Video Game Review - Voyage

Rob reviews Voyage on PlayStation 5...

If video games can be called a piece of art, Voyage is certainly that. This 2D co-op adventure offers a deep cinematic adventure, without the use of conversation and dialogue to tell its story. Instead, its thoughts and feelings are portrayed across a canvas of gorgeous scenery that's populated with plenty of weird and wonderful sights. 

Developed by Venturous and published by Ratalaika Games, Voyage casts you as two survivors stuck in a distant world. Across its eight chapters, you'll guide these beings on their quest to solve a planet-wide mystery, and ultimately find their way home. Intended to be an intimate co-op experience, Voyage can also be experienced by a solo player. Yet, regardless of how you play - it's an experience that will stay with you long after the credits roll.

I can't say any more without heading into major spoiler territory. But trust me, you'll benefit from heading into Voyage completely blind.

What makes Voyage stand out is that its story doesn't feature any violence - and it doesn't need to. Instead, we get a non-combat game that's devoid of any sort of danger. This then allows the simple puzzle gameplay - and the overall journey to remain paramount throughout. Another aspect is that the game doesn't feature any dialogue either (spoken or written). As such the game uses its environments to portray any feelings that its characters may have. There's a lot here that's left up to your interpretation, yet concluded everything is tied up in a meaningful - and understanding way. 

Controls are pretty intuitive and are very easy to master. While playing in co-op is the ideal way to experience what Voyage has to offer, solo players are also well catered for. If playing solo your partner character is controlled by the game's A.I. as such they'll follow close behind and offer any contextual actions as and when required. Naturally, this amounts to pulling and pushing things, standing on pressure plates, and climbing. Going further and Venturous has also included a tutorial which plays out during the game opening chapter. While it's not entirely necessary as the controls are simple enough, it does offer that assistance to those who need it. 

With such a reliance on selling the world to its player, to then also utilise it to tell its narrative, Voyage has to look and sound great - which it does effortlessly! The hand-drawn landscapes are incredibly detailed and are brought to life with a rich assortment of colours and depth. Audio is also exceptionally utilised with each track perfectly complementing the narrative. Much like the artwork, the soundtrack also helps to captivate you into wanting to explore this strange world. It does this by offering a wide variety of emotion and composition that's rarely seen within an indie title. 

While Voyage is a cinematic masterpiece, it does lack in length and replayability. My playthrough took just shy of 55-minutes to reach the ending. And while I enjoyed every minute, I hoped for something more. However, this isn't a bad thing, as it made me keep an eye on Venturous' future titles. Especially if it hits you in the feels like Voyage!

Voyage is just as much an experience as it is a video game. This narrative offers a heartwarming tale that's brought to life by two characters working together to solve an ancient mystery. Its presentation is truly stunning with scene after scene of highly- detailed hand-drawn work, and zero focus on dialogue. Venturous have crafted something beautiful with Voyage, and it's a journey I implore everyone to experience! 

Rating: 10/10 

A code was kindly provided for this review

Voyage is out now and can be purchased via the PlayStation Store

Liked this review and want to support the blog further? You can do so by heading over to Ko-Fi.com/GeekCultureRev. Any donations will be greatly appreciated, but more so is the fact that you took the time to read this review Thank you!

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev