The past decade, roughly, has seen the emergence of a latent video game genre - the walking simulator.

I might have said the more typical phrase, “the birth of a new genre,” but that’s not really accurate in this case. Many videogames burst onto the mainstream as fully featured titles, quickly finding a fan base and inspiring similar works. DOOM in 1993 was clear case of this, arriving with exciting new gameplay and exciting new rendering technology to support it. “DOOM-clone” was the name for id Software’s many imitators, before first-person shooter became the preferred term. More recently, Demon’s Souls in 2009 and its more popular successor Dark Souls in 2011, quickly gathered a fervent fanbase and large catalogue of copycats, commonly dubbed “Souls-likes”. Like everything does, even these games that landed in the videogame community with a shockwave had predecessors - id Software and many other developers had been working on real-time 3D rendering software for years before DOOM, and From Software was hardly the first developer to create a difficult action-RPG. Still, the distinctive vision these games put forth quickly codified a new type of game, and the many similar titles that followed them can easily be traced back to those original flashpoints.

Though other game genres are not as clear cut as these two examples, it is usually fairly easy to describe key features of any given genre and single out a handful of games as clear examples and seminal works. The platformer genre, for instance, can be traced to the early 80s, with important prototypical works like Donkey Kong (1981) and Pitfall (1982). These early games established the basic premise of the genre, that of moving from one point on the screen to another while avoiding dangerous obstacles with your running and jumping abilities. Super Mario Bros. (1985) progressed the genre with smooth side-scrolling and level variety. Games like Mega Man (1987) and Contra (1987) elaborated on the genre’s concept by adding projectile combat. 16-bit games like Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) and Donkey Kong Country (1994) created more complex and naturalistic level geometry for players to negotiate. Jumping Flash (1995), and then Super Mario 64 (1996) and Crash Bandicoot (1996), translated the core tenets of the genre into three dimensions. I’ll spare you from reading through a full chronology, but it is fairly straight forward to continue this thinking through to the present and see how recent games like Super Mario Odyssey (2017) and Celeste (2018) fit neatly into the genre boundaries established decades prior and iterated upon in the years since. Every game you could list will surely have its own quirks and twists on the genre’s core mechanics, often times fusing it with other genres to create hybrids like ‘puzzle-platformer’ or ‘roguelike-platformer’, but the influences are still clear and relatively uncomplicated.

This is not quite the same with the walking simulator. While the moniker has been applied to an increasing number of games over the past several years, and a loose canon of important works have come to define the genre, the origins are somewhat murky. Several of the earliest examples of the genre are not full games, but mods of existing works made by independent developers, often distributed for free. Dear Esther (2008), one of the most significant works in the genre’s history, began as a Half-Life 2 mod. The Stanley Parable (2011) was the same. Gravity Bone (2008) was built off a modded version of the Quake II engine. It took several years before the ideas explored in these mods manifested in commercially released games, notably happening with Gone Home (2013), a high profile example of the genre drawing mainstream attention and success. This is what I mean when I say that the genre emerged from a latent state - small mods explored the core ideas of the genre, before indie studios began trickling those ideas out into the mainstream.

And what are the core ideas the genre is exploring? It is tricky to say, as walking simulators are defined less by what they are, and more by what they are not. Many walking sims are attempting to adapt ideas from popular mainstream games, and they do so by stripping out everything but the nucleus of gameplay the developers find interesting. Again - these ideas were latent within the game developer community, and the works of walking simulators teased them out and brought them into focus. This is reflected in the origins of the genre as mods - Dear Esther and The Stanley Parable feature none of the combat or puzzle elements of Half-Life 2, and Gravity Bone has removed almost all identifiable features of Quake. As an equivalent, Gone Home’s developers have stated that their game is an expansion on ideas they began exploring in their previous work for BioShock 2, yet Gone Home features none of the superpowered combat a player spends most of their play time performing in the BioShock games. Walking sims are a genre defined not by the creation of something new, but by the dramatic deconstruction of that which already exists.

