The Hidden Message of ABZU (ABZU Story Breakdown)

ABZU is the story of the oceans, and the journey of finding out where we belong in the natural world. The premise of ABZU may seem simple, but the game is actually filled with a good bit of fascinating lore. This is my take on the world of ABZU, and why I believe the game is all about conveying a very specific message.

Shout-outs to Reddit user /u/rabizbit for helping inspire me to make this video.

If you want to see my theories on other games be sure to check out the channel, and I'll provide some short cuts here!

[JohnGetsGaming]

nah man aliens invaded and built red stuff then the terminator stopped them with the help of Jaws

[gpeddino]

Another important detail: there is a set of ancient tables called the "Enuma Elis" which are the basis of the Babylonian myth. According to them, Abzu is the god of fresh waters, while Tiamat is the goddess of the oceans. Their marriage originated all other gods and living beings. I don't know to what extent that plays a part in the game's concept, but the text set to music in the game's epilogue is taken directly from the "Enuma Elis" (as per the ending credits).

[Starwarp]

You are Zu; you are called to know. Along your journey, you will meet Ab, who is water, the ocean. Together you shall face Tiamat, who is Chaos, the mother, and from her lifeless form, you shall be created as the gods in the midst of heaven.

[Fabian-voki]

The Inverse Pyramids are also in the sky, I've seen it on someones playthrough. You could see a big chained inversed Pyramid high in the sky

[figloalds]

Abzû is the best possible execution for the "Journey 2" I've always wanted to play.

[TheTraderStan]

I agree with most of your theory. Let me give you all my theory from the eyes of a marine biologist. In one of the paintings on the wall in the broken down ruins is displayed the humanoids almost worshiping a Great White shark, and marine life in general. The White shark is the apex predator of the ocean, its the head honcho, the best hunter known to man. But not only is it the top predator, it's one of the ocean's millions, even trillions, of species that help protect the ocean and vicariously protecting us. For human life to survive, we need Sharks and whales and every little specimen of plankton in the ocean to not only survive but to thrive. In the world today that's not happening, mankind is all but obliterating the ocean ecosystems with acts like; Shark fining, long line fishing, culls, oil spills and over fishing. But back to my theory, I believe that in this game, we play the part of an Ocean Guardian. Mankind (or whatever those humanoids were in the paintings) was wiped out by who/whatever made those pyramids (humans in a sense). I think we, the guardian, were a kind of fail-safe in case things went south, and we were programmed to activate when some kind of substantial oceanic change was somehow felt thus finding us randomly floating in the ocean.
So tl;dr- We're a type of ecosystem fail-safe protection robot that's programmed to fix what mankind did.
#SharkLivesMatter

[BlueKyuubi]

Interesting theory. My take is that the Harvesters are aliens since you can see them in the sky early on in the game. The Harvesters built a robot to look similar to the ancient civilization in order to gain their trust. Then the Harvesters stole the energy from the ocean and began to mine other places in the ocean. It destroyed the city and forced the civilization to move away or something similar. Rather than the Harvesters killing the them; the people instead evolved to live on land (just like their amphibious ancestors before them). This theory is backed by the small room you find in Chp.6 which depicts a member of the ancient civilization alongside birds, a creature of the land. Meanwhile the Harvesters continuing mining the ocean's energy and destroying the temples which housed the ocean's guardians (worshiped as gods by the civilization). Leaving only one guardian left, the Great White. With the power of the ocean inside you, the Diver revives the temples and brings back the fallen guardians.

[ofthebeanvariety]

Loved your interpretation of the story. I agree with you. I'd also like to add my thoughts.

