ABZÛ

Calling this a game feels wrong. This doesn't have much gameplay. This is an interactive experience and it nails that beautifully. You won't find amazing puzzles or challenging movement, but you will find beautiful scenes and charming creatures. This is not a game but it's an experience I highly recommend for anyone even slightly interested.

Incredibly gorgeous game, super immersive with an amazing atmosphere that's both calming and relaxing as well as purely terrifying at the same time, especially if you have a fear of the deep sea, even without that, whenever I'd have to go deeper into the darkness of the water, I felt my heart sink as well. There are no complex mechanics or challenging components to the game, but it's totally worth playing purely for the satisfying experience, breathtaking visuals, and beautiful soundtrack. It's also pretty short at around 2 hours, maybe double that if you're going for all the achievements, so it doesn't really have time to start feeling boring or a drag to keep playing.
Also, even though the game strongly recommends playing with a controller, if you don't own one or don't want to play with one, the mouse and keyboard controls are perfectly fine, and you should have no issue playing the game without a controller.

I'll be honest with you, ABZU is probably what something some people might call a swimming simulator or what people like me call it Journey but what if SEA,
There's not much to do in the game rather than explore, you are pressing like 2 buttons to interact and there's no combat really, no oxygen bar, no health no stress at all, and ABZU doesn't advertises a combat game either, but what it does advertises is being able to swim in a beautiful ocean with fishes and getting lost in it.
Well I'm happy to announce, ABZU is every bit excellent at what it does advertises itself as.. a swim in a mysterious ocean, discovering some lost civilisation ruins and just pure joy and wonder, and looks gorgeous while being at it.
It's not a combat game or a challenging game, you can beat the whole thing in an evening, you can even hand your kid controller and they'll finish it, and they'll love every second of it.
Because ABZU at it's core is a love letter to sea exploration and wonder, joy and curiosity we felt as a kid or what our inner child feels, so if you're someone fascinated by the ocean, pick it up and dive it.. you'll not regret it.
If you want something more flashing or survival elements play subnautica instead, this is more free-flow exploration of the mysterious sea akin to Journey.

I think ABZÛ is trying to say that humanity lives in contrast with nature, and that we negatively affect our ecosystem. Humanity has the power to either make or break nature and the technology we’ve invented, while it currently clashes with nature can also be used to heal and repair the damage we've caused as a society.
The great white shark in the game is symbolic too and I think it personally is a great representation of how media shows sharks. At first, you “fear” it, or at least treat it with distance, but slowly you realise you're not actively against it. The shark ends up being shown not as a bloodthirsty monster, but as a caring animal.
So, I think ABZÛ is ultimately saying that humanity has to take responsibility for the destruction we caused both directly, and indirectly (through the way media has portrayed the ocean.) The sea isn’t scary, it’s not full of monsters, it’s just an ecosystem, one that we are responsible for destroying.
Regardless, I would like to end this with that this game is visually stunning and deeply relaxing; but I do have one issue. I do not particularly like the music, it feels too grand and too stimulating for the environment its trying to represent. But I digress.
I strongly recommend getting ABZÛ.

I had pretty high expectations going into ABZÛ after seeing all the photos and reviews but honestly, it still managed to surprise me. Playing it felt like being transported somewhere else entirely. It’s such a calming, beautiful experience. The visuals, the music, the way you get to swim alongside all kinds of sea creatures it all felt so peaceful. The only thing that threw me off a bit was the keyboard controls. So I’d definitely recommend using a controller for a smoother experience. ♡

This was a pleasant surprise. I had played ABZU a couple of years ago for the incredible runtime of approximately 10 minutes before putting it down. Somehow, the game managed to bore me to death rather quickly. Looking back now, I guess I just wasn’t in the right head space when I first tried playing this. Maybe I was looking for a different kind of experience or whatever but no matter the case, I’m glad I came back and gave it another whirl. For about one afternoon (something close to 2h max), I had a chill, almost meditative time with ABZU which is just what I needed (and some of you reading this probably do too).
All you basically do in this game is diving and exploring the underwater world of an alien planet that somewhat resembles our own. The ocean in ABZU is a fantastical place. Swarms of fish have made it their home, coral reefs are a beautiful sight to behold and the remnants of an old, forgotten civilization can still be found deep in the water. The water itself is vibrant, it radiates with an azure glow and when it is touched by light, it explodes into this breathtaking scenery of orange and gold colors. The plants are moving slowly in the underwater current, the sunlight is breaking through the water’s surface…the world of ABZU is magnificent.
This vibe of a rich and vivid world is underscored by yet another sublime soundtrack by none other than the goat himself – Austin Wintory. I don’t know how he does it but whenever this dude sits down to compose a soundtrack for a game, the result is pretty much guaranteed to be magical. His work here is very Journey-coded of course, ABZU makes no secret of the fact that it is very much inspired by that game. It’s no surprise that the director worked on Journey as well and you can see that in the game’s core game loop, its fundamental progression and overall vibe too.
Not everything in ABZU is as lively and beautiful as it seems at first. There is a darkness that has taken hold of this world. As you progress through the game, you come across sections of the ocean that seem cut off from the rest of the world. They are engulfed in darkness, lifeless and drab. It is your task you revitalize those sections and bring back the light.
What exactly your role in this world is, where you come from and what caused this darkness in the first place remains rather obscure for the majority of the game. Every now and again, you find frescoes depicting the lore of the world and hinting at your heritage as well as the calamity that befell the world of ABZU. It remains rather abstract throughout the game and leaves just enough room for interpretation which I really enjoyed. It is up to you whether you take the story presented to you at face value or if you choose to regard it as a metaphor for something else, maybe something that is very much happening in our own world as well. Later on, the game becomes much clearer and there is a sort of clever and to some extent even touching twist with regards to your role as the player. I have to admit that I was actually quite moved by this kind of storytelling with a human twist which I didn’t expect at all.
Sadly, I never fully got a grasp on the game’s controls. You are moving freely in an underwater environment for most of the game and if you ever played any game with a diving section, you are probably aware of the challenges with regards to the movement in such environments. ABZU lets you choose between normal and inverted controls for the player and the camera separately. This is neat but none of the configurations felt great to me. I don’t know what it was but moving through this world was more of a struggle than a smooth ride which is a shame because it prevented me from getting fully immersed in this gorgeous world.
The game allows you to swim in tandem with the various inhabitants of the sea which is the coolest thing ever. You can hop onto the back of a turtle or hang onto a shark(!) and, depending on the animal you ride with, they behave differently. You can dash through the water with a small and agile fish friend or you can choose to take it slow by hanging onto a big whale; it’s really cool how unique every animal controls. I just wish I had gotten a hold of the game’s controls better so that I could have enjoyed these sections more.
This personal grievance aside, ABZU is a treat. It’s impressive on an audiovisual level, the story is understated but thematically coherent as well as metaphorical in nature and the vibe and flow of the game are quite meditative. I struggled with the controls a lot and I do have to admit that, despite its short runtime, the game overstays its welcome a tiny bit towards the end. Ultimately, ABZU didn’t quite grab me in a way Journey did, but it is enough to stand on its own and carve its own, unique path. Fans of Journey and similar “walking-sim-typey” games, that are more focused on meditative vibes and exploration and less on narrative experiences, should absolutely check this game out.

This game perfectly proves that games don't need photorealistic graphics to be stunning, this game beats most of them when it comes to visuals