Abzu Review

"A Wonderful Sea"

Campaign

Abzu is simply a brilliant and beautiful experience with calming gameplay backed by a wondrous desire to explore. While short in length your adventure in this world is one of true beauty as the game is gorgeous and filled with depth. The story has you playing as this individual swimming through the ocean while solving a series of easy going puzzles. The majority of the game comes down to interactions with the environments and exploration. It's not something that's going to challenge you, but provide a stunning story that's told through emotion and the world around you. The story is split into chapters that each feature a massive area to swim through and are connected by this other worldly hub area. Each place you visit is distinctly different in design featuring a wide range of biomes from massive underwater ruins to open sea depths or even jetstreams that send you flying by the many fish populating each area. Being a title I'd definitely suggest playing to relax you're encouraged to discover by exploring the various spaces. Within each area you can also find collectible shells or meditation places to view each of the fish species found in the area.

Gameplay

As with the simple set of puzzles the controls are easy as well mostly coming down to holding your burst while changing direction. You then touch to interact with objects and that's really as in-depth as it gets. The puzzles in the game aren't at all difficult being more of a forced view the area type scenario. The music is also charming with its changing tones that only went to complement the watery world I was swimming through. Abzu is also stunning with some of the best environments I've ever explored in a game. The world is filled to the brim with an array of colors, fish and flora. My eyes were bursting while just taking in the sights at each area and if you have 4K this is such a treat for the eyes. Not only does it look great, it also has a massive selection of fish to swim by or with depending on the situation. Aside from that there are some darker things present that I won't spoil, but it isn't just a casual swimming session with the fish.

The Conclusion

Abzu was such a treat to play being one of the best looking games I've ever played bringing with it a deep desire to explore the fascinating sea you swim through. Each area is fantastic with great levels of depth and what felt like natural scenery. While it might sound too easy going there's a well done story behind this filled with a silent, yet elegant journey in the sea. Abzu is just a perfect game that's only held back by being a few hours long, but that shouldn't at all stop you from enjoying such a lovely world.

Abzu for PC
Review Code provided by Rogers and Cowan

Rating Overall: 9.5