The first time the protagonist interacts with one of the drones, it has a red light and scans the protagonist. That is the only time the protagonist is scanned which leads me to think that the drones communicate with other drones and the pyramid core. After the scanning is complete, the drone acts "friendly" and leads the protagonist into trust, as do all others. The drones are also collected at the end of zones, and the protagonist is not permitted to enter the collection port. It seems like the protagonist is self aware. I tend to think that the pyramid core is also. The drones help the protagonist progress closer towards the pyramid core; if it is self aware, in communication with the drones, and collecting and harboring power, it seems like its intention is to eliminate any competition for power and control. I'd also like to think that when the protagonist discovers broken droids and other tech, it was the great white's doing. The creature is always ahead of the protagonist. It attacked one of the droids in front of the protagonist. This attack also came from below where broken cores, ruins, and an ecosystem spawn sit in the darkness. Though that could have just been a representation of actual great white behavior despite this particular shark repeated being shown to act differently than the other wildlife. Due to the communication between drones and the pyramid core, the drones were instructed to gain the trust of the protagonist so that when that attack happens in front of the protagonist, space and distrust is created. This strengthens the pyramid core's standing by weakening the connection of the protagonist and the great white. Picking off every mindless piece of technology that isn't helping the ocean reflects the desperate situation.

[meadw]

You forgot one detail, whenever you surface in the game and look in the sky (especially when the game first starts) you can see the harvesters in the sky, like I space of just floating there.

[TheSattocs]

I always took the story to be about an ancient civilization that respected and worked with a natural power source that gave life to all things but the pyramids are actually an alien technology and not a creation of the original species. The Pyramids stole the energy source thus wiping out the natural life and ancient civilization and used it to power its creations, including you but for whatever reason (possibly the life giving energy inside you) you became aware and possibly malfunctioned which is why you are floating in the middle of nowhere and you decide to rebel. This explains why the shark was hostile or at least evasive to you in the first place. Each to their own theories though I guess :)

[theostemporium]

Yes, this video has been the foundation of my recent theory. Have you noticed that towards the final swim into the huge precursor pod, the unique mountain of Journey can be seen? I've analysed a picture of the mountain and it has the unique crack that leads to the imense source of power. I think that Journey, Abzu and Sky (upcoming release) are linked. Both Journey and Abzu share nearly identical themes. Greed. Sky could be connected due to the huge precursor pod seen hovering in the sky at the very start of Abzu. Perhaps the remains of the civilisation fled to the stars? All we can do is speculate.

[NIKMOE]

I know the video is on the quiet side, it has to do with how the clip was rendered, apologies! The next one will blow your ears off, you have my word.

[RebeccaJ]

My theory: You are the last person of Atlantis & the Illuminati destroyed everything so it's your duty to restore.

[ganymede]

I almost cried when the shark sacrificed itself and then saw the orehistoric animals and was like "Oh sh- I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SAD ABZU"

[TheBlackSpiral]

I think there's also an element of artificial intelligence grown beyond it's bounds to this game. With the doors following your movements and the core desperately trying to protect itself, it didn't strike me as impossible that it too is to blame for the current state of the world.

[crawlerin]

Good analysis on the story from paintings. But I think there is some other aspect to journey progressing through the game. It did not occur to me at first, but upon reaching temple section after first inverted pyramid showdown - you release Helicoprion from one of those pools. What's was so weird about that? That creature had extinct 250 million years ago! You go back in time. It's like a trip to museum. Starting with more recent species - you even meet your first land animals while walking on foot in first room, they crawled out of water around 240 million years ago. I thought the game would end with some kind of protozoan life :-)

Very interesting detail. Life comes from the ocean, after all. I see it as a nice tribute to evolution, and maybe - just maybe - hinting at the theory of life being brought by ancient alien race?

[raghavdewangan]

my absolute favorite scene was when we went through a riptide and emerged into this heavenly environment, it was an unforgettable moment

[nem]

I had a rough idea of the message in this amazing game, but you helped so much to clear it up and reveal the backstory. The game is so enjoyable, and thanks.

[mansuralmutawa-]

In the credits it said the text was from the Enûma Eliš, the Babylonian creation myth.

[teqnify]

This was one of my favorite games I have ever played.