Journey of the Gods

Journey of the Gods is an action-adventure from studio 1st Playable Productions, released on Quest in 2021, openly drawing inspiration from classic Zelda games on consoles and handhelds. The player takes on the role of a warrior who sets out to awaken long-sleeping gods in order to overthrow the tyrannical ruler controlling the land, exploring along the way a vast open world full of temples, side quests, hidden treasures, and small environmental puzzles scattered across the landscape. The map gradually opens up as the player gains new abilities that allow access to previously unreachable areas.

The combat system combines sword and shield with a bow and various magical abilities the player gradually acquires in temples and also uses to solve puzzles in dungeon-like locations — the classic Zelda formula of "a new tool opens new possibilities for movement and combat" is here translated into the full physicality of VR controls, where the sword truly swings and the arrow truly fires with a hand gesture. Visually the game relies on a bright, comic-book-styled world with bold colors and contrasting temple architecture, and the orchestral music supports the adventurous, fairy-tale tone of the whole narrative, which remains accessible to younger audiences too. Each temple has its own visual identity and set of puzzles tied to the specific deity being awakened, giving the player a sense of progression through distinct environments rather than mere repetition of the same template.

In reviews the title was praised especially for its unusually large amount of content for a standard Quest game and for how naturally it translated the classic action-adventure genre into a format with full physical interaction, without losing clarity and pace. Journey of the Gods remains among the titles recommended to genre fans who are looking for a more expansive adventure on a headset with a clear story arc and meaningful world exploration instead of short arcade fun.

Why play: For fans of action-adventures looking for a more expansive adventure on a headset with a clear story arc and meaningful world exploration instead of short arcade fun.