A Journey Down is a throwback to old school point and click games. It’s broken down into three chapters, all of which are available right now in the Trilogy Bundle. Should you choose to buy individually, only chapter one is currently live on the store. While the messaging around the release could have been clearer, I’m happy to report that the game itself is a real gem. These point and click games aren’t for everyone and may not appeal to younger gamers, but there is definitely an audience for this title and I’m here to tell you not to let it fly under the radar.
The game starts with Bwana and Kito, two young adults who find themselves wrapped up in a mystery about the Underworld and the disappearance of their adopted father Kaonandodo. This is a hard review to write. It would be easy to sit here and break down the story of all three chapters but I don’t want to give anything away as with all these types of games, the story is the main hook.
You may notice a few subtle changes throughout the three chapters of the game. This is because of the large periods of time between each chapter when it initially released on PC. Chapter one dropped back in 2010 as freeware, but then got a HD upscale with some added locations and puzzles in 2012. Chapter two was then released two years later in 2014 and finally after a successful Kickstarter campaign chapter three released in 2017.
Voice acting for the most part is good. Bwana and most of his comrades are Jamaican. At first the strong accents felt a little forced and jarring, but quickly bed in and fit the characters. It’s a nice choice by the developers as it feels like an under-represented area of the world in video games. The locations chosen for the game are varied, aside from chapter one which at times can feel more like a teaser than a third of the overall package.
If you are familiar with point and click games you won’t be shocked to hear there aren’t any difficulty options. For the most part the puzzles are logical and don’t take too much time to work out, although I confess there was a moment or two in each chapter where I had to consult a guide to advance the story. This is not necessarily the fault of the game as I don’t remember the last game of this ilk that I did manage without help. I would recommend only consulting a guide if you start to get frustrated though, as the joy of figuring out the puzzles and combining of items yourself is really satisfying.
Upon starting A Journey Down I instantly got Grim Fandango vibes from the aesthetic. This feeling stayed with me throughout all three chapters and gave me almost a nostalgic feeling for a game I had never played before. It’s not hard to see the influence of the LucasArts game, which shows how invested the development team were in this. It’s a labour of love. If you are going to use a game for inspiration, use the best! And Grim Fandango is one of the finest point and click games ever made.
Now let’s talk about the trophies. There’s no platinum here. Instead we have three separate lists, one for each chapter. Because of the strange release method, at first only the first chapters trophies were syncing on PSN. Over the following week the other two lists went live so you shouldn’t have any issues now. It’s disappointing to see the game not come with a plat, but aside from that it is an interesting list. In episode one you have a time based trophy; Complete the game in 40 minutes or less. The other two chapters, presumably because they are longer and more involved ditch that and stick with a mix of story related and misc objective trophies.
Overall it’s a good list, but had it been wrapped up in the one package with a platinum trophy the game would have sold substantially more copies. It’s something development teams need to realise and take seriously. Games like My Name is Mayo and Mr. Massagy wouldn’t have sold more than 10 copies without a platinum, but they put it in and sold over 100,000 combined.
The other potential issue holding back this titles success on console is the price. Chapter one comes in at a reasonable £7.99 and the Trilogy Bundle costs £32.99. At this point you would be forgiven for thinking something is wrong here. By this math you could buy the three episodes separately for much less than what the trilogy costs. Well from what I am led to believe Chapter one being £7.99 is an introductory price and also because it’s the shortest of the three. Chapters two and three are set to cost around £15 each when they release separately over the next few weeks.
The cost is a real barrier to entry and I can see many waiting for a price drop, but his is a great game and one that I highly recommend to anyone who has an interest in the point and click genre. If you would like to see more of these games, put your money where your mouth is and support the developers. This will allow them to continue making great experiences for us going forward. I for one am routing for Skygoblin and can’t wait to see what they come up with next.
-VDZE
A review code for this product was kindly provided by the publisher. Reviewed on PS4 Slim.
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