The Journey Down is now complete, all three chapters released
The longest journey
"Episodic adventure" is a term that, aside from the grisly churn of Telltale's erratic model, has pretty much been abandoned by the industry. Tried it, didn't work. And it was especially risky for small indie studios who all discovered, simultaneously, that it takes a really, really long time to make an adventure game, even if you split up the task. Hence the really superb The Journey Down [official site] having its first chapter appear in 2012, its second a hefty two years later in 2014, and now it's third and final a whopping three years later than that. This was never the plan. But it's complete! And out now, with a trailer below.
Years-long gaps are clearly a massive risk for something so low profile, and there's a really good chance that if you enjoyed The Journey Down - which you likely did if you played it - you're still going to have to remind yourself what it was all about.
It was all about a Jamaican pilot, Bwana, in a dystopian city, stumbling upon a conspiracy involving mega corporations. Together with Kito and Lina, they explode past The Edge, and find adventures in the Underland. And by chapter two, it was all really very splendid. I've yet to play the final part, but plan to this week to report my thoughts. In the meantime, here's the trailer - not entirely sure how great a choice it was to have Gravelly Trailer Man lending perhaps a little too much gravitas, but still, bold move.
The game's out on Steam and GOG now for £13.50/$18/18€, or you can get it bundled with the first two chapters for £23/$31/31€, all those prices going up by the end of the week.