Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

Set in the 1900s, Heart of Darkness introduces a topic that would probably be hard to swallow today: the Caucasian male and the native savage. Knowing that this classic book was on our reading list, I was a bit underwhelmed by the book's topic considering all the acclaim for it. Perhaps I was not in the right mind set to read this piece of literature or perhaps Heart of Darkness has lost the language to communicate with the average reader. However, it is worth noting that Heart of Darkness has inspired many great works in all media (i.e. Apocalypse Now) so maybe the fault is not in the story but in the media it was told.

Let's begin with the narrative. Immediately, the reader are distanced from the setting by the language; words like "a cruising yawl" for exploration boat among others. We are then slowly introduce to the crew: the Captain, the Lawyer, the Accountant, Marlow, and our Protagonist. The pacing of the story continues in this manner: a slow reveal and little action.

   

A Journey to Remember

"Once in a while, a game comes along that blows your f*cking mind away"

                                                                                                                   - Anonymous

Journey is director Jenova Chen's latest work that let players immerse themselves in a story through gameplay. Chen is the designer of the award-winning games: Cloud, Flow, and Flower, and is co-founder of Thatgamecompany. Chen's work uses the wide, open space to convenient the vastness of his world. The beautiful setting compliments his method of storytelling thereby giving players the full spectacular of the immersive world. 

Players are welcomed into Journey by the silent protagonist, a red-cloaked character with a long scarf, who must travel to the distant mountain. Immediately, the setting welcomes the player to explore without much communication or directions because the pantomime and environment informs the player where they go and what they should do. Each stage of the game is stylistically different with a small cut-scene dividing the maps so players will never have to worry about getting lost or if they met the objective. 

Along the way, players are introduced obstacles and subtle story elements of the world. However, they are never alone when facing these challenges for the game has a multi-player element to each stage where experienced players may help new players. However, both players cannot communicate with each other through words but pantomimes and body language to keep true to Journey’s universe.    

When players enter the final stage, the whole story is revealed to them via extended cut-scene and an invitation to play the game again for extra treasures are displayed. 

At its core, Journey is an experience; it is a flight of exploration as well as an appreciation of beauty. To the Millennial Generation, Journey could possibly be the next chapter to global communication. It is universal, for players do not need to understand another language or culture to appreciate Journey’s story. 

So, whether you are curious because of this review or have a few hours to spare, Journey is an adventure not to be forgotten soon.