ABZÛ Review

ABZÛ, roughly translatied from ancient Sumerian, means ‘The Ocean of Wisdom’.  You find yourself playing as an unnamed diver, descending into the ocean ever deeper. You explore, see strange creatures, you meditate and you learn the secrets of olde. ABZÛ is by heart an exploration game. It is set in a stunningly beautiful ocean world where you will find a plethora of sea creatures in a vast environment, everything from kelp forests to old civilisazion fortresses.

Throughout the game you swim around quite freely with a nice fluid feeling. You can grab on to other, larger sea creatures for a ride as well. The further you progress, the more you learn of the history of the world. Not everything is what it seems, and the calm waters are disturbed by machinery. It is up to you to save the ocean.

ABZÛ is first and foremost an adventure game – you explore as the main part of the game, finding the linear path through the game. It is similar to other walking simulators, albeit here you swim instead of walking. There is not really any action, and the narrative is pushed further by the player’s exploration. Swimming through ancient ruins, lovely kelp forests and among old alien technology there is plenty to look at. If you are inclined, you can even focus on a specific fish and study it’s movements.

In between ‘chapters’ you swim into the spirit world of specific sea creatures in order to save that part of the ocean, in effect repopulating said area with plants and sea life. This also serves as the main goal of the game – to restore the sea back to life using sonar calls. It’s a nice theme, natuarlly leading to thoughts of conservation of nature.

The game itself, as mentioned, is stunning to look at. The oceanic nature is gorgeous to look at, and there is not many places where you don’t have anything to look at. There is a good contrast between the beautiful ocean and the robotic machinery, which goes hand in hand with the theme of the game. The movement of your character is smooth (and best done with a controller). The story is interesting. There is no voiceover, so everything relies on sight and sound which by no means is a bad thing – on the contrary it works flawlessly.

The music is elegant and rather beautiful. It is composed by the same guy who made the music for Journey, Austin Wintory. It all brings together a unique gaming experience, a ‘walking simulator’ like no other in it’s own right. Very much worth picking up, it is one of those games that makes you forget the real world as you immerse into the beautiful landscape of ABZÛ’s ocean world. If you enjoyed Journey’s warm desert you will find a sweet treat in the cool ocean ABZÛ’ has to offer. A nice, relaxing adventure game that gets every recommendation possible from here!