The Sojourn
- September 20, 2019
- Shifting Tides
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Get on Epic Games StoreThe Sojourn is a single-player mystery action game with a good plot, graphics, and soundtrack. Players traverse through a thought-provoking puzzle game in a beautiful, color-drenched world of light and shadow. With dozens of challenging puzzles across four chapters, players must banish darkness to reveal obstacles and unravel the game's captivating tale of light, darkness, and reality.
PC
Playstation 4
Steam Deck
Windows
Xbox One
Xbox Series X|S
PlayStation
Xbox
Reviews
- The Sojourn features beautiful visuals and a calming atmosphere, enhanced by its music.
- The puzzles are engaging and provide a satisfying challenge, with a good difficulty curve that gradually introduces new mechanics.
- The game offers a unique light and dark world mechanic that adds depth to the puzzle-solving experience.
- The game suffers from slow movement speed and lacks a sprint option, making navigation tedious.
- Many puzzles can feel repetitive and overly complex, leading to frustration rather than enjoyment.
- The story is vague and poorly integrated, leaving players feeling disconnected from the narrative.
- story110 mentions
- 15 % positive mentions
- 78 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The story in the game is largely abstract and conveyed through static imagery, primarily statues, rather than a coherent narrative, leading to confusion among players. Many reviewers found the storytelling vague and lacking depth, often feeling that it detracted from the puzzle-solving experience. While some appreciated the artistic presentation, the overall consensus is that the game prioritizes puzzles over a meaningful story, resulting in a monotonous experience for those seeking a compelling narrative.
“The abstract story so far is very interesting and mysterious.”
“Beautiful graphics, great music, and a compelling story.”
“The story begins with following beings of light into an environment that unfolds before you.”
“The story that does exist is told in the abstract, through imagery, rather than dialogue.”
“There is no story, there are no distractions of any kind, so it does become quite monotonous about halfway through and just feels like a chore.”
“A game this focused on puzzles doesn't need a story so there shouldn't have been an attempt at creating one, because it turned out to be confusing and distracts from the puzzle experience.”
- gameplay92 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 84 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The gameplay is centered around progressively complex puzzles that utilize a variety of mechanics, including light/dark worlds and timing challenges. While many players appreciate the gradual introduction of new elements and the overall challenge, some express frustration with the need for precise timing and backtracking, which can detract from the puzzle-solving experience. Overall, the mechanics are well-crafted and engaging, but the execution may not fully meet the expectations of those seeking a deeply challenging puzzle game.
“The mechanics slowly expand over the course of the game and it is just the right length to not get too repetitive.”
“I love the mechanics, the dark world, the introduction of new elements is very fair and slow to get you used to it before hitting you with harder stuff.”
“Game mechanics were great, no glitches, graphics are very well done, easy to navigate and views were very smooth.”
“What would otherwise have been a truly fascinating 'almost entirely pure puzzle' game, with mechanics that bend your mind in all sorts of fascinating ways, is completely ruined for me because -- just every once in a while -- you need to do something with split-second precision timing.”
“Here's what is not my idea of fun: twisting my brain around the light/dark mechanics, figuring out what I need to do in order to progress through the level, and then having to pause the game, activate a CPU throttler, play through the stupid time-sensitive portion at one-quarter speed, then re-enable normal speed, and continue.”
“The puzzles way too often are closer to annoying than hard, the walking speed is terribly slow, the 'dark world' adds a flamey border around the screen which just obscures half of it and makes the game uncomfortable, and some of the mechanics are a real pain (like when you have to go on a thin ledge backwards, without being able to see where you're going, while having to point the camera exactly at one specific point because if you lose that point from your sight, the ledge vanishes).”
- graphics46 mentions
- 83 % positive mentions
- 11 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game are generally praised for their beauty and stunning visuals, with particular highlights on the lighting and atmosphere. However, some players noted that the environments can become repetitive over time, and while the visuals are appealing, they may not be enough to sustain interest without engaging gameplay or a compelling story. Overall, the art style is clean and well-executed, contributing positively to the gaming experience.
“The first thing I noticed about this game was it has awesome lighting and great atmosphere; the graphics were simple yet stunning.”
“Graphics are truly gorgeous, there's a lot of work in creating the world.”
“Amazing visuals, solid story, and fantastic wisdom bits that you will want to write down.”
“You wouldn't want to play this game just for the graphics or the bare-bones story though.”
“The only bizarre part is the artwork and statues tell some silent story that's pointless.”
“The art style is clean, but it doesn't elevate the overall experience.”
- music36 mentions
- 39 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its soothing and relaxing qualities, enhancing the overall atmosphere and complementing the beautiful visuals. While some players noted that the soundtrack could be more varied and frequent, it generally serves its purpose well, providing a pleasant backdrop to the gameplay. Overall, the music is considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's charm despite some criticisms of the repetitive nature of the puzzles.
“Loved the art and the atmosphere that the music creates!”
“The art style is clean and the soundtrack is surprisingly good.”
“Beautiful graphics, great music, and a compelling story.”
“Soundtrack does its job and I barely noticed it aside from a few ambient noises.”
“Gameplay can be summarized as 'solve puzzle' and then 'move to next puzzle.' Although the scenery is lovely and the soundtrack enjoyable, the repetitive nature of the challenges is exhausting.”
“Imho the form (CG, SFX, music, merits) is better than the content (puzzles, gameplay).”
- grinding10 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, with many expressing frustration over the lack of engaging storytelling to connect the puzzles. While some levels provide a satisfying challenge, others lead to impatience and a desire to skip side content, with several users contemplating uninstalling the game due to the repetitive nature of certain tasks. Overall, the experience can feel laborious, detracting from the enjoyment of the gameplay.
“I started the game clearing all the bonus puzzles, but they became tedious and I was impatient, so I mainlined the main path instead. Even then, I was very close to uninstalling this game multiple times before the end.”
“Tedious; the first game I've ever skipped all the side stuff in my life.”
“Decent, but I think there isn't enough storytelling weaving the puzzles together, so it feels somewhat tedious sometimes.”
- atmosphere6 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its stunning art and effective use of lighting, creating a relaxing experience enhanced by the music. Players appreciate the combination of simple yet beautiful graphics and a walking simulator vibe, contributing to an overall enjoyable and immersive environment.
“Loved the art and the atmosphere that the music creates!”
“The first thing I noticed about this game was it has awesome lighting and great atmosphere; the graphics were simple yet stunning.”
“A great medium-level puzzle game with a walking simulator type atmosphere, so it felt very relaxing overall.”
- stability6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's stability is generally solid, with smooth graphics and navigation. However, some users report occasional glitches that, while uncommon, can disrupt the gameplay experience. The repetitive nature of the puzzles may also contribute to a sense of monotony.
“Game mechanics were great, no glitches, graphics are very well done, easy to navigate, and views were very smooth.”
“Repetitive and (mostly) easy puzzles one after another combine with some glitches (no answer on the forum).”
“I do not want to call them glitches since they are so uncommon and they do fall within the rules of the game, but they are common enough to break the monotony of the levels.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviewers suggest that the humor in the game can become repetitive and less effective over time, similar to binge-watching a comedy show where predictable patterns diminish the enjoyment. The lack of variety beyond puzzles contributes to this diminishing comedic impact.
