We’re no longer swimming, we’re floating among the stars. I wanted to capture that feeling of being completely struck by this fantastical world without having the kind of limitations you would have if you were trying to simulate all the gear.”īut, just for argument’s sake, what does it all mean? At times, “Abzu” will shift from an underwater scene to one in seemingly another galaxy. You are completely absorbed by this adventure that you’re in. “Once you’re in the water, the weight of all that gear is nothing. “It allows you to enter this world that you aren’t allowed access to any way,” Nava says. Nava says his primary aim was allowing those playing the game on a couch to feel transported to the sensation of scuba diving. The story, as it exists within “Abzu’s” abstract tropes, is one that few if any players will probably ever decipher. The joy of “Abzu” comes in forever wondering what’s around the corner, or getting caught in a current led by sharks and not knowing where it will lead. While abstract worlds themselves are nothing new to the still-growing medium (see “Myst”), games such as “Journey” and “Abzu” want to evoke an emotion rather than inspire brainteasers. “Abzu,” available for Sony’s PlayStation 4 and home computers, lets go too of the notion of puzzles. I had just taken it for granted that all games have ‘hit points’ and you’ll have a ‘game over’ screen if you mess up, that you’re going to be running, jumping and shooting guns.” It allowed the player to put themselves in that world. To me, the effect was that it was very transported. It didn’t have a lot text or elements that remind you that you’re in a video game. It didn’t use a lot of the typical mechanics you see in games. “Flower,” he added, “was just this game that was very elegant, in a way. “It was such a simple idea,” Nava says, noting his favorite game as a child had been Nintendo’s “Super Mario 64.” The Ojai-native didn’t set out to be a video game designer - he studied 3-D animation at Otis College of Art & Design - but says a chance meeting with Thatgamecompany founder Jenova Chen forever altered his career ambitions. “Abzu” was born from Nava’s love of scuba diving. It’s a very natural and organic train of thought and progression.” Here’s a little idea that’s played with for a moment, and then it sets up a new idea that’s completely new and unrelated.
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“Not to be a nerdy classical musician,” Wintory says, “but when you look at a piece like the ‘Rite of Spring’ by Stravinsky, that is a piece that is totally non-developmental, meaning there is no theme that we keep hearing over and over again that evolves and develops.
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The result is a game that’s constantly in motion, even if the end goal is never spelled out. A small, pensive string section bends into more surrealistic harps. Here, the pleasure in “Abzu” is partly in how musical the game feels - different reefs or odd, underwater temples trigger different melodies. They’re all part of a wave of games where tone, mood and experience take precedence. See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour »
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No surprise - they were created by the local studio Thatgamecompany, where Nava worked before starting Giant Squid. “Abzu” is closest to the indie sensations “Flower” and “Journey,” in a which a petal or a robed figure float through digital canvases on metaphorical excursions. It looks and behaves like a video game but has little in common with most. It’s an abstract, poetic idea of what a video game can be.”
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“That’s a very abstract, poetic definition, but that’s kind of what ‘Abzu’ is in terms of a video game. “One way to define a story, I guess, is as an evolving curve of events and moods strung together,” says Matt Nava, Giant Squid’s 30-year-old founder and the game’s creator. It’s an abstract, poetic idea of what a video game can be.