A Review of Journey - For a Little While, We Weren’t Alone
A quiet game about walking. And loss. And longing. And something deep beneath it all that doesn’t quite let go.
Led, Not Chosen
I didn’t exactly choose to play Journey—it found me. Or rather, someone led me there. A friend, gently nudging me toward something they knew would stay with me, even if I didn’t know it at the time. And so, I went along with it. No expectations. No agenda. Just a vague sense of curiosity and a willingness to be shown something new.
That’s how Journey begins, really. Not with urgency or spectacle, but with silence and space. You wake in a golden desert, surrounded by stillness. There are no instructions, no dialogue, no markers. Just wind. Sand. Light. The landscape stretches before you like a breath you haven’t taken yet.
It feels quiet, but not empty. Simple, but not shallow. There’s a calmness to it—but also anticipation. You get the sense that something important is going to happen, but not in the way games usually handle “important.” There are no boss fights, no choices to make, no skills to upgrade. You’re just… there. Moving forward. One step at a time.
Finding Each Other
The first time I played Journey, I broke the rules—technically. I played it with a friend. We tried several times to sync up and land in the same lobby, and when we finally did, it was genuinely lovely. That simple act of finding each other in such a vast, lonely space was unexpectedly comforting. The quiet joy of reunion in the middle of nowhere.
I followed them without question. They knew the game. I didn’t. And I found that I liked being led. There was a sense of safety in it, and something else too—a tenderness in the way we developed a shared language. One made up entirely of movement, waiting, small jumps and gliding pings. No talking. Just being near each other. Moving together.
We had nothing but sand and sky and the sound of our footsteps, and yet it felt like we were saying so much. I think that’s what I loved most about it—that wordless communication. A private language that no one else would understand. And in that, something beautiful happened: I felt connected. Deeply connected. More than I’d felt in a long time.
I’ve played it since, the proper way. Alone. No names. Just me and another anonymous traveller crossing the dunes. And that, too, was profound. There’s something uniquely affecting about sharing space with a stranger, knowing nothing about them, but trusting them anyway. You walk together because you can. You stay near because it feels right. And when they wait for you—when they double back, when they don’t leave you behind—it’s oddly moving. Two people with no reason to care, choosing to care anyway.
The Emotional Landscape
On the surface, Journey is a game about movement—gliding, climbing, floating through beautiful environments. But what it’s really about is companionship. The invisible thread that forms between two people who simply choose to be present with one another.
As the game progresses, your relationship with that unnamed companion deepens without you even realising it. There’s no bonding moment. No dramatic event that cements your connection. It happens slowly, naturally—through shared struggle, through mutual care, through the sheer act of not leaving each other behind.
And underneath it all is a quiet ache. You don’t realise it at first, but Journey is about walking toward your own death. That mountain in the distance? That’s where you’re headed. Every moment, every leap, every glide—it's all moving you closer to the end. And still, you go. Together.
Along the way, you find glowing symbols—fragments of life. You use them to extend your scarf, to soar a little higher, to push a little further. And you hide from machines that threaten to tear you apart before you’re ready. The world is beautiful, but it’s not without danger. The journey is magical, but it’s also not always easy.
And through all of it, your companion is there. There’s no promise that they will be. They could leave at any moment. But they stay—they wait when you fall behind, circle back when you lose your way—they matter. They stay with you. And you stay with them.
The End, and the Flight
The final ascent is brutal. The world turns white and grey. The wind roars. Your movements slow. You push forward, but every step feels heavier. Your scarf freezes. Your body hunches. You fall. You keep going. And then—inevitably—you collapse.
But death isn’t the end. Not in Journey. In that moment of collapse, you’re lifted. Transcended. You rise—not as a burdened body, but as something lighter. Freer. You soar.
That final flight is, without question, one of the most emotionally affecting sequences I’ve ever experienced in a game. After all the weight, all the trudging and hiding and hoping—you fly. With your companion beside you, you dance through the air. The distance between you widens, but somehow, the closeness deepens. It’s not about proximity. It’s about presence. And presence, finally, feels like freedom.
It’s joyful. It’s graceful. It’s a kind of release I didn’t know I needed. And then—it ends.
Coming Back
When I came back to the real world, I felt sad. Not in a dramatic, tear-streaked kind of way—just a quiet melancholy. The sort that lingers.
The connection I’d felt—the intimacy, the shared rhythm, the quiet companionship—it was gone. And I realised how much I’d been pretending I didn’t need it. I’d told myself that I was fine on my own. That closeness was optional. That I didn’t need anyone to walk beside me.
But Journey made me feel something I hadn’t felt in a long time. Something soft. Something true. It gave me a glimpse of the kind of connection I long for in real life—the kind where you’re simply allowed to be beside someone without explanation.
And when it was gone, I missed it.
That absence—that longing—was the game’s most unexpected gift. Because once you feel that kind of presence, once you know what it’s like to be held in silent companionship, you can’t pretend it doesn’t matter. You can’t pretend you’re better off without it.
What It Leaves Behind
Journey didn’t fill a gap—it revealed it. It held up a mirror to a part of me I usually avoid. The part that wants to be seen. Not for what I do, or what I say—but simply for being there. For moving. For staying.
It reminded me that silence doesn’t have to be lonely. That wordlessness doesn’t mean emptiness. That connection isn’t always loud or obvious. Sometimes it’s just someone waiting at the edge of a dune, looking back to make sure you’re still coming.
Since that first play-through, I’ve returned to Journey again and again. Not for novelty. Not even for comfort. But for the feeling. The reminder. The truth that I do want closeness. That I do feel better when I’m not walking alone. That there is beauty in being beside someone, even for a short while, even if you never get to truly know who they are.
Would I Recommend It?
Yes. Without hesitation.
If you can, play it with someone you care about. It will deepen something between you, wordlessly and quietly, in a way you won’t expect. And if you play it with a stranger, it might show you something about yourself that therapy hasn’t quite reached yet.
I wouldn’t spoil the game with too much explanation. I’d only offer one bit of advice: be open. Let it do what it wants to do. Don’t try to figure it out while it’s happening. Just move. Just feel.
Let yourself be led. Or let yourself lead.Â
One Last Thought
Journey is short. A couple of hours, maybe. But it doesn’t leave lightly.
It’s not a game that fades once the credits roll. It stays. In the way you notice silence differently. In the way you think about strangers. In the way you start to wonder if you’ve been pretending not to need people for longer than you should have.
It made me cry, not because it was sad—but because it was true. It reminded me of what I long for. And it let me feel it, without shame, without spectacle.
And for a little while, I wasn’t alone.
And neither were they.