Video Games are particularly good at Environmental storytelling as designers have to try and find ways of directing the player in the direction of progress through interactables in the environment. Journey is an excellent example of thematically relevant Environmental Storytelling, as communication between the player characters is entirely no verbal, with the player having to rely on the visuals and sound cues to navigate the world and gain an understanding of the story.
The Goal of Journey is to reach the top of the mountain, which looms over the player through the duration of the short 2-3 hour runtime. The mountain, with it's ethereal light omitting from the top and seemingly angelic presence itself serves as a sort of visual metaphor for heaven, thus the ascension to the summit, the goal of the game, serves as a sort go extended metaphor for our journey through life, hence the name Journey.
The journey to the mountain summit takes the player thorough a series of different environments, each one symbolic of the different struggles with go through on our journey through life, from gliding through sand dunes to exploring the depths of cavernous ruins, the environments are carefully designed to evoke a particular emotion in the player through the colour palette and geometry of the world.
There is a scene in Journey in which the player character has to ascend the mountain, following another player character during a blizzard. The player character's movement is restricted here to a slower pace and eventually the player loses their companion in the blizzard, emphasing the feeling of helplessness and despair which is reflected in the environment. Without uttering a single word, Journey hits home this feeling of isolation and despair in the character through the visuals alone, which is why it is one of the best examples of storytelling in the medium.
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