[REVIEW] Abzu

 I'll admit right from the get-go that Abzu isn't necessarily a game I would typically get. Nothing wrong with it, nothing that initially turned me away from it, but if I hadn't been looking for a quick title to play through when I had PS Now, I might have overlooked this title for a long time.

Lucky for me, I had that opportunity. So let's take a look at the aquatic adventure that is Abzu.

Developed by Giant Squid Studios and published by 505 Games, Abzu is, at its heart, a very chill adventure game that you can finish in a few hours, making a nice light experience for people looking for something on the shorter side. I'd say that it could be considered a walking simulator, and it does have much in common with games in that category, but in Abzu, you're not walking.

You're swimming.

MOVING IN ALL DIRECTIONS

In Abzu, you play the role of a diver, waking up in the ocean with absolutely no context for who you are or how you got there. The only thing you can really do is explore the area, moving about the 3D space you're presented with. Which took me a little while to adjust to, I admit; I'm not used to factoring in that extra dimension when I'm exploring in games. I'm used to my walking sims being, well, walking. Having full range of movement, being able to go up and down as well as all around, took a bit of getting used to, though it is pretty cool once you make that adjustment.

You do, of course, get to explore more than just that first opening area. The ocean is vast, filled with all kinds of plant and animal life, brought to life by the stunning stylized graphics. Everything, even the darker areas of the game, appears vibrant, animated, emphasized by the carefree way you can move your diver avatar all over the screen. Want to just spend a few minutes doing aquatic backflips in a beautiful ocean environment? Have at! It's fun!

Of course, the only downside to this is that the game has a load of invisible walls hemming you in. Even if it looks like you should be able to swim off into the bright blue yonder, Abzu isn't an open-world game, and you will get turned around by those invisible walls.

The animation for this is pretty much identical to when you just accidentally do something with the controls that you didn't mean to do. There were multiple times when I was turned back by those invisible walls that I thought I had just overcompensated with the controls or something, accidentally turned myself around, so I'd try again and again to get it right, not realizing what was actually happening. I don't necessarily want to be at the bottom of an obvious crater or something all the time, and I easily see that this was done to not break player immersion, but it did admittedly add to a bit of player frustration.

WHAT HAPPENED HERE?

 As far as environmental storytelling goes, Abzu is well above average, and I do love it for that. It's not just a matter of swimming around and looking at how pretty everything is. It isn't long before you encounter structures under the water, structures that clearly show a long-gone civilization. Who were these people? How did they live? Where are they now? 

There are answers to these questions in the game, but they're not fed to you directly. You have to put all the pieces together by paying attention to murals on the walls, the style of the structures you visit, lots of little things that add up and eventually give you a reasonably complete picture of just what went on here.

I say "reasonable complete" because there were a few aspects of the story that didn't make much sense to me, and I had to look up what the developers wanted players to get out of it. Some aspects just didn't seem to have obvious relevance, or potential interpretations could go in multiple different directions, none of which quite meshed with other elements seen throughout the game.

I do admit, though, that I might not have been as thorough in my investigations as I could have been, and so I may have missed something that would have made the game's story come together completely. I'm not sure. I tried to find everything I could, but I know I missed a secret area due to achievement listings, so perhaps there was more information to find there. Not sure. Someone will have to play Abzu and let me know!

What I did pick up, though, was surprisingly emotional. You're witnessing what's left of a people who are long gone, who didn't survive events that either were entirely beyond their control or that was directly caused by them and their hubris. You can really feel that weight at times, which is impressive as it's a story told entirely without words.

SWIMMIN' AROUND, MAKIN' TURTLES

Every so often while playing Abzu, you'll encounter these glowing circles in the environment. Interact with them and you'll release a series of glowing marine animals, which will quickly turn into, well, regular marine animals.

It's kind of cool to see a new set of animals swimming around and exploring the area just like you are, but similar to the aforementioned issue of parts of the game's story not quite making sense, I'm going to apply that to these circles, too. Ostensibly, interacting with those circles creates animals that return to the ocean, since they weren't in the area before you released them, per se. And increasing biodiversity is great and all, but nearly all of the game's areas have plenty of life already in them. Not the specific spirit animals you're releasing back into the world, sure, but there are plenty of species who have moved in, made this place their home, and are doing just fine. It's not clear just how the oceans have been without these creatures, but all signs suggest it's been a long time, so bringing them back might be the equivalent of introducing a non-native species to the area. They become invasive. The environment that adapted to their absence now has to go through another adjustment, one which might drive out animals that have thrived there for who knows how long now.

I know I'm digging deep for this interpretation, and that's probably not remotely what the developers intended for me to get out of this experience, but really, when most of the game involves exploring and marveling at pretty things and just seeing what's there, your mind can drift and come up with all these fascinating thoughts, and you start to wonder how it all works.

Unless the devs meant for people to notice how the oceans were already rather full of life and didn't exactly need an extra species swimming around now and again. Maybe that was part of the intent. Some aspects of the environmental storytelling elements do seem to indicate that playing god doesn't always go the way you think it will (or at least that's what I got out of it...), so maybe those thoughts and questions were intended all along.

FOLLOWING THE CURRENT OF LIFE

One aspect of Abzu that I will forever love is the ability to sort of mentally hijack nearby fish and just follow them around. In each area, there's a statue that our diver avatar can sit and meditate upon, at which point the player can select a nearby fish or turtle or dinosaur (yes, this game has dinosaurs!) and watch them swim around.

Not only is it relaxing, like watching a virtual fish tank, but also you get to see some interesting behaviour if you watch them long enough. Fish or dinosaurs that are carnivorous can and will eat other animals in the area, for instance, and seeing the different behaviours of different animals is always interesting to me. That level of detail didn't need to be there, but it is there, and I for one appreciate the effort put into making this world feel complete and real.

So you can use it as a way to just sit back and relax for a few minutes, or use it as a fancy screensaver as you take a longer break to make yourself lunch. Either way. It's a cool passive feature, and I enjoyed the chance to watch things swim around and explore nooks and crannies and little details that I hadn't always taken in as I was controlling the diver.

Some things you only notice when you sit back and do nothing but observe.

When all is said and done, I did enjoy my brief time with Abzu. It isn't perfect, but it was still a great experience. The environmental storytelling truth is top-notch, and while some of that story was a little fuzzy, it was still great to be able to swim around at my own pace and just appreciate the setting, the mood, and to try and let all the little pieces filter down until they fell into place.

If you like games that have a heavy emphasis on exploration and subtly-delivered emotional stories, then Abzu might be right up your alley. If nothing else, it's a pretty short game, so it's worth trying even if you're a little on the fence about it. It demands little and delivers much, and sometimes that's exactly what we need in our lives.