7.8 /10 1 Votes
Director(s) Matt Nava Engine Unreal Engine 4 Mode(s) Single-player Developer Giant Squid Publisher 505 Games | 78% Metacritic Artist(s) Matt Nava Release date(s) WW: August 2, 2016 Initial release date 2 August 2016 Composer Austin Wintory | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Platforms PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows Genres Adventure game, Art game, Simulation game Similar 505 games, Adventure games | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Abzû (stylized as ABZÛ) is an adventure video game developed by Giant Squid Studios and published by 505 Games for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows. The game was released on August 2, 2016.
Contents
Gameplay
The game emphasizes swimming and exploring peaceful interactions with aquatic animals. It simulates the shoaling and predatory behaviours between fish, and incorporates interaction with them. The progression through the game is linear, rather than open-world sandbox, though the environments are designed to be explored. Individual chapters of the game are set in different areas of the sea, including caverns, deep oceanic areas, coral reefs and flooded ruins.
Development
'Abzû' is the first game under development by video game studio "Giant Squid", founded by Flower and Journey art director Matt Nava, to be released After completing work on Journey, which Nava describes as "A Very lonely game" he wanted to make a game that "was full of life". To do so Nava used his love of scuba diving as a basis, calling the hobby "An extremely magical experience". Its name derives from the ancient words "ab" (ocean) and "zu" (to know), intended to be interpreted as "ocean of wisdom". This is analogous to Abzu, the ancient Mesopotamian name for the religious concept of a primeval sea.
