Quick Review - The Journey Down: Chapter 1

Game Name:    The Journey Down: Chapter 1

Developer:    SkyGoblin
      Engine:              Adventure Game Studio

Platform:     Windows (Reviewed), OS X, Linux, iOS, Android

Genre: Adventure

Release Date: May 12, 2012 (January 9th, 2013 - Steam)

Short description: First chapter of an episodic point and click adventure game where you play as Bwani, part owner of Gas ‘n Charter, a waterfront gas station. The adventure begins with Lina, who wants your assistance in finding an old book that has some highly sought after information on a place called the Underland. We don’t learn too much about the Underland in Chapter 1, except that the government and some large corporations are trying to keep the public in the dark about what is there.

The Good:

• Episodic. Since I played through Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead, I’ve become a fan of the episodic strategy of releasing games. The short, 2-3 hour episodic experiences seem to lend themselves quite nicely to the adventure game genre.
• Every character has a voice actor! I always finds this gives the characters more personality, for better or worse, and thankfully in this case, it's better.
• The dialogue, in addition to being well voiced, is also exceptionally well written. It’s whimsical, funny, and even sort of dark. I laughed out loud on numerous occasions.
• The art is creative and unique. The character's faces are all modeled from various African masks which supplies a unique visual aesthetic.
• While the puzzles aren't terribly difficult, there are some unexpected solutions to puzzles, many of which result in some pretty comical events.

The Bad:

• The game is touted to have full HD graphics, and while the art and visuals are nice, on a 1920x1080 display, things look pretty stretched out. I imagine something like this would be best played on a tablet.
• The game sticks to the standard point and click adventure game format, there’s very little done in the way of creative mechanics.

All in all, should you play this?

• If you’re a fan of point and click adventure games, and in the market for a new and unique story, with odd, whimsical dialogue and voice acting, I’d give it a go. I'm certainly going to pick up Chapter 2 when it releases.

No video this time, but here's a few screenshots to let you know what it looks like...