full immersive experience from and love it!

I’ll see you at the beginning again.