So what is left, after this drastic simplification? Only the movement through a designed space, and the conveying of narrative. These elements that are taken for granted and made secondary in many games that walking sims take as influence are given primary focus in this genre. The environment, often treated as set dressing for the main action of game, is here made the focus, and the player’s ability of make sense of that environment and intuit meaning from it through manual traversal is the primary form of interaction. The minimalist approach also finds other game elements gaining increased importance. Though sound design, music, and voiceover are important components in many mainstream games, they are elevated to essential elements that wholly define the experience in many walking sims. The puzzles of Portal (also a Source engine game) could theoretically stand alone without the persistent voice of GLaDOS, but Dear Esther and The Stanley Parable would be effectively nothing without their narrators. Similarly, finding bits of story and hints about lore within the environmental details of BioShock’s Rapture is important to the tone of the game, but in Gone Home finding those details and understanding them is the main goal of play.

There is something quietly radical about this exerted minimalism.

I suspect that some view the radical nature of walking sims as antagonistic towards traditional videogames. The term “walking simulator,” of course, was originally derogative, before it was slowly reclaimed by the creators and fans of the genre, to the point it is now simply descriptive. I can understand, somewhat, the source of the antagonism. The implicit design philosophy of walking sims is one that rejects a lot of what many find engaging about videogames. Generally, there is no challenge involved in playing these games. There are few, if any, fail states to avoid, and no gameplay mechanics to learn and master. A common question regarding walking sims was whether they could even be classified as games at all - at least during the years of their initial emergence, roughly 2012-2016. This dismissive refrain, from my subjective observations, has diminished in popularity as the genre has established itself. Which is good, as even a cursory understanding of the spiritual predecessors of walking sims position them in the canon of games alongside many classic works; it’s hard to argue that a work that is directly inspired by the likes of Half-Life and BioShock is not a videogame.

As I see it, walking sims are radical not because they are trying to contract the definition of what games should be, but rather because they are trying to expand the definitions of what they can be. Walking sims strip out much of what is traditionally thought to be fundamental to game design and claim that this simplified result is still interesting and worthy of more consideration. This is expressive of a love of all that games are. Yes, combat and puzzle mechanics are interesting and many great games have been made that focus on developing those as central mechanics, but a game that focuses purely on environmental storytelling can be great too.

Furthermore, these games are inclusive. Familiarity with control schemes or common videogame tropes is often a prerequisite for enjoyment. Walking sims remove almost all such requirements, and in doing so, they make themselves easily accessible to anyone. You do not need to have mastery over an unfamiliar controller, as these games have no interest in challenging you on your technical mastery. You do not need to have an understanding of even basic game literacy (such as understanding that a red bar in the corner of the screen indicates health), as walking sims generally eschew such tropes. And, perhaps most importantly, you do not need to have a lot of time. Games, since their transition from arcade quarter-munchers to home console adventures, have had a fixation of providing a maximum amount of content for money spent. Walking sims are content to provide a short but dense experience. Rarely do entries in the genre exceed 6 hours of play time. Their broad inclusivity makes them perfect starting points for new players unfamiliar with videogames as a medium, and even new developers looking to create and release a full game within the constraints of limited time and budget; many walking sims are one of, if not the, first games produced by independent developers and studios.

These factors also make them the perfect subject for in-depth critique by a hobbyist writer. They are short, easily replayable, and readily comprehensible in their limited scope. Unlike, for example, a lengthy RPG that may be trying to tell an epic multi-stranded narrative while providing the player with a multitude of intertwined gameplay systems, a walking sim is generally trying to realize a small number of ideas, and relay those ideas to the player in a tight, well-paced package. As a critic, this allows me to move more quickly beyond the surface understanding of what the game is, into the more interesting questions of how and why. Furthermore, because walking sims function as distillations of game design ideas present throughout the medium, I suspect that insight into how any given walking sim achieves its goals will have broader applications to understanding game design holistically.

So, this writing marks the beginning of a personal project to explore the walking simulator as a genre. At the bottom of this page, you will find a full list of all the games I intend to play and analyze for this series. I expect this list to change, as I become aware of other titles worthy of consideration and possibly remove others that, upon playing, I decide do not fit my criteria. That criteria is also subject to change, but let me here establish a working definition of genre characteristics I will be searching for among these games. A secondary goal of this endeavor will be to refine this definition over time.

A walking simulator is defined by its effort to convey narrative by way of player traversal through a designed space, also known as environmental storytelling. It is absent of any mechanics that lock player progression behind knowledge or skill barriers, so any combat or puzzle mechanics, or equivalents, are de-emphasized. Relatedly, there are few if any fail states to avoid. The experience is short and self-contained, generally completable in under 6 hours.

