Thatgamecompany’s co-founder Jenova Chen has revealed that Journey will not let you play with your friends during the game’s co-op, and instead pair you with a "completely random person" each time you play.
Speaking to GamerZines at a London event earlier this week, Chen said that letting you play with your friends "could dilute what the game is about", and that who the other person is "doesn’t matter".
"The sands are unknown," said Chen. "If you know your friends then when you play this game you’ll be thinking about ‘what is Tom or Jimmy thinking?’, and that’s not really what we want you to feel.
"You shouldn’t know who the other person and why should you care whether this other ‘journeyer’ is a 60 year old woman or a kid; that doesn’t matter. We want to keep the experience within this world, and we felt that friends could dilute what the game is about."
When we asked whether that may intimidate some players, Chen replied that Journey offers "a more social experience than most other online multiplayer games, even though you don’t get to speak", with producer Robin Hunicke adding that "if you play the whole game with someone else, that means they chose you, and that is an intimate decision."
The game lets players play with another companion throughout their journey, with communication limited to in-game sound effects activated by the circle button. The game won’t display the other person’s PlayStation ID, either.
Journey is thatgamecompany’s next PSN title, following on from the critical darlings fl0w and Flower. It follows the adventure of a mysterious character journeying across the desert towards a distant mountain. The game is set for launch in 2011.
Tags: Journey
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