''The Journey Down'' is an episodic

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

for

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

and

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

Skygoblin Skygoblin is a Swedish video game developer based in Gothenburg, formed in 2005 as SLX Games. They became Skygoblin in 2011, after they adopted the name used by the development group of the freeware version of The Journey Down. They developed th ...

. An Android version is currently in development. ''The Journey Down: Chapter One'' was based on a low-resolution

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the f ...

adventure game, called ''The Journey Down: Over the Edge''. ''The Journey Down: Chapter One'' improves on the freeware version with high definition graphics, full voiceovers, plus some additional locations and puzzles. The rest of the chapters will be presented in the high definition style of the commercial

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...

of ''Chapter One''.

Episodes

The game was released in chapters. There are three chapters in total. *''Chapter One: Over the Edge'' (2010) *''Chapter Two: Into the Mist'' (2014) *''Chapter Three'' (2017)

Plot

''Chapter One: Over the Edge''

A pair of mobsters storm the office of a university professor, only to find the professor missing. The trail eventually leads to the waterfront Gas 'n' Charter, which has been run by Bwana and Kito ever since they were mysteriously abandoned by their adoptive father. When given the opportunity to help a young woman named Lina, the pair jump at the chance, as they are seriously behind on their electricity bills. Lina is seeking a lost book that may hold the illegal secret to reaching the Underland. Unfortunately, their airplane hasn't been flown in years, and will need a variety of parts and repairs in order to take off.

''Chapter Two: Into the Mist''

The group heads to the gloomy, mist shrouded town of Port Artue. Upon arrival, the trio find themselves confronted by local police. Bwana and Kito are thrown in jail, and Lina is taken away by the police chief. Bwana and Kito then attempt to find a way to escape from prison, find Lina, and attempt to discover how their adoptive father was connected to the mystery of the Underland.

''Chapter Three''

In the final chapter, the trio heads into the depths of the Underland where they discover a huge mining facility belonging to the Armando Power Company. Bwana and Kito return to the city of St Armando in hopes of finding Professor Moorhead who they believe can help them stop the power company, while Lina ventures further into the Underland.

Release

The low definition freeware version of ''The Journey Down: Over the Edge'' was released in 2010. The commercial high definition remake of ''The Journey Down: Chapter One'' was originally scheduled to be released in March 2012, but the release was pushed back to May 2012. The first chapter was included in the

Indie Royale Indie Royale was a website that offered digital bundles of video games with a pay-what-you-want system. Each bundle came with a minimum price that increased as more bundles were sold, incentivizing early purchases. Indie Royale was launched in ...

summer bundle in June 2012. The second chapter was released for Windows, Mac, Linux, and iOS simultaneously in August 2014. The third chapter was released for Windows, Mac, Linux, and iOS simultaneously on 21 September 2017. The three chapters were released together as a trilogy for PlayStation 4 on 29 May 2018, Xbox One on 1 June 2018 and Nintendo Switch on 21 February 2019.

Kickstarter

On October 1, 2015, a

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

campaign on

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

was started to raise funding for the third chapter of ''The Journey Down'' with a goal of 300.000 SEK. The campaign raised a total of 409.237 SEK.

Reception

The first chapter was met with mostly positive reception. For the Windows version of episode one, the video game review aggregator website,

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

lists a review average of 74.11%, and

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

lists a review average of 72%. The iOS version of episode one fared better, with a review average of 80% on both Metacritic and GameRankings. The second chapter was received better than the first, with a review average of 84% for the Windows version and a review average of 88% for the iOS version on Gamerankings, and a review average of 78% for the Windows version and a review average of 89% for the iOS version on Metacritic.

References

External links

''The Journey Down'' website

''The Journey Down'' Kickstarter campaign
{{DEFAULTSORT:Journey Down, The 2010 video games 2012 video games 2014 video games 2016 video games Episodic video games Freeware games Adventure Game Studio games Linux games MacOS games Point-and-click adventure games Video games developed in Sweden Windows games IOS games Single-player video games