Ancient Glyphs



Not to be confused with Symbols.

Ancient Glyphs are images that you can find scattered throughout Journey. If a player activates one, it will show a piece of Rythulia's history. Many of these overlap with the tapestries shown in the History Lessons. Others give some extra details.

Other names include:


 * Murals
 * Pictures
 * Tapestries (game files)
 * Paintings (also in game files)
 * History telling images

Glyphs can be activated by lighting up all four markers (little posts with symbols, two on each side of the glyph), either by walking close to the markers, or by chirping at them.

On the PlayStation versions, finding all ten Glyphs will earn you the History trophy.

You can see which glyphs you've collected in the Chapter Select hub; to see whether you've collected the glyph(s) for a level, just walk into the room that'll take you to that level and look at the walls. Any glyphs that you've already collected will light up, showing the image of the glyph in question.

Chapter Select
To find the glyph in the Chapter Select level, simply follow the groups of flyers leading away from where you find your first symbol. After the last group, there will be some ruins. Enter the ruins, and the glyph will be right in front of you.

Broken Bridge
The Broken Bridge glyph can be found on the east side of the level, on the wall opposite the entrance (closer to the shrine), under a symbol, behind a sandfall.

Pink Desert
Both the Pink Desert glyphs can usually be found just by following the carpets.

The first glyph is found on the eastern side of the desert, north of a set of ruins with a symbol and a carpet that you can release, but south of Shooting Star Ruins.

The second glyph is more on the western side, and is right by a carpet that you can release.

Sunken City
The first glyph in the Sunken City level is found in the "rest stop" area, opposite of where you enter it from, near a group of flyers. Chirping at the flyers should help you to reach it. It's in a room past a set of ruined stairs.

The second glyph is found after you fall into the dark area at the end of the level, to the left of the Shrine.

Underground
The glyph in the Underground is found in the room where a group of flyers get eaten by a War Machine, directly to the left of the entrance, built into the wall.

Tower
The Tower glyph can be found in the room that the whale comes out of.

Snow
The first glyph in the Snow level can be found in the lantern shelter. You can either fly up to the ledge that it's on, or chirp at the flyers that come from above.

The second glyph - and the last in the game - is in a cave at the end of the first field that war machines patrol. You can find the cave either by hugging the left wall from the entrance of that field, or by going to the end of the field and looking to the left.

Story Glyphs in the Tower level
There are five glyphs in the Tower level that players are led to activate as part of the story. These show the stages of your own current journey, each glyph representing one chapter. The glyphs will display the Wayfarer traveling alone or with a companion, depending on whether you had a companion in a given chapter. The same glyphs are also shown in the History Lesson at the end of the level.

Here they are in order of their activation (which is not the chronological order of the scenes as they appear in the game):

Even though the glyphs are out of order, the game will show you with the right companion for the right chapter; for example, if you didn't meet a player until you got to the Underground, only the third Tower glyph will show you with a companion.

Unused Glyphs
There are many unused glyphs from earlier in development, found in leftover game files and/or files from the PS3 public beta. See images in Glyphs section of the Development page.

Trivia

 * In both the Glyphs and the History Lessons, living things will usually have a little square by their 'heart' (or 'root') with a glowing dot inside, representing their 'light' (life energy, spirit, etc.). You will also see a sphere-like glow under your robe, it could be seen as a little Comet and it also makes sense if you consider the ending sequence of the game. However, glyphs and History Lessons showing dead things will show that box without the little dot, as if their 'light' has gone out.
 * Art director Matt Nava initially wanted glyphs to appear carved in stone, but due to memory limitations had to resort to what has become Journey's signature "pixel art" style.
 * In his GDC2013 presentation Matt mentioned that "they went to 128x64 instead" which this Wiki for a long time considered to be a mistake (since the texture he demonstrated was 256x128 pixels, same as PS3 and subsequent game versions). However, some of the beta textures rediscovered in March 2021 appear to be 2x upscaled versions of 128x64 pixel art (most prominently the one with Flow Creatures, on which vertical ornaments count precisely to 64 "pixels"). This suggests that Matt's statement was in fact correct.
 * The name "tapestry" comes from the fact that, until very late stages of development the images in History Lessons would wave slightly as if they were made of soft fabric like a flag or, indeed, a woven tapestry.

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