Adventure Gamers - Forums

Hi AG users.

I’ve been searching (and researching) the genre of “Walking Simulator” type of games. So far, i’ve completed:

INFRA
Lake
Gone Home
Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture
Firewatch
The Suicide Of Rachel Foster
Painscreek Killings.

Games that I’ve tried but that turned me off (reasons under the spoiler tags):

The Light Remake (got stuck, and lost interest),
God’s Basement (self-moving objects, shadows, scary hallucinations)
Stanley Parable (got tired of searching for different routes to progress)
Kona (awkward inventory system, freezing to death)
The Town Of Light (this is surprising, but the pace of the story was deadly slow even for me!)
The Old City Leviathan (too much and too confusing monologues)
Summer Of ‘58 (jumpscares, perhaps too scary for me)
Stairs (too many to list… being chased, jumpscares, dying…)
Life Is Strange (simply… awkward controls)
Psych (hallucinations + got tired running in circles)
Vanishing Of Ethan Carter (zombies, being chased)

Okay, so… I will list things here and explain do I want them in these type of games and what do I want from them.

Graphics: Preferrably realistic, 1st person 3D perspective. Everything created with Unreal engine has been great.

Supernatural things, magic, spells, occultism:
Preferrably no thank you. Little here and there doesn’t necessarily turn me right off, but I like my games based on as realistic things as possible.

Zombies, Stealth secenes, being chased
Instant quit and uninstall. Never return again. This is a definite no-no to me! (Had I known that Painscreek Killings has a chase scene in the end, I woud have left it unplayed!)

Jumpscares, cheapscares
Not a fan of these either, so… lesser the better.

Length
A little more than just few rooms or under 2 hours of gameplay, thank you.

Puzzles
Can be, but they’re not stictly necessary.

As you can guess, INFRA has been by far the best Walking simulator game for me, as I like long, realistic and slow-burning games, and don’t care about the horror elements, as they tend to include always something of a supernatural nature. The sense of the mystery is fine, and eerie atmosphere is even preferrable, but I want to feel like I’m not being chased and I want to explore my surroundings in peace.

Let’s hear your suggestions and thoughts.

Thanks!

- Moonbird

Dear Esther meets all your requirements except one: it’s definitely under 2 hours. I loved it for its beauty, the atmosphere, the music, and the emotions I felt while playing. No puzzles.

EDIT: You might like Ether One. Not sure, I didn’t finish it.

Ether One might be something I will check out. Seemed quite promising. Dear Esther might contain too much monologueish dialogue, same problem was present in Old City Leviathan. Still might give it a chance some of these days.

Maybe Submerged? It’s third person though and I haven’t played it yet myself, so can’t tell if there’s going to be some mystical stuff in there somewhere.

There are many that are either short or somehow supernatural / fantasy.

MoonBird - 23 September 2021 07:26 AM

Ether One might be something I will check out. Seemed quite promising. Dear Esther might contain too much monologueish dialogue, same problem was present in Old City Leviathan. Still might give it a chance some of these days.

There is no dialogue in Dear Esther, only a narrator who speaks at certain points in the game. Don’t play it for the story though.

I’m more than a little surprised that MoonBird includes The Painscreek Killings in her list of walking sims. The others there, that I’ve played or at least started, no problem. Painscreek Killings is an out and out investigative game, tracking clues, deducing who, what, where and when with just about no hand holding whatsoever. I actually bought a large desk whiteboard to keep track of all my notes as I found that there was so much to keep up with a notepad wouldn’t suffice to properly cross-reference things. A bloody good game if you enjoy proper detective type work (an absolute pain if you don’t ) and I heartily recommend it.
As to the reason for never going back to it (where you have to go at the end when being chased is very clearly signposted).

Well the the lack of length I may forgive quite easily, if the game otherwise is brilliant

Whoa… just found something absolutely awesome. Church Of Stratum:

This is only the prologue, the whole game is not yet finished, but I will SO buy it when it comes available! 

Just the game I like. No jumpscares, pretty realistic setting (although some time travel elements inculuded, but that’s okay), very nice, slightly uneasy atmosphere and nice set of puzzles. I’m so happy about this game

Wonder if you would enjoy Old Gods Rising. Not scary, just atmospheric.

There’s also The Forgotten City. Not strictly walking simulator, plenty of dialogue and a few puzzles to work out. Also one mandatory combat sequence, though it’s very light (bow and arrow) and not very twitchy.

Oh, and Paradise Killer, though this one is not rooted in realism at all.

Old Gods Rising looks actually very promising. In fact, I think I have even tried it once, but back then, the problem was that I didn’t have powerful enough PC to run it smoothly, and I simply forgot it afterwards. Definitely will give it another chance. Might also play Life Is Strange again, sometimes.

Luhr28 - 27 September 2021 12:05 AM

It’s very similar to Lake, with a more fleshed out story and less busy-work (like posting mail). I enjoyed both games.

I actually enjoyed quite a bit of driving around with a gps But… yeah

two questions.

1. Are walking simulators supposed to be gloomy?
2. Is there such a thing as a crip walking simulator?

I remember “Old Gods Rising” from the guess the scene-thread, Lady Kestrel posted it, with a couple of clever hints, it looked quite intriguing.

edit: I just remembered it was another title and I’m mixing up games: that was “The Old City: Leviathan”!

The one game that immediately popped into my mind (or heart):
“Lieve Oma” - https://vltmn.itch.io/lieve-oma

doesn’t quite meet your preferences in the graphics department, but perhaps there’s something there for you anyway.