E3 is a show about spectacle. In a year with two major console launches, it wasn’t hard to find dozens of great looking games littered across the massive Los Angeles Convention Center showing off their incredible lifelike graphics, realistic characters, new motion capture technology or dynamic lighting. But even among these technical powerhouses, a simple, colorful game called Hohokum in Sony’s booth is one of very few I’d describe as “beautiful,” and the one I find myself thinking about most as I leave the show floor.

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“ The game's very hard to describe, because it's very non-linear. There's no penalties, you can't die. It's very much about exploration.

Hohokum is headed to PS3, PS4 and Vita and comes from Frobisher Says! developer Honeyslug Games. It's developed in collaboration with graphic artist Richard Hogg and unlike most games, there’s no score, no time limit, and no tutorial. Instead, Hohokum is simply about the beauty of exploring."The game's very hard to describe, because it's very non-linear. There's no penalties, you can't die. It's very much about exploration,” producer Zach Wood told IGN. “It's divided into worlds, and every world has a cast of characters. There's an overarching goal of every world, but the way the game is structured it's not set up so there's a linear progression. The entire game is open when you first play the game. It's all there to just explore and have fun with, so even though there are clear game-type goals for every world, it's not presented as if that's the only thing. It's sort of meant to be a game that is fun to be in and interact with.”We had a chance to play Hohokum on PlayStation 4, trying out its exploration for ourselves. While your path flying through Hohokum is mostly abstract, players do have a wide range of control over the Long Mover as they explore. The Circle and X buttons can be used to slow down or speed up your movement, and triggers will cause the snake to wiggle, allowing players to get an additional boost. The Long Mover also changes color based upon the direction you're facing, and the DualShock 4's light bar changes to match.In an area called Lamp Lighting, we flew past beautiful silhouettes, activating lights as we went. With each light that turned on, a new layer of music came in, building as we continued to fly through the world. To access each new area, players also have to fly through and activate a series of color-changing circles, each of which plays its own music note. Completing the circle opens a portal that allows players to travel to the next world."It definitely has game structure, and every world has a very clear goal, a primary goal,” Wood explained. “There are secondary and tertiary activities in every world, but it's just not presented as you come into an environment like 'here's what you do.' They're using a lot of visual and audio cues to explain the game’s language."Another area we saw brought us underwater, swimming past pods that were only visible as we came in contact with them and collecting fish that swam alongside us. We found an adorable pink character in need of rescue, but also encountered a huge anchor fish that scared her off and prevented us from escorting her to the area’s exit. Eventually, the level had us find some fish who could eat rusty food and attack the anchor, causing it to rust into place and allowing us to pass, rewarding us with a short cutscene.“There isn’t really a story, but there’s definitely kind of a character mythology that we’ll be expanding upon,” Wood told us.While we didn’t get a chance to try out Hohokum on PS3, a Vita version on the show floor looked as gorgeous as PlayStation 4, with the OLED screen causing the game’s colors to pop in a way reminiscent of Sound Shapes. All three versions are due out in 2014, and you can expect more impressions on IGN leading up to their release.Until then, find a few more details about Hohokum in the game’s original announcement

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.