The Journey Down Game Review: A Hidden Afro-Noir Gem on Steam

The Journey Down Game Review: A Short, Sharp, Silly Point‑and‑Click Adventure

If you’re craving a Monkey Island–style tale with bold visuals, cheeky humour, and puzzles that don’t make you want to chuck your laptop, The Journey Down is your ticket. This indie trilogy from SkyGoblin is African‑inspired, hand‑painted, and surprisingly wholesome- wrapping capitalism critique into a breezy 5 to 7‑hour story of road trip shenanigans and environmental intrigue.

Meet the Hero: Bwana, The Lovable Ne’er‑Do‑Well

You play as Bwana, a good‑natured street rat-turned-pilot who’s more “happy‑go‑lucky” than most point‑and‑click leads. Along with his adopted brother Kito and archaeologist Lina, he crashes through a conspiracy involving a mythical book and sinister corporate overlords. Bwana’s charm lies in his naivety; he’s a cheerful underdog with constant optimism. Think Guybrush Threepwood but in cargo shorts and sandals. For voice acting in indie games, the cast is stellar adding nuance to every dialogue, and embodying each character’s spirit.

How it Starts
The Journey Down kicks off with a bang (literally) as Bwana and his foster brother Kito tinker recklessly with the power supply at their rundown Gas & Charter shop. Kito eagerly spots a giant power switch “Look! A switch! That can do all sorts of dangerous things! Let’s mess with it, man!” and of course they do. The result? A Big Blackout across St. Armando, plunging the whole city into darkness. It’s a classic comic misfire: the two goofballs try to restore their own electricity, only to knock out everyone else’s. However, the adventures continue as Line, a beautiful young woman comes to them searching for a book. This episodic game trilogy culminates in a grand finale in chapter 3.

The Journey Down Game Review Storyline Overview

AKA The Journey Down story summary

1. Chapter One: “Over the Edge” – Fix your plane, escape villains, retrieve the legendary book.
2. Chapter Two: “Into the Mist” – Escape jail, escape, save Lina, explore the eerie Port Artue
3. Chapter Three: “Underland” – Unmask corporate greed underground; final boss = The Armando Power Company

It’s fast. It’s funny. And once you hit Chapter Two, plot hooks are strong enough to drag you through the entire game in one sitting.

The Puzzles, or How Hot Is Too Hot?

The Journey Down gameplay review: If you’ve ever whispered “just one more puzzle” at 2 AM, then you’ll appreciate this. Puzzles range from smooth inventory logic to one crazy cable‑rewiring sequence that almost got me snipping a real wire: no shame. Most are easy enough to feel clever, not stupid.

Funniest Moments & Iconic Lines

Chef Sabo’s Kitchen Calamity: Perhaps the standout comic set-piece of Chapter One comes when Bwana ventures onto a local mobster’s yacht in search of airplane parts and meets Sabo, the frustrated chef. Sabo is desperately trying to cook mudyuggler stew, a famously difficult local dish, and he’s losing it. The first time Bwana opens the galley door, Sabo nearly skewers him by flinging a cleaver in a fit of rage; a hilariously dangerous introduction that teaches Bwana one thing: never sneak up on an angry chef!  Bwana wisely announces himself the second time (averting further cutlery carnage) and discovers Sabo’s stew is literally too bland to serve. What follows is a wonderfully absurd errand: Bwana runs around the docks assembling “Mama Makena’s special spice mix”  an eclectic blend of chili peppers, engine oil, lemon, chervil, and ginger…to save the stew.

Grim Fandango Vibes and Inside Jokes: With its misty alleys, jazz-club neons, and a conspiracy involving an ominous Power Company, Chapter Two has a film noire air, but it’s a noir punctuated by gags. In fact, fans of Grim Fandango will feel right at home. One review even noted that Chapter Two contains “even more Grim Fandango references than Chapter One.” (Keep an eye out for skeletal imagery and Day of the Dead-style designs hidden in the art – the whole trilogy shares a stylistic kinship with Grim Fandango’s use of cultural art, thanks to its African mask-inspired character designs.) The developers clearly delight in tipping the hat to their influences. For example, in one scene Bwana finds an old photo of his adoptive father Kaonandodo and a colleague, and eagle-eyed players realized the pose parodies a famous Manny & Meche poster from Grim Fandango, a little Easter egg for genre geeks.

 Island Vibes: By Chapter Three, The Journey Down is no longer just inspired by Monkey Island, it’s writing love letters to it in bold, tropical ink. Half the game in chapter 3 takes place on a remote, mystical island with suspiciously familiar coconut trees, and a general air of “you’re definitely trespassing on ancient magic.” It’s not parody; it’s homage. And it’s glorious.

