ABZÛ (PS4)

• Release date: August 2, 2016
• Developer: Giant Squid
• Publisher: 505 Games
• Price: $19.99

The Skinny

Hey there! Today, for this inaugural blog, we’ll be reviewing the recently released Abzû, an adventure game and swimming simulator. I’m really excited to be reviewing this great game!

Abzû was released on August 2nd, 2016 and was developed by Giant Squid. Fitting, right? When I first started raving about this game to my long-suffering friends and coworkers, I described it as a zen relaxation game; something to play before bed or after a particularly long, stressful day.

And that’s exactly when I played it! The game itself is pretty simple: you won’t be fighting your way through monsters or solving terribly difficult puzzles. Instead, you’ll be swimming in a gorgeous ocean, interacting with both marine creatures and ancient technology, exploring ruins, and in some places, scooting along the jetstream!

There’s also a collection aspect, which helps encourage you to poke around. You get to explore the environment in three dimensions, so it’s pretty easy to miss something fun at the bottom of the ocean while you’re scooting along with schools of fish.

Like Submerged, which was released last year (and which I reviewed on a different site)  Abzû has a totally silent protagonist, and you’re going to have to figure out the plot on your own, just like as if you were really exploring ruins.

The Good

Music

Oh man. The music. The score was put together by Austin Wintory, who also did the score for Journey. Abzû has beautiful music; if you’re anything like me, the score is more than enough for you. I didn’t even miss dialogue. My entire state of being during this game was sheer awe, and that was partially due to the superb score.

The Environment

In a game like Abzû, the environment can make or break the game. It definitely makes this one. You know the awe I talked about earlier? The beautiful, interactive environment was the largest part of that. There were moments where I had to pause and leave the room and tell someone—anyone—what I had just seen. They all thought I was weird, but I digress.

From the moment I first got control of the Diver, I was drawn into and through the world, wanting to see what was around every corner.

There are some frustrating parts of the environment; and these were designed that way. There was one particular area that just totally cheesed me off, but later on in the story I totally got my revenge. Super satisfying.

The Pace

It would have been really easy to get lost in this game if it had been open world. Instead, it was designed in a type of level format. There are a few loading screens in Abzû, but they really didn’t bother me.

Each level presents itself as a different area of the ocean. You start in a grotto with common fish like grouper, and as you move forward through each area, you’ll find odd portals. Once you enter these portals, you enter what seemed to me like another dimension and activate a pillar.

Once you’ve activated it, you’re treated to a short cutscene showing a group of sea creatures rising out of the portal. The once barren area where you found the portal comes back to life, and a gate will open, allowing you to get to the next area.

Each area features a few different animals, usually suited to the environment you’re exploring. You find whales in the open ocean, squids at the bottom of the ocean, and even a few surprises later on.

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Spoiler Alert: I can’t hold this one in. On one level, you end up deep within the flooded ruins and encounter some really incredible creatures. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with dinosaurs (that hasn’t changed, actually) and my favorite toy was a plesiosaur; more specifically, an elasmosaurus.

I lost my mind when I found an elasmosaurus in Abzû. I spent a ton of time chilling out with it, watching it swim, swimming with it. I’m serious, I was totally crazy about this virtual sea monster.

The Mechanics

There are a number of mechanics in Abzû, and I found that they were both interesting and worked really well.

Meditation – Throughout each level there’s at least one statue that you may interact with. You’ll sit on it, and you’ll be able to cycle the camera left or right to view the various fish and other creatures in the area. You’ll get some basic info on them, like what their name is, and you can watch their simulated behavior, including predation.

Puzzles – Like I mentioned before, this isn’t a puzzle game, but there are a few places where you have to do a simple task before you can move on. Sometimes it’s cranking a mechanism to raise chains to open a gate, or sometimes you are blocked by coral growths.

While you don’t have any weapons yourself, you can find and repair cute little yellow robots who can cut their way through coral and follow you around. They’re really nifty!

Releasing Creatures – Along the way, you’ll find small nest-like versions of the larger story portals, and each one will release a different kind of fish or mammal into the environment. This is just another way to get you to explore the environment, and it works.

The Bad

Mechanics

The swimming mechanic was difficult to use, at least for me. I’m apparently not great at controlling a character in a 3 dimensional environment. The game’s controls are set at inverted by default, and I ended up changing them about 10 minutes in because I just could not get a handle on them.

When I did have a handle on the controls, the game was fluid and gorgeous, but when I was struggling, it was a little frustrating. I did spend a fair amount of time doing flips and running my head straight into the sand though.

Along the way I learned that you need to dive constantly to swim (R2) and then just tap the directional sticks to adjust the camera or your heading. If you constantly push on them like you would to run in other games, you’ll end up doing a lot of flips.

This is a really minor “bad” mechanic, because as I said earlier, when I had a handle on them, the controls were great. This one is probably more on me than anything else.

Final Thoughts

I loved this game. No holds barred. Every element combines to make an immersive, beautiful, and hell, spiritual experience. The game itself is rather short: it took me about 8 hours to go through it. I wasn’t rushing, but I wasn’t poking around either. I missed quite a few collection items.

I’d say you could easily spend upwards of 20 hours exploring every nook and cranny. The story is something you discover for yourself, but it’s uplifting, thought-provoking, and satisfying.

At a price point of $19.99, Abzû is an incredibly relaxing game with gorgeous visuals, an amazing score, and you’ll want to keep coming back for more.

I give it a 10/10.