Quick Look: Abzû

To me this looks like a nightmarish horror game. No thanks.

Just finished playing this in the dark on a nice 1440p monitor. This game looks absolutely amazing in motion and it actually gave me a BIG shadow of the colossus vibe. really enjoyed it.

3 minutes in ... It's on PC?? I'm glad you said so! I'm buying it now! I didn't follow this game and figured it was a PS4 exclusive. Sweet!

I like how @drewbert remembers Endless Ocean: Blue World by the joke subtitle Jeff gave it during that quick look all those years ago.

@drewbert You might like Depth Hunter 2: Deep Dive. It's incredibly janky - sometimes flat-out broken - but I've heard you're tolerant of some jank.

I read the comments before watching the video and was waiting to see what this referred to. When they got to that part, I said "wow" out loud before Drew and Brad did. It's not the graphical quality that's responsible, it's the world design itself. The density of the objects and the lighting, the way everything moves, especially in that scene, it's just... I feel like this was probably completely intentional by the developer, but it's like you're passing through a veil and emerging in this other realm you didn't knew existed, yet looks realistic enough (in a simplified video game kind of way) to feel immersive. Suddenly, color and motion everywhere, vivid, warm and alive.

Guess it's hard both to explain and to capture, but it's not necessarily graphical quality at work. I'd call it a collaboration between art style and level design. If you're not one to be "drawn into" games as such, as I know a lot of people are, then it makes sense that you wouldn't react that way to that particular moment.

I sure did, though. I think that's beautiful.

Youre crazy.

It's not that it does anything 'groundbreaking' - I think the general art direction is basically pitch perfect and everything comes together. That is not easy to do.

Didn't care about Journey, but I really care about Abzu.

@mathey said:

Fucking A. Bravo!

The Abyss is a strong contender for best James Cameron film, and it's a travesty that it's still not out on bluray

fucking LOL at Drew remembering Endless Ocean as "Blue World and Red World." I'm still waiting on Endless Ocean Jr.

Not only that, but streaming video of certain games doesn't do service to how nice it can look. GB's commitment to high bitrate means a lot, but often lots of details are lost due to video compression, especially for games like this where there are lots of small things happening on every inch of the screen.

I thought about that, but Brad saying (paraphrasing) the PS4 version is only so so compared to the PC suggested to me that they were talking more technically than artistically. The latter is a lot harder to properly quantify and a rather nonsensical discussion. But maybe that's where my expectations based on their reactions went wrong or something.

I was looking at something else when the video was starting, and having already heard their reactions I was pretty underwhelmed when I switched back. You can pretty much count the polygons, shadows are razorsharp one second and completely gone the next... Like I said, I think it looks alright but my socks have not been blown off at all.

Jeff's Blue World/Red World joke paying off like five years later

pretty game that looks incredibly boring. It would be a cool screensaver

I also assumed Mantay rays would be smaller. They are just big ass stingrays, right? Apparently the largest ones are up to 8 meters wide and 7 meters long. Thats,... BIG

@brad

I started singing "Undaaa daa seeeaaa" when I read the deck, and then hit play and laughed.

Also perhaps worth noting that this has the same composer as Journey too (Austin Wintory). He also did the music for Assassin's Creed: Syndicate!

Swimming simulator of the year. :P

Joking aside, this looks quite pleasant and mesmerizing. A lot of wow moments. :D

ULTRA FISH LOOK!!!!!!!

This game seems so tranquil and pleasant. Would love to play this.

I really wish games like this would come to xboxone.

Seems to me that a majority of offerings are rouge like lite puzzle platform retro shovel-ware.

Shame on you guys for not mentioning the Austin Wintory sountrack and sound design!

This game stresses me out.

Ultra Fish was my nickname in high school.

Music sounds especially awesome. Really looking forward to playing this.

humu humu nuku nuku apua'a

Game looks pretty enough, but I feel like I get all I would want out of it from a quick video...... Which I think is my problem with many of these exploration/experience type games. Playing seems to rarely add much, and a simple HD video tends to give the same experience to playing them. Not all, but ones like this I mean.

Plus maybe I am not quite as impressed by its looks like all the gasps and awe from the video....

@voodoopc: Having completed it this afternoon, I would say there is actually less to this game than Journey, at least from a moment-to-moment gameplay perspective. It's great for people who like that sort of thing (including me), but if Journey did nothing for you, I would steer well clear of Abzu.

I'm actaully really currious about what Vinny thinks of this. If I remember correctly, he hated Flower with a passion but liked Journey a lot, so I wonder where he falls on what felt, to me at least, like something halfway between those two games.

I'm just glad I've now got something else I can give my almost-four-year-old to play and get a break from hearing the Lego Jurassic World music.

If you are not impressed by the visuals in this game, then you have dumb eyes.

Anything w/Drew on GB is better by nature. His participation in the content, vs. strictly engineering is a plus always. Neat looking game btw.

I stopped halfway watching this.

games like this needs to be experience than seen

This. Looks. So. Damn. Pleasant.

I gotta sit down one day and do a double... feature? Experience? With both this and Journey.

"Do manta rays get that big?"

Per wikipedia: "The larger species, M. birostris, reaches 7 m (23 ft 0 in) in width while the smaller, M. alfredi, reaches 5.5 m (18 ft 1 in)."

In other words, yes manta rays TOTALLY get that big and I was also surprised. Also, I love Drew's big reactions to stuff eating other stuff.

Finished the game yesterday (2.5 hours and I wasn't rushing, if anyone's interested) and while it doesn't hit the highs that Journey did, it's definitely up there with Flower for me.

Sir David Attenborough is mentioned in the credits. ;)

@mystery_porpois: But it's the only opinion that matters, dude.

To me, anyway.

@mattcorb7: You're wrong. In actual fact my vision is augmented.

You never saw The Abyss?! My first comment ever, just to say, you have to see it. It´s one of my favourite movies when was a kid, its amazing. Underwater and aliens what can be better?

This might be the prettiest game so far, for me.

Not sure i want to 'play' it though. It seems like a great bundle addition though.

You can see deep-sea creatures whenever you walk outside? Do you live in the sunken city of Atlantis?

@iconmaster: Why do I get the feeling that they're gonna end up swimming into a giant, hollowed-out, lady-shaped rock formation?

@drewbert's visceral reaction to the fate of the robot was pretty on point, and mirrored mine.

Yeah, you don't scuba dive everyday?!

After playing this game, I'm inspired to scuba dive. This game goes bonkers later on, jeez some of the imagery is stunning.

Just finished this game and holy shit is it amazing. Not much in terms of actual game play but the visuals alone are worth the price of admission. Easily one of the most beautiful looking games I have ever seen.

Beautiful game, didn't quite hit with me the way Journey did, but still enjoyed the 2 hrs. I spent with it.