In Journey, the player controls a robed figure in a vast desert, traveling towards a mountain in the distance. This use of a rob turns character androgynous so no one can attach a gender to it and this genius use of a rob breaks the stereotype in a game where every character would have been attached with a “male” or “female” sex.

Other players on the same journey can be discovered, and two players can meet and assist each other, but they cannot communicate via speech or text and cannot see each other’s names until after the game’s credits. The only form of communication between the two is a musical chime, which transforms dull pieces of cloth found throughout the levels into vibrant red, affecting the game world and allowing the player to progress through the levels. The developers sought to evoke in the player a sense of smallness and wonder, and to forge an emotional connection between them and the anonymous players they meet along the way. The music, composed by Austin Wintory, dynamically responds to the player’s actions, building a single theme to represent the game’s emotional arc throughout the story.