Visuals, Sound & Heart

• Illustrations The Journey Down cultural inspiration is showcased in the hand-painted scenes and masks, pulling directly from Afro-Caribbean motifs and traditional East African Makonde masks. The characters have carved, sculptural faces, not for caricature, but as a quiet, respectful nod to heritage. In Chapter Two’s harbour city of Port Artue, the fog-drenched skyline blends oil-paint stylisation with cyber-noir energy. Meanwhile, in Chapter Three, mystical island temples explode with lush colour palettes and folkloric flair.
• Art direction: Makes you want to freeze and admire backgrounds, or at least limit your clicking so you don’t skip them . This hand-painted adventure game makes for a visual treat.
• Soundtrack: A jazzy‑reggae gem. That sax in the finale? Goosebumps
• Team: Here’s what really gets you- this wasn’t built by a massive studio. It came from a scrappy, brilliant Swedish team at SkyGoblin, who poured their hearts into crafting an African-inspired world rarely explored in Western gaming. The game is a love letter, not just to Monkey Island, but to cultural specificity, good humour, and ambitious indie spirit.

The Baddie: Corporate Chaos in the Underland

Hidden capitalist critique alert: The Journey Down isn’t just silly puzzles. Your real enemy is The Armando Power Company: an underworld‑tunnelling, resource‑destroying beast that echoes real‑world corporate wrecking in fictional lands. A lighthearted mask over a darker message: sometimes “happy‑go‑lucky” isn’t enough, you end up getting muddy.

Who Should Play This?

• Fans of Grim Fandango, Monkey Island, Broken Sword: You’ll fit right in .
• Casual players : Puzzles are intuitive, gameplay is forgiving, plot is punchy. The Journey Down puzzle difficulty is perfect for beginners to the genre.
• Indie lovers : Visual artists, world‑builders, and narrative nerds, unite.
• Those short on time: Each chapter wraps in 1–2 hours; bingeable without commitment

Cons, Because Life Isn’t Perfect

• Chapter One is a slow build: it’s the warm‑up act; some felt it dragged
• All‑white indie team tackling African themes; though they avoided tokenism, it can still feel like cultural borrowing
• Second- and third-chapter puzzles can lean simple for hardcore veterans

Pricing & Where to Play The Journey Down

The Journey Down: Chapter One, Two, and Three are available on:

• Steam (Windows, macOS, Linux)
• GOG.com (DRM-free, includes extras like soundtracks and art)
• Nintendo Switch (via bundled Trilogy Edition)
• Xbox One (via digital store)
• iOS App Store (yes, you can tap through Bwana’s misadventures on your iPhone)

 Prices (As of June 2025):

• Steam/GOG: Around $8.99 per chapter or $24.99 for the trilogy
  (Regional pricing in India: ~₹299 per chapter or ~₹699 for the trilogy — aka cheaper than a dinner for one at most restaurants.)
• Switch/Xbox: The full trilogy usually goes for $29.99, sometimes discounted to $14.99 during sales.
• iOS: Chapter 1 is sometimes free or ₹199, others go up to ₹349 each.

No microtransactions. No DLC nonsense. Just three beautifully illustrated, reggae-jazz scored adventures with heart, humour, and political bite.

 Games Like The Journey Down

If you loved The Journey Down, queue these point and click games like The Journey Down up next:

• Grim Fandango Remastered – My all-time favourite! For bone-dry humour, inventive puzzles and some skeletal fun.
• Monkey Island series– The OG pirate absurdist humour that clearly inspired Bwana’s world, there has been no better point and click series in my eye! The Journey Down does make use of LucasArts style puzzles, that will make you miss this series!
• Thimbleweed Park – A stranger, darker cousin with meta-jokes and UFOs.

Final Take

The Journey Down is that hidden gem games 2025 of a point-and-click: confident in its style, proud of its roots, and never too clever to crack a joke. It doesn’t try to reinvent the genre, it just reminds you why you fell in love with it in the first place. The puzzles are breezy, the lines are gold, and the vibes are an all-round good time. I hope you liked The Journey Down game review as I plan to do many more Steam Reviews and other Game Reviews! While this game is not one of my best indie point and click games, it did rank highly and may do better on a replay! It will definitely be one of my top choices of best Afro-Caribbean video game stories.

Whether you play one chapter or binge all three in a night (guilty), it’s a memorable journey that makes you laugh, think, and side-eye corporate greed.

Played on PC. Over 2 days. Rating: 6.5/10

To check out another great point and click game, check out Kathy Rain. Rather stay in with a book or movie? Click for recommendations here and here.