Voyage is a gorgeous looking and highly atmospheric adventure game, with abstract puzzles galore and an often fabulous soundtrack.
Launched in 2021, it’s from Swedish indie team Venturous that was founded by two brothers. It’s a genuinely stunning sci-fi exploration type deal that’s visually flawless and relentless with its imagination. Well worth a look if you want to gawp in wonder, whilst solving some nifty puzzles.
The Vibrant Alien Landscapes of Voyage
This is out on PC, Nintendo Switch 1/2, PS4/5, and Xbox. We picked it up for a couple of quid during a sale but otherwise it’s just shy of £13 ($15).
Voyage’s focus on a bizarre alien landscape greatly reminds us of the eerie French sci-fi tale Time Masters (1982).
The game isn’t as terrifying as that film, but there’s a sense of foreboding going on alongside a genuine feeling of exploration. You guide two players (this can be a co-op game, as well as single player experience) across ever-inspired landscapes on a journey toward… something.
Along the way you discover obstacles, must overcome them, and delight in the game’s magnificent appearance. Cripes, it looks sensational. Just look at this thing!
Genuinely astonishing and a huge achievement for a two-man indie team.
The divisive flipside to this is the gameplay. This is a short game of about 90 minutes made that long due to Voyage’s stop-start nature.
Other games from this genre include the equally stunning sci-fi romp Planet of Lana (2023). Whereas that one is often too simplistic with its puzzles, at least it has a breezy pace.
Voyage does the opposite and is abstract and methodical. You’ll complete one puzzle, shuffle forward with your characters for 10-20 seconds, then hit another puzzle and come to a dead halt. It can be boring and frustrating, but without that structure the game would be over in 20 minutes.
That’s a budget thing as indie game devs just don’t have much money to add in more content. But even so, this could have been shaped into a 60 minute experience and it wouldn’t have damaged the experience. It may have freed up the players more to enjoy the atmospherics.
Ultimately, this gameplay loop will either annoy, bore, or entertain you.
It’s going to be open to all manner of interpretations, with the addition of it being a game you can simply watch (rather than just play).
Despite Voyage’s methodical pace, we did enjoy this one a lot. It’s a great one to play at night, when it’s dark, on a big TV screen and just enjoy the slow pace of it all.
Its looks, the score (more on that below), and its sedate pace make it a relaxing experience. Just one peppered with gameplay frustrations here and there.
But there are enough stunning landscapes to keep wowing you and wanting more. If it appeals to you, definitely give it a go.
A Note on Voyage’s Beautiful Score by Calum Bowen
One thing Voyage does incredibly well is with its fantastic score. Composer Calum Bowen (Bo En as he’s known professionally) worked on it in 2021.
He’s an English musician from London whose styles encompass electronic, pop, and J-pop. His work across Voyage is big on ambience, with the likes of Ship In Flames offering a proper chillout vibe.
But other pieces are just flat out more uplifting, as this is a very colourful game. Despites its occasional hints at looming danger, its a vibrant experience brimming with ideas.
And Bowen’s work delivers on that theme, again with that vibe of Time Masters, all to build out that cosmic sense of exploration.
