June’s Journey is Addicting

So I’m not good at creating fancy titles or anything like that, but hopefully, what I am good at is justifying my opinions. As stated in the title, the find and seek app known as June’s Journey is just simply addicting. This game is available to download for free on iOS and Android devices, and I do believe you can even play it through Facebook directly on your web browser if you so choose. So, if June's Journey sounds like something you are interested in then I do highly recommend you give it a shot and just try it out. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Now, back to the task at hand. I came across this app for the first time probably a little over two years ago. I’m not entirely sure, but I feel like I saw an advertisement for it while I was actively playing another game. What I do remember is that immediately after watching the ad, I was sold and I downloaded June's Journey right then and there. A find and seek game isn’t normally my cup of tea, but this one had a 1920’s to early 30’s vibe and I just couldn’t resist. If you know me, then you know I am a sucker for that kind of aesthetic. The game also has an air of mystery, which I find to be a very necessary feature in these hide and seek apps. In this story, you play as June Parker, the beloved sister, who has taken it upon herself to solve the mystery of her sister and brother-in-law‘s murder. And it is our job as the player to help her find clues in different locations that can help June find the answers she seeks, as well as, propel the story forward. Now, I am not spoiling anything here, you find all of this information out as soon as you download and open the app for the first time. As it so happened, I became hopelessly addicted. No surprises there, though, I suppose. I do, in fact, love a good mystery novel.

So anyway, I got to a point in my obsession where I allowed June's Journey to consume every available second of my free time. Now, after a couple of weeks of literally staying attached to my phone and accomplishing very little in the way of real productivity, I proceeded to do a very adult thing for once in my life, and I uninstalled the app entirely. I then pushed June’s Journey from my mind forever...or so I thought.

Call it Fate or Destiny or whatever you will, but about two or three months ago, my own mother betrayed me by installing this very app on her phone and playing it for herself. Now, I don’t think she ever knew I had played June's Journey before because like I said earlier, I hadn’t had the game installed for longer than a couple of weeks at most before I severed ties with it. Thus, when she started playing the game herself and saw all of its glory and beauty, my mother knowing my interests very well proceeded to ask me one day if I had ever heard of such a thing as June’s Journey. I answered affirmatively, but also acknowledged that I had an easily addictive personality, and even though I loved the game, it was no good for me. My mother was surprised at my swearing off of June’s Journey since she found some enjoyment in the mindlessness of the task of finding random things in backgrounds and she enjoyed the storyline, but my mother is in more control of her whims than me, so her enjoyment did not overshadow her sense of diligence and adult-ness, and thus she has been able to play the game at her own leisure without feeling compelled to stay on the app for the sake of story progression despite the loads of laundry in the hamper or the dishes piled in the sink. I speak from experience my friends and am not here to judge or call anyone out if they have found themselves in similar situations.

I also want to be clear that I am not calling out Wooga, the wonderful developers of this game, for making their game “too much fun,” but that I am really trying to get across just how amazingly detailed every aspect of this game is. The story is brilliantly crafted in a way that leaves you wanting to know more, while the artwork itself is stunning, and can leave you completely immersed in the world that is June’s Journey. Now, to get off from what seems to have started as a negative rant about a game that I do very much enjoy, and as the subtitle states, I did, in fact, reinstall this app over the Christmas holidays. I am not ashamed to admit that I am so very glad I did too.

For one, it is a good way to bond with my mother now, since we both play the game, and I have someone to share the story with. We have even created our own little club in game together in order to share energy with one another-energy is what you use to play through the different levels of the game, as is the case with most mobile apps-and the other members of our group. The club also has competitions that we can join in order to win certain in-game achievements and items that help progress the story. These are aspects of the game that I am just now becoming familiar with, so I have no idea if clubs and/or competitions were even an aspect of June's Journey when I first installed it. Since I played the app by myself originally and I hadn’t had it installed long enough to see every aspect that gameplay had to offer.

These club competitions are just another reason why I am so glad to have returned to this game. The competitions range from your ordinary hide and seek challenges to your more elaborate spot the differences challenges. These challenges within themselves also have the added factor of being timed, while the main storyline is not. This dynamic shift of the game‘s core features has me compelled to continue playing the game because the hide and seek feature is not the only facet of gameplay here, and as I stated earlier, the scenes/maps are so diverse and lovely that it is hard to get burnt out on the tediousness of it. Once you start getting bored of one scene, the next map is ready for you to check out and you get the joy of finding new items within a new area. You also learn more about the story with each scene you unlock. Furthermore, you will be introduced to new characters fairly frequently, which helps propel the narrative along. I find the diverseness of the scenes, the aesthetic beauty of the game, the wonderful storyline, and the fantastic characters you meet along the way to all work together in a very innovative way that helps keep the tediousness of the hide and seek feature to a minimum in terms of what makes up good gameplay in June's Journey.

And don’t worry, I have managed to curb my addiction for the game by developing a more constructive and healthy manner that allows me to thoroughly enjoy it, but not feel compelled to constantly check it throughout the day. Another benefit to playing the game with my mother and to being a member of this club is that I can follow everyone else’s lead when it comes to getting on and playing the app. Now, what I mean here specifically is that my mother and I typically text or call one another when we’re about to sit down and play the game. We do this out of habit and not out of necessity, just to be clear. You are free to play and enjoy the game however you wish, but I am simply sharing what works for me in terms of enjoyment, while also limiting my play time. Playing together while on the phone also means we can share coffees-this is the in-game way of recovering energy-with one another if we need a little help and extra energy to finish finding a clue.

The added bonus of the club feature allows for us to set up a meeting time in-game where we can typically expect to get on and share coffees with everyone and communicate with the group. I also choose to use this time to buy things for my estate and to gift bushes to friends, since it is the longest stretch of time I sit down to play the game in any given day. On particularly busy days, it might be the only time I have to get on June's Journey at all, so I try to get all of my daily stuff done then. These in-game meetings take place in a “cafe,” which I find to be completely on brand. Thus, the coffee is a nice touch to the aesthetic. I also want to clarify that bushes are actual plants of flowers (and nope, I literally can't be bothered to try to come up with some better phrasing here) that you can place on your friends’ estates in order to give them gems-another type of in-game currency similar to the coins, but more rare-by the destruction of the bush.

So in conclusion, the beginning joy I felt for installing and playing this beautiful app known as June’s Journey is very much still there, but more under control. I choose to try to only get on the app two to three times a day at most and I make sure to utilize my energy to the fullest extent while I am on; I no longer get on every 30 minutes of the day just to see that I only have enough energy to play through a scene two or three times. I find that using my mother and the club system as an internal clock for my own gameplay has made me more productive in real and game life. So, I highly recommend this strategy if you find yourself easily addicted to, not only June’s Journey, but mobile apps in general. This way you can get the added benefit of enjoying the game while also staying on task and being productive. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you find this information useful. Happy hunting!