The Journey Down: Chapter One

The Journey Down: Chapter One is surprisingly involved for a smaller introduction of a larger tale. The story is easy to follow, but definitely has its share of surprises. It's a fulfilling download, and refreshing in that it can successfully imitate in the true sense what made point and click graphic adventures great to begin with.

The Journey Down: Chapter One limits itself to simply laying down the premise of a promising narrative but, unfortunately, limits itself to just that and is altogether over fairly quickly. It does nothing else wrong in terms of gameplay or presentation, though, even if the choice of character art is a bit out of left field and hard to adjust to, at first. Player interactions with the humorous plot and colourful cast of NPCs are what build the sympathy towards Bwana, the protagonist, and his companions. Here's hoping that the one thing that falls a bit short here builds up more in the sequels.

As a point and click adventure fan I fully recommend this to those who are fans of the genre. The unique settings, the loveable cast of characters and return to the glory days of puzzle solving makes the game a real joy. While it takes a while for the story to build and the characters to evolve the payoff is worth it, and you will want to see the story through to its conclusion.

The Journey Down: Chapter One is an alright start to a series, more context is needed however to make the characters matter more.

The Journey Down: Chapter One is a great start to the trilogy. You'll have a lot of fun during the 2-3 hours it will take you to complete it, and by then you'll be more than ready to dive into the next chapter to see where the story takes Bwakna, Kito and the rest of the cast. Luckily the wait won't be long since the second chapter has just released on Nintendo Switch, with the third one right around the corner!

All in all the somewhat light and silly tone of the game, its puzzles, and characters make for an entertaining few hours and the stage seems to be set well for the rest of the story to unfold. I wouldn’t say it is the best example of the genre on the Switch, and people who typically don’t enjoy these sorts of games would be unlikely to find this one to be any different. However, if you’re looking for some humor, some oddball puzzles, and the start of what could be a light but interesting story The Journey Down: Chapter One seems to get things off to a promising start overall.

The Journey Down: Chapter One is a bit on the short side since, if you have experience with the point and click adventure genre, you'll be done with this one in less than two hours. The first episode does do a great job of setting things up for the other two entries in the trilogy which are releasing later in the year, so if you like what this one has to offer I suggest that you get the full trilogy in one go so that you can pay the next two as soon as they go live! The second and third chapters are longer, and I can't wait to play them on PS4!