“It wasn’t like there was some obvious change. Actually, the problem was more a lack of change. Nothing about her had changed – the way she spoke, her clothes, the topics she chose to talk about, her opinions – they were all the same as before. Their relationship was like a pendulum gradually grinding to a halt, and he felt out of synch.” –Haruki Murakami, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

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Gameplay: 6/10

Original Journey boasts that it contains “hundreds of procedurally generated levels,” but that seems like an exaggeration, or perhaps a misnomer. What separates procedural generation from random generation is that procedural generation incorporates an element of intelligence into its randomizations, utilizing algorithms that are designed to react to the way the player plays. While the priority in most other contexts is quality over quantity, randomization and random/procedural generation in games should ideally value both quality and quantity equally.

Imagine picking names out of a hat when there are only one or two names to draw from: luck and chance are lost. Randomization emphasizes the thrill of gambling, the never-know-what-you’re-gonna-get aspect of luck and chance. That, to us humans, will always be fun, as we seek enjoyment from defeating the odds, that universal villain.

In roguelike games like The Binding of Isaac, there are so many options, so many possibilities, that it’s quite possible that you haven’t seen every in-game item or combination of items even after having played for over a hundred hours. On top of that, you are always being rewarded with new items, some bad and some game-breaking, so that you’re constantly hoping for something to replenish your health with, or something to speed up your character, and to eventually get you to that next room.

Replayability: 4/10

While Original Journey doesn’t necessarily fail all of these facets of randomization, neither does it pass them with flying colours. Its levels and enemy spawns are randomly generated, true, but there is no apparent rhyme or reason as to why they are generated in the way they are. Simple quantity is one glaring hole in this game’s content–a sheer lack of options. Enemy types are few, and within only a few runs into the randomly created game world, you will have seen them all. Within that same time frame, you will have unlocked most purchasable equipment, and the initial wonderment for the world of possible possibilities, which I do confess was something I felt at the outset, will have vanished. Multiple varieties of weapon types can be obtained, such as a lightning saber or a grenade launcher, but it felt like the selection was unbalanced, and that there were only a select couple of practical choices.

Uniqueness: 5/10

I believe that it’s also worth bringing up the debate of procedurally generated versus handcrafted level design. The benefit of meticulously handcrafting the levels of a game shines in the specific personality that is created from each level. The relationship between the player and the game, such as one of a helicopter parent à la Kirby or the Stockholmian abuser Super Meat Boy, is meant to make the player feel a certain way. That element is, naturally, lost in some significant amount when it comes to procedural generation, as games incorporating the latter will occasionally feel artificial and repetitive, as if you might as well be operating a conveyor belt.

In the case of Original Journey, handcrafting its levels would have proven problematic, since every stage takes only 20-30 seconds, and you’re quickly swept off to the next task. However, not all of Original Journey seems formulaically factory-produced: its bosses, of which there are only a small handful (and which I wish were a larger portion of the gameplay) are perhaps the most engaging section of the experience. While not necessarily handcrafted, the bosses’ mechanics are much more demanding of the player, and operate in much more predictable configurations. That might seem like a knock on other games, but the predictability of some of the boss battles demands that players must get to know the enemies before they can be beaten.

Click here for the full review... https://thewellredmage.com/2017/10/01/original-journey/