Playing Journey at E3 was an experience that's hard to describe. There was no introduction to the game, and it was the first time I had seen it with my own eyes. Jenova Chen, the co-founder of thatgamecompany and designer of both Flow and Flower, simply offered me the controller and motioned to the television.

The character on the screen is an androgynous traveler, searching the desert for... something. The game's story is revealed slowly, and it looks like the lands you're moving across were home to people who have now passed on. You have limited means of interacting with the environment and it's easy to feel adrift in the game's beautiful setting. The game reveals itself to you, but you have to work for it.

Ghosts of the desert

You can charge your scarf and use that power to fly for short periods of time, and that ability will increase as you pass through the temples and ruins that make up the game's expanses. You can let out a mournful call that activates certain things in the world, although only a small amount of gameplay was shown at E3 (the beta going on now is likewise limited). Just as I began to understand the world and my place in it, the preview ended.

What's fascinating about the game is the fact that when you're online, other players will begin to join your game. No indicator tells you when others have joined, and there is no way to tell who they are. There are no names in Journey, no health bars, and no way to communicate with the other players. They simply show up on the sand, searching for the way to move ahead. When I first saw another player, I called to him using my song, and he answered. We began to play together.

That's the extent of the interaction. There is no way to play with your friends, Chen explained to me. There are no lobbies. No voice chat. You can work together if you'd like, but the game doesn't offer any ways to work against each other.

Still, finding another human player in the game feels almost joyful; in many cases I would walk toward another character and call out before flying into the air in happiness at finding someone else. Without any way of griefing, most players will simply walk with you, and I always enjoyed the company. I wondered where the players were, what they were thinking, and I wondered if they were asking themselves about me. By working together you can also enjoy a movement bonus, which aids in getting to where you're going... wherever that is.

I want to play more of this game. The experience is haunting, and it's easy to get lost in the experience of wandering, trying to piece together clues about what to do next and where to go. The sand effects are mesmerizing, and the haphazard way you run into other players is a pleasant surprise. This sort of multiplayer won't work with many games, but it's almost as if thatgamecompany successfully crowd-sourced atmosphere.

Journey is coming to the PlayStation 3 in 2011.

Listing image by Image courtesy Sony