Abzû

In Abzû, the player takes on the role of a diver in a vast ocean—after waking up floating on the ocean's surface, the diver begins exploring the surrounding underwater environments filled with plant and animal life, in addition to uncovering ancient technology and submerged ruins. In a few areas, the diver is also able to explore land-based environments above the water. As the game progresses, the diver unlocks new areas and pursues the secrets behind the forces harming the local environment. The diver's course through the game follows a linear path through interconnected areas filled with marine life.

The player directs the diver through the environments using full analogue control, able to interact with the environment to solve switch or item-based puzzles, and the ability to meditate which grants the character the ability to sit on the shark-shaped pedestals within each area to observe the surrounding sea life. The diver can accelerate, and interact with marine life using sonar chimes. The diver can grab onto the bodies of larger marine animals and ride on them. Each area sports hidden collectables for the diver to find.

The narrative of Abzû is told wordlessly through gameplay and using cutscenes, taking place in a vast ocean. The player character, a female diver, awakens floating in the ocean and begins exploring the surrounding sea: ruins and ancient murals show that an ancient civilization once shared a symbiotic connection with this ocean. As she explores she is led by a great white shark to wells that, when activated using an energy from within her, restore life to the local seas. That energy is being forcefully harvested by robotic pyramid-like devices, the development of which disrupted the ocean's balance and brought about the civilization's downfall.

Upon reaching the original pyramid, the diver sees the great white shark attacking it, and the pyramid's counterattack damages the diver—revealing her to be a mechanical robot, confirming her existence as a being connected to the pyramid and capable of restoring life to the ocean—and mortally wounds the great white shark, which dies as the diver comforts it. After activating the final well, the great white shark manifests and guides the repaired diver back to the original pyramid which the diver destroys, returning life to the ocean. During the credits, the diver and great white shark swim together through the revitalized ocean. It is unclear whether the diver survived, or if the cutscene shows the diver in the afterlife with the spirit of the great white shark, referring to the circle of death and life renewal that the ocean reflects.

The origins of Abzû lay in the development of Journey, an independent video game developed by Thatgamecompany and released in 2012. Abzû's creator, director and art director Matt Nava had previously worked as art director for Journey during its three-year development. Having worked in a game featuring a desert setting, Nava wanted to change to a more vibrant and populated setting for his next title. Nava began creating the pitch for Abzû before leaving Thatgamecompany and founding the game's developer Giant Squid Studios.

One of the main elements Nava incorporated was his love for ancient cultures and their artwork, particularly relating to the myths surrounding the concept of Abzu. Nava's love of the ocean, which he explored through his hobby of scuba diving, also figured heavily in the design of Abzû. The team at Giant Squid Studios grew to ten developers from across the industry, mainly programmers who specialized in multiple aspects of game design from gameplay to graphics, in addition to a graphical and technical artist who helped create and animate the character models.

In its debut week on Steam, the game reached #9 in platform sales charts. Abzû was at #18 among the best-selling titles on PlayStation Store's PS4 charts for August, being the third best-selling new title that month behind Batman: The Telltale Series (#7) and No Man's Sky (#1). The PS4 and PC versions received scores of 78 and 83 on aggregate site Metacritic based on 19 and 72 reviews respectively, each denoting "generally favorable" reception. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received strong approval, being recommended by 73% of critics. Abzû was nominated at The Game Awards 2016 in the "Best Art Direction" category; at the Golden Joystick Awards in the "Best Original Game", "Best Visual Design" and "PlayStation Game of the Year" categories; and at the 2017 BAFTA Games Awards in the "Artistic Achievement" category.

Martin Gaston of Eurogamer called it "a mechanically simple game, but a pleasurable one"—while finding early sections barren and the camera awkward at times, he enjoyed the gameplay's simplicity. Scott Butterworth of GameSpot found the gameplay lacking in variety, but otherwise praised the game's immersive qualities. Justin McElroy of Polygon felt that the gameplay, while generally enjoyable, was undermined by a lack of player interaction. Zack Furniss of Destructoid found swimming easy and enjoyable despite simplistic controls, and found that the experience benefited from its short length.