Intro

When we look at modern gaming industry trends, we could easily see that publishers (and also developers) are trying to make their games bigger and bigger every single year. We encounter games that have tons of content from top to bottom, they are filled with Question Marks, Yellow Dots, and Collectibles. Even with those massive amounts of content, players are still could not satisfy enough. Game makers aim to overcome that problem by introducing more and more to their players, just like pouring a can of water in an already-filled ocean. But is this the only reason why gamers could not enjoy games, do they really want more things? Is Ubisoft make their players happy by introducing an overwhelming amount of "Dots" in recent Assasin's Creed games? Do players value quantity over quality? If so, why this tiny game made me happy more than those modern games? Maybe as players, we value Quality more than Quantity... ABZU become the first game that introduced me to the "art game" genre, I realized that I was bored with produced formulas in modern games. It showed me another side of the games, which I sometimes overlook. Games do not have to ask lots of things from their players, they sometimes easily could immerse their audience by not throwing tons of sh*** into their heads. Just like watching well-crafted pictures or reading an intelligently-written short story, they could have an important impact in a limited time. We always discuss and talk about games as an art form and ABZU (and games like that) is the purest and perfect example of an art piece.

ABZU Trailer

Amazing Main Menu = Simple But Cool Menu.

Usability/Playability

Before we start I want to tell you that ABZU feels like an interactive painting rather than a fully interactable video game. Because of the vision and design intention of this game, this could easily be understood. In terms of usability and playability, as well as other aspects, the game is focused on the motto of "Simple, But Effective". There is no groundbreaking gameplay or narrative involved in this game, but the presentation of this beautiful "experience" with amazing visuals and sound easily turns this otherwise-simple game into a unique experience. The game starts with an introduction to the basic movement scheme and a diving button. Players first find themselves above the surface and push the button to dive into the beautiful world of ABZU. And basically, that is all you need to play this game. You are only responsible for using three elements in your controller: Joysticks, R2, and Square(or X) button. There is no unnecessary input asked from the player, it is simple, nice, and highly responsive. Actually, this simple system perfectly matches with the game, and it works very well. Unlike other video games that bombard you with tons of inputs and overwhelming pieces of information, ABZU makes sure that you only just focused on the beautiful scenery and sounds. It wants you to immerse yourself in this amazing underwater adventure, and nothing more. You do not need to fill your brain with lots of things: you only need to just sit and relax. With the help of the clean game screen (no UI at all), this game is very accessible for everyone. From an experienced player to my grandmother(!) everyone can experience this amazing craft, which is an extra bonus for me. So, we have decent player controls and clean-cut UI, what next? You are an underwater diver that explores this magical territory, so you need to explore a lot! Exploration is one of the important game layers in this game, that is what the game is focused on. In addition to controls, I think I also need to touch a bit on animations because they are also adding value to the enjoyment of the exploration. From the fishes to the sea-plants and to the whales, everything around you feels alive and vibrant. You can easily feel that this place is real (and yet also magical), so you will have a strong urge to discover these lands with your character, which is also animated smoothly (and amazing)! In most of the games, this urge of discovery might overwhelm players because generally in those open areas (with few instructions of what you need to do), you could not find your way or distinguish your objective amongst other environmental objects. But that is not the case in ABZU, with the help of the visuals (which I will discuss further in Visual Aesthetics) and sounds; I did not felt any hardship in navigation while I play. To be honest, I did not felt that I am actually "navigating", that ability of navigation came to me just like an instinct. Moving away from "following the yellow dots" into really finding my own way with my instincts was an amazing, rare, and different experience for me. Because after some time, I got the experience of "stepping into the shoes of a virtual character" again. Even this game lacks interactivity and "gamey elements", this feature itself adds a ton to the gameplay and immersion. Speaking of interaction, this game also has puzzles because of its Adventure Game aspect. However, I could not say the same positive thoughts on this area because I felt that puzzles were just too "insignificant". The number of puzzles is already lacking, so why developers made those few puzzles very boring? I think they could spend more time on the puzzles and come up with unique and enjoyable gameplay moments. So puzzles become just a badly missed opportunity for Giant Squid Studios, which is so upsetting. I know that they do not want to push their players too much, to avoid players to disconnect from the game world but putting that kind of unremarkable moments into the game is a perfect reason for a player to not care about the game at all and that is far more dangerous. For me, the overall "Simple, But Effective" motto just does not work on puzzles.

The Simple Control Scheme (1)

You can freely rotate your character as you wish! Full freedom on player controls, just like I ordered!

The Simple Control Scheme (2)

Navigating also easy thanks to my fish friends, thank you all!

Narrative/Story

In terms of story, there are no classic "story elements" as we all get used to. No dialogues, no scripted scenes, no NPCs, etc. Instead of relying on classic story-telling elements, ABZU wants to tell its story and immerse its players using various narration techniques. So they replace dialogues and cut-scenes with various aquatic creatures that narrate the game world just with their presence and their movements, they place NPCs with just a lovely shark that we take care of as the game progress, and they replace scripted scenes with the entirely discoverable game world. Because there is not an "actual" story told in this game, it is hard to talk further about this aspect. Do not get me wrong, the "narration" and presentation of its game world and its small story is amazing, but I could not give further information about "What this game is about?" in detail. Because of its nature (and its very short play-time), I think it is a "story" to be experienced, not to get narrated. But if you really want to know then let me briefly summarize from the game's Wikipedia website: "In Abzû, the player takes on the role of a diver in a vast ocean—after waking up floating on the ocean's surface, the diver begins exploring the surrounding underwater environments filled with plant and animal life, in addition to uncovering ancient technology and submerged ruins. In a few areas, the diver is also able to explore land-based environments above the water. As the game progresses, the diver unlocks new areas and pursues the secrets behind the forces harming the local environment.- I do not want to explain further because I want you to experience this game by yourself. But I want to restate again that its narration techniques are well-crafted, and it serves perfectly to making players immerse into the story and the game world.

Exploring the remains of an ancient civilization with my robot companion.