grumpclump:

radioactivesupersonic:

I’ve been thinking a lot about the game Abzu recently and it is…. really just an absolutely wonderful game that I highly recommend. It’s short, by the same people who did Journey, dialogue-less and you can play through it in a day, easily though there are rewards for poking around.

Things I’ll say in it’s favor:

• Overwhelmingly a very tranquil experience. There is a particular level / section that is intentionally a little stressful but not unplayably so. An EXCELLENT game if you like to prod around and explore.
• There are a lot of fun little options you have that don’t really serve a gameplay purpose but are adorable. Sing a little song with beeps, do flips, leap out of the water or whoosh around with a trail of excited fish following you, hitch rides on large sea creatures. It’s wonderful.
• Visually gorgeous environment rendered in real time, so- kelp sways and fish swim actively reacting to you and your actions and what you do. Predatory fish will even (bloodlessly) snap up prey from time to time and there are stations of the game where you’re encouraged to just sit and watch them go.
• Simple, intuitive controls and sleek movement.
• Your main playable Diver character has headlights on her helmet that look like kitty ears.
• Do you love sharks? Do you wish sharks weren’t demonized? This game is full of sharks that are, like all other sea creatures in the game, not dangerous to you. A Great White appears at several points and appears to menace you once, but has perfectly good reasons for acting the way it does and is framed as ultimately not just sympathetic, but in an incredibly heroic light.
• It has a fantastic sound track.

• This is a screenshot, and not from a cutscene, either:

The only caveats I’d put forth is animal death (aforementioned predatory fish eating, though basically all you see is them move suddenly and snap their jaws and the slain animal dissolves in white sparkles, as well as one other scene which is still bloodless but does have a body) and the first appearance of the Great White can be a mild jumpscare (if you want an advance warning, it’s early in the game, when you arrive at a large drop-off, and one of your drones swims ahead of you and turns back- the shark will appear and crunch the drone in its teeth before swimming off)

TL;DR please play Abzu or watch a playthrough of it I love this game.

Also there’s an island of bunnies.