 Unlike many games , where different songs have different themes for each character or area , Wintory chose to base all of the pieces on one theme which stood for the player and their journey , with cello solos especially representing the player . Wintory describes the music as " like a big cello concerto where you are the soloist and all the rest of the instruments represent the world around you " , though he describes it as not necessarily orchestral due to the inclusion of electronic aspects . The cello begins the game as " immersed in a sea of electronic sound " , before first emerging on its own and then merging into a full orchestra , mirroring the player 's journey to the mountain . While the game 's art style is based on several different cultures , Wintory tried to remove any overt cultural influences from the music to make it " as universal and culture @-@ less as possible " . Tina <unk> features as the cellist for the soundtrack . She is a close friend of Wintory and has since performed " <unk> Variations " with him , an eight @-@ minute orchestral variation on the Journey soundtrack . All of the non @-@ electronic instruments in the soundtrack were recorded with a live orchestra . 
