Developer: Bonfire Entertainment
Publisher: Another Indie
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Original Journey – Review
Sometimes games are about more than shooting aliens and sometimes one reads into it more than was intended. However the question of what to do when we exhaust our planet’s natural resources and how far we are willing to go to save the human race are all valid questions. Many words and movies have already been spilled on the matter, so without further ado let’s focus on the alien shooting.
Story
No one wants to be late for an important meeting, so you try to sneak in but a small noise gives you away. Everyone turns their head and the person who was previously talking even calls you out for arriving late. That’s exactly what happened to you as the protagonist of Original Journey. Your species, the Ato are in serious trouble, your home planet is dying and a select group of soldiers and scientists venture into deep space in search of a mysterious energy source. This energy source would be able to bring back your home planet from the brink of destruction and save the entire Ato race in the process. That’s a meeting you don’t want to be late to. Unfortunately that’s exactly what happens with you as a rookie soldier in the Ato army under the command of legendary war hero Captain Colin. Because you showed up late you get to go out with the first wave of soldiers and prove yourself. As the story slowly unfolds your relationship with Captain Colin will improve but you’ll always be that rookie who showed up late. Dealing with the natives and taking what belongs to them for your own gain, even for survival reasons is something humanity can relate to and at some point you’ll need to deal with moral questions about just how far you’re willing to go to save yourself.
Graphics
Original Journey is a 2D hand drawn sci-fi platformer which employs a very sober color palette, it’s not grayscale but close to it, safe for specific items have a flashy green color to them. Just as important items in the heads up display like the health bar are colorized. Nonetheless even with the the limited color palette, one can distinguish all elements from each other. Style is always personal whether you like it or not but visually the game is fine. The highlighted items work well against a gray background as it can get rather hectic when in combat with a swarm of enemies. One slight downside of the hand drawn grayscale alien theme is that sometimes it’s difficult to know what to expect from an enemy that shows up. If you like surprises however then it’s a plus.
Sound
Compared to the graphics, the sound has a much greater range. The music comes over as menacing but not like horrifying, just a great sense of urgency which complements the story very well. Overall the music has an electronic futuristic feel to it. Sometimes when things get hectic, the sound effects overshadow the music and that is a shame since the music beats the sound effects by a long shot.
Gameplay
Original Journey is a 2D action adventure game. The game takes place on a distant planet made of floating islands which belong to a specific type like forest, rock and desert islands. Since you can’t fly you’ll be brought from your base to the islands by a drop ship. Once you clear a certain island off all its enemies you can call the ship to pick you up and either venture further into the world or return to base to restock on ammo, change weapons, upgrade your armor or trade items. It’s often a good idea to return to base as when you die you drop all items you have on you and get one chance to get it back. The islands are procedurally generated which is also great for replay value. You start off with a basic mech armor suit which can be upgraded dozens of times when you collect enough resources to do so. Computer chips can be installed in your armor which provides additional bonuses like speed or health regeneration. Be careful as each chip can only be used once and not recovered when upgrading your armor as it’s basically an entirely new suit.
Another important aspect of exploring an unknown dangerous world is weapons. Luckily the base is well equipped and scientists are working around the clock to develop new powerful weapons. In the beginning you’re equipped with a basic machine gun and a shotgun. Neither of those weapons requires much explanation. The machine gun has a small charge up time before it starts spraying bullets in a semi straight line in front of you and a shotgun does what a shotgun does best, it unloads bullets in a cone shaped area and is great for dealing with groups of weaker opponents. There are about a dozen weapons and you can carry two at any given time which ensures that you’ll be able deal with any kind of situation coming your way. If you need extra firepower it’s possible to deploy a stationary turret. Once the island is secure and the turret survived you can collect it again for later use. When you’re not out in the world you can hang out in the base where you can talk to other characters as the story develops and upgrade your weapons and armor with the resources you collected.
Conclusion
Original Journey is a very enjoyable game with a high replay value thanks to the randomly generated islands. The story is slightly deeper than most 2D alien shooting games but the moral theme of how far are you willing to go is never pressed too hard so it doesn’t get in the way of actually playing and enjoying the game.
Original Journey - Review,
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