Abzû

Abzû, an adventure game developed by Giant Squid, has a similar proposal to the last title directed by Matt Nava, Journey: to tell a touching story almost exclusively through exploration, traversal, and interaction with the environment.

In Abzû, the player controls a mysterious diver (their face is hidden in shadows inside a mask) who is alone in the open sea, right at the entrance of the ruins of an ancient civilization. Your goal is to uncover the history of the place and discover information about the protagonist’s identity.

Nava faithfully follows the formula used in his previous game: Abzû uses a cel-shaded graphic style to present an environment rich in color, makes the path to the goal very linear to facilitate the inclusion of a very dynamic and orchestrated soundtrack, and develops a story that mixes mysticism and technology.

The game’s narrative creates a kind of symbiosis between the protagonist and the environment. There is a mutually supportive relationship between the aquatic animals and the protagonist: while one of the few actions available to the player is to “activate” small corals to “release” new fish into the ocean, bringing life back to it, the animals often return the favor, guiding the diver through the endless vastness of the ocean –there’s a moment, for instance, when the protagonist will swim alongside gigantic whales, following their path through the ocean.

The story is developed from the careful exploration of the environment. By finding pictures in submerged ruins and analyzing other elements of the scenery, the player starts to form their own theories about what happened to the place. The themes discussed here are the most varied, given the multiplicity of interpretations: the game leaves room for discussions about the cycle of life, the force and dominion of nature – which, after all, surrounds the remains of a dead civilization –, and even some more surprising subjects, such as the existence of souls in machines.

The dynamism of the soundtrack is one of the most important elements in the narrative since it keeps adding emotion to the protagonist’s journey. At a certain moment, after following a group of orcas, the protagonist jumps out of the water in synchrony with them, while the music reaches its peak. However, when they return to the water, the orcas disappear and the player finds themselves in an environment devoid of animal life, color, and energy: the soundtrack, then, accompanies the movement of the scene and disappears along with the orcas, intensifying the effect of sudden desolation.

As in Journey, Nava also deserves credit for working well with the surreal, creating impressive images: after crossing certain portals, for instance, the diver arrives at a mystical place, where animal spirits move by their side and the surface of the ocean is below them instead of on top. The character seems to float in a void, surrounded only by stars and spirits.

In contrast to these moments, there are those when the diver comes across technological devices that threaten them, despite dazzling the player with their alien look and functioning. There is one political commentary that stands out amidst the discoveries about the dead civilization in the game: without revealing details, it is enough to point out that their fall is thematically related to the attempt to control nature.

The dramatic core of Abzû is the war between technology and nature; a conflict that becomes even more complex as the player starts to understand the protagonist’s real motivations and identity, and the connection between the diver and a great white shark starts to strengthen.

Nava, however, fails to make the gameplay very engaging. The main problem is the contrast between the great attention given to marine life and the scarce possibilities of interaction with it. On the one hand, the player is encouraged to “meditate”, which takes the camera away from the protagonist, with the objective of observing the AI of the fish at work – they react to the presence of other shoals, eating each other back and forth. On the other hand, the only direct action that can be performed with the animals is to take a ride on some of the bigger fish, letting them take the protagonist around the locales. Therefore, by not letting the player work together with the animals not even to solve the few puzzles in the game, Nava ends up missing the opportunity to further explore one of the main themes of the story and reinforce the connection between the diver and nature.

By unnecessarily removing Journey‘s multiplayer component without offering anything in its place, the Giant Squid team also err by making even simpler a formula that has never been much complex to begin with. It’s true that that multiplayer element related much more to the theme of that game’s story than to this one, but its absence only reinforces the feeling that there’s something missing in Abzû.

Finally, it’s worth pointing out the notable difference regarding the connection between player and protagonist in both games. In Journey, the silent character serves as an avatar, since their narrative arc is built in general terms, and the character seems to learn about that universe alongside the player. The Abzû’s diver, on the other hand, is a mystery to the player from the very start: they have their own secret identity and distinct story. The diver doesn’t serve as an avatar to the player but is a properly defined character – even if a silent one.

Abzû follows Journey’s structure very closely, albeit with a much simpler design, and presents a story as fantastical and fascinating as the one in that game.

May 02, 2020.

Review originally published in Portuguese on August 25, 2016.