ABZÛ

I was excited to play this game, from the trailer it looks lovely and relaxing. However upon starting the game I found the controls confusing, aggravating, nausea inducing and generally sucked all around. Keyboard and mouse, there is no way to adjust or mod the keys, or lock the camera. You can however invert camera and motion pitch, yaw and whatever but it isnt enough. You spend most of your time just trying to turn left without spinning aimlessly, or instead of diving you end up doing a roll. Camera is busily go in its own direction, every motion of the swimmer is met with spinning views in the opposite direction, indeed half the time was repositioning the camera to stay behind the diver rather then taking off in the opposite direction. Needless to say all this pitching, yawing and spinning plays havoc with those with game nausea, there is no way to adjust POV or lock the camera which would have been easy fixes for all those problems. What I have seen of the game is lovely, minimalistic art with muted limited color palettes which still convey a sense of swimming in the ocean. The music is atmospheric but once again no option to mute it separately from the game if you want to just hear the ocean sounds. There is a sense of joy in exploration, being able to catch onto a huge grouper for a ride was so sweet, but the horrid controls for movement ruin that experience. seriously, what dev makes a game that has no player customization options at all? unforgiveable, i would have gotten a refund but cant be bothered.

Splendid! ABZU is a lovely experience that can last as long as you want! I've seen the reviews here, but this is far from a 2-hour "game". It's more a "swim-through" and it really works as a meditational tool if you need a break from your day and it can last as long you want - I played it off and on for a couple of weeks and just reached the end and I'm pretty sure I'll go back to it a lot in the future. ABZU may not work on machines with low-end graphics. I tried it on a relatively new machine (a 2015 Dell desktop, Win 10, off-the-shelf i5) and it stalled out, but it was smooth as you could want on my 2009 Gateway FX (early i7, dual quad, ATI, Win 10 upgraded from Win 7, Xbox controller) and even though I got it here on sale (GOG) for $10 off, I'd say it was worth the full price. (Or wait for a sale if you're cheap like me.) Beautiful job and hats off to the many folks that brought it too life. I was moved enough to write this, my first game review on GOG and I'd recommend ABZU to anyone. BTW, the screen shots don't do it justice.

If you want a short version of my review, consider this to be "Journey but it's in the ocean". The truth, though, is that this game stands on its own, and doesn't feel as derivative as that short summary might lead you to believe. To elaborate, Abzu is, by and large, a game you will either love or, at worst, feel indifferent towards. It's very artsy in its presentation, which isn't a bad thing, because it never feels pretensious or unwarranted. You're most likely to love it if you played and (like me) adored Journey; this makes more sense when you consider that the art director of Journey is the same art director for this game, and the composer for Journey (Austin Wintory, who is an amazing composer outside of these two games as well) also composed the score for this game.

I went in to this game expecting an "experience" rather than a game. I was pleasantly surprised to find a significant story-line, though there is no talking. The story is assumed by symbols and a few cinematic sequences. The game was slow paced and relaxing, definitely not for those who like fast paced action games. This is a game that is supposed to be art... Take your time, explore, move the camera around and take in the scenery, follow the fish around, or even grab some of the fish and tag along. There's also a "zen" type thing that lets you literally just watch a particular fish up close as it swims around. You can switch between fish, and it's really relaxing. I was enthralled by the last few levels of the game. Honestly, they were beautiful, and wrapped up the story so well. I literally clapped as the credits rolled. (I don't do that often.) Controls are easy to use, and the game is clean and fun for the family. My kids really enjoyed it, and were able to finish the game as well. It's not particularly difficult. They really liked it as well. If you're looking for a wholesome, relaxing, fun experience... Then try ABZU. It's worth it.

This is NOT a game, per se - it is an experience. I'm not embarrassed to say that this game brought me to tears, just the sheer graceful beauty of it all. Every new underwater vista that opens up, every new species that you unlock as you travel back thru time, is brilliantly animated and breathtaking in it's scope. Stop and take it in, savor the moment. Explore everything that you can do with the controls - hang on the fin of a passing dolphin, stop and go into the "meditation" sequence on top of monuments. Toggle thru the views of each species, as you're in meditation. Take it all in, the scope of the environments and species are varied enough to last quite a while in each area. Dont buy this game looking for Subnautica, or something of that nature. There is no struggle, there is no conflict in this game. This is almost an underwater visual novel, and you are indeed a participant, but your role is passive at times. If you plow thru this game looking for achievement, you will be disappointed. Stop and smell the kelp, however, and you will find the closest thing to Zen a game has offered.