How to play guide for Journey

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This page will serve as a basic how to play guide for Journey. Feel free to edit this guide with any tips, tricks, and suggestions.

Basic gameplay

Please consider reading Basics Guides, if you are having your first Journey or just started to play the game. Those give hints and links to other helpful articles.

PC versions

• it is recommended to start the game via the launcher (see Talk:PC Version FAQ)! For some people, it seemed they couldn't connect when not using the launcher.
• Consider using a controller; if on keyboard you might want to check "Controls" below or the in-game settings to see which buttons have a function
• Sand settings on low or medium look more grainy. Some people say its better than having it on high setting. Just try out different settings (PlayStation versions did not have that option, Journey can look differently for PC players.

Common hints

Journey is rather self-explanatory. In the first level you cannot meet a companion, so there is time to try out the controls and chirp at flyers, those little cloth pieces that fly around certain places.

The first level ends after a vision and walking through a corridor.

The Broken Bridge (BB) level is the second tutorial-like level and the first place where it's possible to encounter a companion. The Banners and Flyers will recharge your scarf. Try different Chirps/chiming/singing at the Flyers!

Cloth, in this case two Banners.

Cloth

• Banner
• Carpets
• Flyer
• Jellyfish

are like energy for you. On contact or upon approaching them they will recharge your scarf and behave in many different ways.

A Chirp bubble.

The chirp

See: Chirp

Chirp is your friend. It is a tool used to interact with the environment and activate things in the game.

Read more about different Chirps, about the Symbol it shows and some trivia in the article above.

A very long Scarf, gained through collecting Symbols.

Your scarf

See article: Scarf

Your Companion's loud Chirps will also charge your Scarf if the sound bubble hits you (applicable up to a certain distance).

Your scarf is comparable to the health or stamina bar in other games. Keep a constant eye on your and your Companion's scarf and do big chirps at your companion if you notice their scarf is emptying/empty. This is especially important when trying to fly together.

Try to keep your scarf charged via mid-flight chirps at flyers, hitting banners, etc.

Controls

Journey was naturally played with a controller, since it came out first on a console.

The table below shows the standard settings for each device.

PC Controls

Play the PC version of Journey with:

• Controller, PS4, XBOX and Logitech Controller are "confirmed" to work with the PC-version
• keyboard and mouse or
• via keyboard (only)
• Warning: the game might crash, if using the in-game option to use the RT button.

Some functions can be changed directly in the Journey options in game, see table below.

Hint: Camera movements with a controller are naturally slower than turning around with the mouse. If you are having difficulties controlling your flight, you might want to try reducing your mouse sensitivity.

iOS

iOS controls are mostly self-explanatory (other than sitting, done via tapping the upper left screensaver icon on the screen, then exiting) and are done with the thumbs by default. Or alternatively, you can connect a controller to your iPhone or iPad. See: How to connect a controller to your iPhone or iPad.

The standard settings for iOS version with controller need to be added!

General movements, on standard settings

	PS3 controller on PS3	PS4 controller on PS4	PC version: PS4 controller	PC version: XBOX controller	Keyboard/Mouse
Move your Wayfarer	left stick	left stick	left stick	left stick	WASD
Move the camera	right stick	right stick	right stick	right stick	mouse movements, arrow keys if KB only
Chirp, singing	circle	circle	circle Chirp ly can be changed to one of those: circle, square, triangle, L1, R1, L2, R2	B is standard Chirp can be changed to one of those: BXY or LeftTrigger/LeftBumper or RT/RB)	right click, space if KB only
Fly	3 options to fly: X, L1 and R1	3 options to fly: X, L1 and R1	X is standard Fly can be changed to one of those: circle, square, triangle, L1, R1, L2, R2	A is standard Fly can be changed to one of those: BXY or LeftTrigger/LeftBumper or RT/RB	left click, ctrl key if KB only
Sitting, meditating	select	options	touchpad opens the menu, sometimes it doesnt make you sit, press continue and try again	back	enter, other then on controller this will not open the menu
Screensaver, forced sitting	start	Touchpad	share, in the menu the button is called "start" (like the right button on a PS3 controller)	start	P
PS3 controller left side = select PS4 controller left side = share		PS3 controller right side = Start PS4 controller right side = options and in the middle the touchpad

Options and start buttons do more than you think

select/share/enter will make you sit down and meditate. Also used to communicate and for tricks. Since it doesn't start the screensaver it could be considered the "faster" sitting.

Start/Touchpad/P will start the screensaver, moving right (camera) stick or pressing start again will bring you back to normal view. Its also a forced sitting and used for tricks. To begin experiments with start/P button, try using the screensaver-sitting in the slide level.

To invert camera and/or controls:

PlayStation: Press Start/Touchpad, options, then press select. You have to press it several times to circle through the options (only camera inverted, only control, both).

PC version: Enter the menu -> options -> controls. There are settings for camera: OFF (standard), X, Y and X+Y (both inverted).

The Claw:

Many players use "the claw" for certain flying techniques, this is for regular/experienced players. For the normal playthrough it's totally not needed.

Advanced players might remap the controller to their comfort.

Remapping for PS or PC

You can customise your buttons with

• an extra program on PC and
• via Settings on PlayStation4
  

WARNING: Take care about remapping the RT button in the normal game settings. On xbox controller (R2 for PS controllers). Multiple users reported, it made their game crash when collecting symbols, flying into banners etc. (its a bug that might happen or not, depending or program and controller used).

Remapping can help to accomplish certain tricks easier (see Tips for the long-term traveler, Zen jump, Faceplant Jump (FPJ)).

See Hints for the regularly travelling Wayfarer, Remapping controller.

Playing offline

PC version: Playing offline without turning all network traffic off

PlayStation: How to go offline

See also

Category:Guides for further help. Click on the category at the bottom of the page for a list of guides.

• Common Behaviors
• Hints for the regularly travelling Wayfarer
• System requirements, see also Patch Notes for PC