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radiofloyd

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ABZÛ is an epic descent into the depths of the sea, where players will explore beautifully rendered ocean environments with fluid swimming controls. The experience draws inspiration from the deep innate narrative that we all carry within our subconscious: the story of ABZÛ is a universal myth that resonates across cultures. The name references a concept from the oldest mythologies; it is the combination of the two ancient words AB, meaning ocean, and ZÛ, meaning to know. ABZÛ is the ocean of wisdom.

 

http://www.abzugame.com/

 

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Anyway ABZÛ is an underwater adventure from the art director of Journey. I don't normally create threads for games after I've finished them, but ABZÛ is only two hours so it's kind of unavoidable. I haven't played Journey so I have no idea how similar it is to that, but in terms of "how much of a walking/swimming simulator" is it, I would say the game is pretty similar to Firewatch (and similar in terms of value for money, as impressive as both games are I'm still glad I bought them on sale and not full price).

 

Essentially in the game you swim through a series of rooms and corridors. There are collectibles to find and light gameplay elements to the game but really they are a negligible part of the experience. Occasionally the game has on rails sections where you are swept along with the current (or the game simply takes control away from you) and these are very impressive. In general, the entire game is impressive, and enjoyable to play. The music is beautiful, one of the best game soundtracks I've ever heard.

 

Like I said in my Steam review, of the four indie games I've completed this year (ABZÛ, Firewatch, Hyper Light Drifter and Oxenfree), ABZÛ would be my favourite. One of the reasons I like it is that it reminded me of the underwater levels in Spyro (and the ambient music reminded me of Spyro). Another reason is that it is an uplifting game, which is pretty rare. I think this would be a good game for parents to play with their children. I give it 8/10.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

played through Abzu today, it's good. I went in kind of blind to it so I wasn't entirely sure what it was, at least not until after I'd bought it. I can see the Journey comparisons because it's that team (ish), but it actually plays more like Flower. There's chunks of game world you open up, even moments where you're dragged through at speed picking up petals/fish along the way. I loved Flower so I'm not entirely surprised I liked this

 

It doesn't go quite where I thought it was going to, and it's kind of a shame they didn't explore a more horror aspect to the ocean. It's got a good story though, it does a good job of telling you it without any language, and I don't think you ever get the 'why', but it's enough to keep you interested

 

The main thing is how it looks, I ran it at 4k, the framerate suffered a little but it's a really pretty game. The appeal is the colours and art style I think, so I'm not sure the extra pixels really add that much. I got a bit tired of the indulgent aspect, viewing the fish and collecting things, but all in all I think it deserves the attention its got this year

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  • 5 months later...

Played and finished this earlier, took me about 90 minutes.

 

Very much reminded me of Journey, the soundtrack is absolutely incredible, almost brought me to tears on a number of occasions and is incredibly moving.

 

Just swimming about the seas with the various sea life was fantastically wonderful and awe inspiring, especially as someone who loves David Attenborough's Blue Planet and documentary's like that, it was just fantastic swimming about in that environment, being so deep under the sea, a whole other alien world.

 

The way they encapsulate the swimming shawls of fishes and other sea life is just uncanny too, the way the fish move and everything, the beauty just astounded me at times.

 

Obviously the game reminded me of Journey an awful lot, but the flow and ending just weren't the same, the puzzles really let the momentum down in the middle and the ending wasn't anywhere near as powerful as Journey.

 

The soundtrack was definitely the highlight, but the beauty of the sea was also fantastic too. Definitely worth playing but I definitely would've felt gypped if I'd paid more than £5 for it myself.

 

Some pics:

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

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