A Beautiful Movie-Length Deep Sea Adventure...With Minimal "Actual" Gameplay: A Few Of My Thoughts On Abzû

Abzû is gorgeous. Truly, uniquely gorgeous. Though it adopts and draws upon a familiar and simplified "block-y" art style seen in a variety of titles (while also pulling heavily from the lead game director's prior experience on the game Journey), it nonetheless overwhelms the player through some of the most impressive and elaborate underwater scenery I've seen in a game with elements of mythology and mystery borrowed from both the real world and, as previously mentioned, other games as well. This ties in nicely with the inherent mystery of the ocean that both compels people to explore it or causes people to shy away from it out of fear of the unknown. The game also has its moments of emotional resonance, bonding and swimming with animals fluidly in the deep blue of Abzû's serenely realised environments and soundscapes that are guided by Journey's very own Austin Wintory who brings his own flair to the mythologising of the sea through a boisterous and captivating score. In all, the game's beautiful visuals in addition to its uplifting and ethereal soundtrack should be your main compulsion for purchasing and playing this game. Reason being, the gameplay and especially the "puzzles" are extremely repetitive and rudimentary with much of it revolving around interacting with pulleys and chains to open doors. So as long as you don't expect anything particularly lengthy or deep gameplay-wise, Abzû's core artistic strengths may dazzle you like few other games have achieved (even if it is at the expense of an "actual game" to play).