Rythulia

Rythulia is a name for the land that Journey takes place in, based off the semi-official term "Rythulians".

Development
In early stages of development, Rythulia was set a forest, with players exploring the game in a top-down view. However, when the developers decided to switch to a 3D view, they noticed that the trees would often get in the way of the camera. They switched from a lush forest to a sprawling desert, which not only made it easier to see, but improved game performance - Jenova Chen is quoted as saying "Trees used up way too many polygons."