ABZU is an open world adventure game where you play as a diver traveling through the deep sea discovering ancient relics and mysterious technology, with a sense you’re being followed.
The game is absolutely gorgeous, with beautiful art and soundtrack. You definitely need to explore around to enjoy all of the scenery art and the creature art. I will say that after awhile I started to get a headache from some parts of the game being very bright, but that didn’t change my impression of how beautiful the game is.
You spend the game feeling followed, whether it is the robots that help open areas or the shark, with his unknown intentions. The game’s story is done so subtly but as you progress, you begin to connect the dots and see who the bad guy is.
This game is very almost too subtle though because it can be interpreted so many ways, and even when looking up what the game’s story is after finishing, I still didn’t get a clear answer. I can be part of the enjoyment to interpret the story with what you gather from the game.
My largest frustration with this game is the controls for keyboard and mouse are horrible, and probably the reason that when I first finished the game I was relieved and kind of hated it. To be fair, on the Steam store page, they strongly recommend a controller to play. I, however, got the game through Humble Bundle and not directly the Steam store, so I didn’t know that. Save yourself and play with controller.
The game only runs at about 2 hours, depending on how much achievement hunting you’re interested in. The quicker gameplay is nice since there is no audio or explicit story involved.
If you enjoy beautiful game art, subtle storytelling, and relaxing (with a controller) gameplay, I do recommend ABZU. It is currently $20 on Steam, which is a bit much for my taste so I’d buy on sale or through service like Humble Bundle or for a discount on Green Man Gaming.
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Sounds like an awesome game, like Journey only with an ocean twist. I’ve actually reviewed that game on my blog, if you want to check it out.
I first heard about this game wandering through video game reviews on YouTube, and it really does look beautiful, and the soundtrack is very good for writing/meditation. It reminds me of a Wii game called Endless Ocean, and the sequel, Endless Ocean Blue World. I would say one of my favorite relaxation board games is Journey. It has such a wonderful minimalist narrative, and the mix of runes and sandy deserts create some very nice shapes. Granted once I play Abzu that may become my new go to relaxation game. The ocean has such wonderful shapes to its ecosystems.
Abzu was the first game I completed this year, and I absolutely loved it! I had no idea about the keyboard and mouse issues since I played on PS4. It’s too bad the experience was marred by that for you. To be fair, I still have some trouble swimming with a PS4 controller though, but that could be me more than the controls!
Maybe their swim controls are just mentally backwards haha