Other aspects are common to walking simulators, but not necessarily fundamental to the genre. Many games involve exploring a three-dimensional world from a first-person perspective, though third-person games and two-dimensional games are not prohibited. Many involve voiceover narration that contextualizes the environment and the player’s actions, or an emphasis on music to accomplish a similar goal. Usually, play-stopping narrative devices like cutscenes are avoided. And finally, it is common for the player character to be alone throughout most of the experience, with few if any non-playable characters present to interact with.

Definitely Walking Simulators, Probably:

These games, I suspect, will fit neatly into the definition laid out above. Each will be covered in this series. Just do not expect me to go in chronological order.

• Dear Esther - by The Chinese Room, 2008, remade in 2012 and again in 2017
• Gravity Bone - by Blendo Games, 2008
• The Graveyard - by Tale of Tales, 2008
• Fatale - by Tale of Tales, 2009
• The Path - by Tale of Tales, 2009
• Korsarkovia - by The Chinese Room, 2009
• The Stanley Parable - by Galactic Café, 2011, remade in 2013
• Thirty Flights of Loving - by Blendo Games, 2012
• The Unfinished Swan - by Giant Sparrow, 2012
• Journey - by thatgamecompany, 2012
• Gone Home - by Fullbright, 2013
• Proteus - by Ed Key and David Kanaga, 2013
• Jazzpunk - by Necrophone Games, 2014
• The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - by The Astronauts, 2014
• Ether One - by White Paper Games, 2014
• Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and the Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist - by Crows Crows Crows, 2015
• Sunset, by Tale of Tales, 2015
• The Beginner’s Guide, by Everything Unlimited, 2015
• Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, by The Chinese Room, 2015
• Firewatch, by Campo Santo, 2016
• ABZU, by Giant Squid, 2016
• That Dragon, Cancer - by Numinous Games, 2016
• Tacoma - by Fullbright, 2017
• What Remains of Edith Finch, by Giant Sparrow, 2017
• Scanner Sombre - by Introversion Software, 2017
• Return of the Obra Dinn, by Lucas Pope, 2018
• A Short Hike, by adamgryu, 2019

Adjacent games: First Person Puzzlers

These games share many characteristics to walking sims, from their focus on first-person exploration, to their use of voiceover to convey narrative. However, they have a primary focus on puzzle solving. I may cover some of these in tangential posts, notably Portal, to consider their relation to the genre in question.

• Myst - by Cyan Inc., 1993
• Portal - by Valve, 2007
• Portal 2 - by Valve, 2011
• Quantum Conundrum - by Airtight Games, 2012
• Antichamber - by Demruth, 2013
• The Talos Principle - by Croteam, 2014
• The Witness - by Thekla Inc., 2016
• Obduction - Cyan Worlds, 2016

Adjacent games: Atmospheric or Cinematic Platformers

These game are notable platformers that I view as contemporaries or predecessors to walking simulators. This is a vast genre, with it’s own history, but there are overlaps. The output of developer Playdead in particular is very neighborly to walking sims.

• Braid - by Jonathan Blow, 2008
• Limbo - by Playdead, 2010
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - by Starbreeze Studios, 2013
• The Swapper - by Facepalm Games, 2013
• Inside - by Playdead, 2016

Adjacent Games: Minimal Horror Explorations

Alongside the rise of walking sims, simple exploration-based horror experiences have risen in popularity. The horror elements are somewhat at odds with the criteria of accessibility I have laid out, but they share many similarities, including developers - thechineseroom went from Dear Esther in 2012 to Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs one year later.

• Amnesia: The Dark Descent - by Frictional Games, 2010
• Slender: The Eight Pages - by Parsec Productions, 2012
• Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs - by The Chinese Room, 2013
• Outlast - by Red Barrels, 2013
• P.T. - by Konami, 2014
• SOMA - by Frictional Games, 2015

Adjacent Games: Narrative Adventures

These games draw more from the genres of adventure games and interactive fiction, though they share some similarities. Oxenfree is a notable fringe case, somewhere between both genres. Also, the creative leads behind Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead went on to make Firewatch, so I may cover some of these entries around the time of that post.

• The Walking Dead - by Telltale Games, 2012
• Oxenfree - by Night School Studio, 2016
• Night in the Woods - by Infinite Fall, 2017
• Kentucky Route Zero - by Cardboard Computer, 2013-2020