A New Chapter, A Familiar Climb
Just recently, I reviewed an extremely challenging, indie platformer titled Journey of Johann: Snowy Mountain; a promising, yet deeply flawed game. Snowy Mountain was part two of what is now a three-part Johann journey, ranging from grasslands to mountains, and now to the latest title, Journey of Johann: Cave Explorer.
I was understandably skeptical upon my departure to review this title, after all, my experience with its predecessor had not been so welcoming. Despite this, I put all preconceived thoughts in my head to rest, and booted up the title screen. What came next was a journey of triumph, death (lots of that), speedrunning challenges… oh yeah, and of course Johann.
The Platforming Cog
You’re thrown straight into the deep end, no handholding in sight, simply a weapon in front of you and a few signposts explaining your goal. I appreciate this approach, after all, we’ve all played games before and are aware of how they work. These signposts explain the three major aspects Journey of Johann: Cave Explorer revolves around, and they go as follows. A double jump, still able to be used after walking off a ledge; the various weapons scattered around, used to defeat enemies or throw into walls and use as a platform; and finally, the two forms of collectibles, both with no incentive but there to be collected regardless.
Let’s look further into all of these and how they function as three cogs of one machine.
Weapon Bounces and Speedrunning Tricks:
The double jump works exactly as you’d expect, you can jump once… and then again! On a more serious note, the double jump in Journey of Johann: Cave Explorer plays a crucial role due to the level design often revolving around it. It can be used to overtake foes, find secret passages, or, the aspect I view as most interesting, jump on weapons. As stated earlier, you can throw weapons to use as a platform – granted there is a surface for it to embed itself into – spawning various associated movement tech. Once in a wall, if you jump, pick the weapon up, throw it into the wall once more, and finally use your double jump, you can combine these two techniques into a much-needed speedrunning trick.
This aspect of combining mechanics to create new tricks boosts the quality, longevity, and originality, all at once, for Journey of Johann: Cave Explorer. It creates a unique system where you not only discover these tricks yourself, but create personal runs through stages using each little mechanic you discover, thus leaving a distinct personality to the title.
Verticality and Artificial Difficulty
The final major aspect is collectibles, and how exactly do they come into play? There are two forms of collectibles, goblets and secret goat head things (I never did learn what they were called). It’s nice to have some form of collectibles in Journey of Johann: Cave Explorer, but unfortunately, they’re plagued with problems. There is no incentive to obtain these secrets – unless you’re an achievement hunter such as myself – leaving these collectibles something I wanted to disregard. Add to this, many of the goblets are placed in silly locations or behind obstacles which honestly just feel like luck to stumble across. And that means you have a collectible system that leaves a sour taste in a playthrough.
This sour taste also reflects much of the level design present here, stage design that, quite frankly, yo-yos through highs and lows. The majority of stages focus on verticality – after all your double jump is a crucial mechanic – allowing for weapons in walls to come to the forefront, and Johann to traverse them. There are a few, however, that do focus on horizontal design, such as the Indiana Jones inspired stage, during which boulders chase you towards the finish line.
Both these forms of stages occupy the highs this title experiences, and, by the sounds of it, no flaws can be seen, so where do they come in? These often thought-out, challenging indie platforming stages are juxtaposed by a design philosophy of “Let’s throw as many obstacles in as tightly packed an area as we can and see what happens!”. The former stages work brilliantly, taking lessons from Celeste and various other titans of the genre, yet the latter dampens your experience with the game, with a design philosophy not based on skill, but rather artificial difficulty.
There is one final aspect of Journey of Johann: Cave Explorer that I believe is crucial to the game’s quality… and thankfully, it’s for the better. There is a distinct and prominent focus on speedrunning; medals are awarded for faster times, and stats on your best and current runs are displayed at the end of each stage. The various pairings of mechanics to create your own little tricks, and the hidden shortcuts occupying stages, culminates into a speedrunning focus, leaving so much replay value in Journey of Johann: Cave Explorer.
A Unique Platformer Driven by Speed and Discovery
Originality is always present in Journey of Johann: Cave Explorer, whether it’s for good or bad, but that is where the issues arise; a distinct, speedrunning-based foundation of gameplay is often juxtaposed through poorly designed stages, feeling as though they were thrown together. No matter your conclusion, it’s clear there is an abundance of fun to be had with Johann’s latest chapter – the real question is, how long will that enjoyment last?
Important Links
Continue the Adventure with Journey of Johann: Cave Explorer – https://www.thexboxhub.com/continue-the-adventure-with-journey-of-johann-cave-explorer/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/journey-of-johann-cave-explorer/9P0P9C7MKBDT/0010
There’s a Bundle too – http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/journey-of-johann-biome-bundle/9N9BBJZT56PV/0010
