Niahak's Place

The resolution of Bootes brings you another Macguffin that allows you to travel to the realm of Sector C: Codename, Carina. Also known as the furthest I got in the original release of Strange Journey, although Carina is much more tolerable than Bootes I sensed the game was turning in a direction of less narrative, and I think the spartan way that the original Strange Journey told the story was also making it hard for me to stick with it.

I was wrong on the first count, actually. Although it’s true that the actual mechanics of sector traversal in Strange Journey (and Redux) remain fairly static, the world – both outer and inner (Schwarzwelt) does change and the narrative keeps on trucking.

But the relative dearth of story between the end of Bootes and the middle of Carina is a little hard to take, especially because you’re going from one “excess” to another thematically. Honestly, the character portraits and voice acting – even if undubbed – give the game overall a considerable amount of additional flavor. Yes, Redux is otherwise less difficult (you can change that!), and that removes some of the tension – but I just don’t buy the argument I’ve seen that the original Strange Journey is better so far. Yes, the endings might change that – but I didn’t get to the original’s endings, and I’m not going to replay the original to get there. Maybe I’ll look up videos sometime.

Actually, this segues nicely into the entire purpose of these “let’s play”-ish blog entries. Why start with Strange Journey?

After reaching the end of Antlia, the overall cadence of Strange Journey becomes clearer. First, you encounter and recoil at another strange new plane. Then, you discover who’s in charge and what they’re doing, and through finding the right Forma or getting the right pseudo-divine guidance, you defeat them.