Summary
When it comes to text-free and text-light storytelling, one name stands above all others: Thatgamecompany’s 2012 hitJourney,in which players speak to one another using nothing but a distinctive musical chime.Journeytells a complex and heart-touching story without a single word of dialogue exchanged between players. When developing their upcoming titleKoira,which also tells a story without text or dialogue, Studio Tolima took significant inspiration fromJourney.Other titles that inspiredKoirainclude Mountains’Florence,which utilizes minimal written dialogue and focuses on visual-based puzzles.
In a conversation with Game Rant, Studio Tolima head andKoiragame director Ben Lega discussed specific elements ofJourneyandFlorencethat he kept in mind while makingKoira,which is his studio’s debut indie game. These included the two games' striking visuals, focus on audio, and minimal or fully absent use of text. He also briefly mentioned other inspirations that contributed toKoira,including his likening the game’s visual style to a children’s storybook. Lega also discussed how composer Reginald Nowe, who createdKoira’ssoundtrack, drew from the musical works of Max Richter, whose compositions have featured inThe Handmaid’s Tale,The Last of UsTV show, and more, and Yan Tiersen, best known for composing the score to the highly regarded filmAmelie.
Koira, Like Journey, Tells A Story With No Dialogue
Journeyis a beautiful, cinematic experience that tells the story of a robed traveler making their way through a vast desert with the goal of scaling a mysterious mountain. It uses no dialogue or text at all, instead focusing on how players physically interact with the many elements of the world and use music to communicate with other travels. It was received extremely positively, won many awards, and is often considered to be one of the best video games of all time. When revealing which elements ofJourneyinspiredKoira,Lega had this to say:
Journey [was inspiring] for its cinematic approach and how they make the player intensely feel the story through mechanic progression and staging.
Koira,likeJourney,centers around the interactions between two voiceless characters - in this case, a humanoid and a lost puppy. The two games' aesthetics are nearly opposites, withJourneytaking place in a hot, sandy desert andKoirain a snow-bound woodland, but many similarities can be seen. LikeJourney’stravelers, the protagonist and puppy communicate via music and progress by interacting with mysterious objects and creatures that often lead to puzzles which need to be solved.
Florence Features A Poetic Story And Evolving Mechanics
Florenceis an interactive, story-rich game developed by Mountains and published byAnnapurna Interactive; it released in 2018 for iOS and Android and expanded to several other platforms in 2020. It utilizes minimal text to tell the story of Florence Yeoh’s life and relationship with partner Krish over a series of short chapters. The game is notable for its evolving mechanics, where factors like puzzle difficulty are affected by Florence’s mental state, confidence in her current situation, and other factors.
Lega and his team took note of howFlorencetold “a simple and poetic story with very few words.” He also appreciated how “[Florence’s]mechanics keep evolving to reflect the current moment of the story.“Koirautilizes similar evolving mechanics as the protagonist and the puppy travel deeper into the forest and learn to work together as they grow closer and unlock the ability to progress by performing magical melodies together. Players who previously enjoyedJourneyandFlorencecan get a taste ofKoirawhen its demo drops later in summer 2024; the full game is currently scheduled to release in 2025.
