The monster designs, pulled from Swedish mythology, are memorable and interesting, and their haunting faces are likely to show up as figures in the player's dreams.īecause of the role that sound plays in solving some of the games' puzzles, it's safe to say that Year Walk's sound is crucial. When things get creepy, they really get creepy-colors shift and angles get spikier, and the game's few jump scares are just enough to get you tense and alert without making you close the game in annoyance. Snowy landscapes blend with beautiful color palettes for an original look like something out of a haunted storybook. If the gameplay and story aren't enough to sell you, the game's beautiful visuals are a treat. Gorgeous Artwork and Haunting Soundtrack Set Year Walk Apart There are no adventure game staples like slide puzzles, and the game instead encourages you to play and explore, even if that play results in horrific visions. Year Walk's puzzles rely on concepts like sound, making them difficult for the hard of hearing or musically challenged, but also highly original. Though they sometimes venture into being frustratingly difficult (similar to Device 6), the game does provide helpful (if vague) hints to keep you going. While it might be tempting to rush through the game and its puzzles, a slow, thoughtful approach is preferred-a year walk is a time for contemplation.Īnd the puzzles are worth savoring as well. But these walks are purposeful, familiarizing you with the village your character inhabits and, through excellent sound design, drawing you into the setting. With the game being called Year Walk, it's unsurprising that much of the game is concerned with walking. It can be a befuddling experience at times, but the game's dreamy nature encourages the uniqueness of its dimensions in a similar fashion to games like Fez. You spend the majority of the game walking back and forth across a sidescrolling environment, but will occasionally travel forward or backward as well as around particular objects. Year Walk takes an interesting approach-it's neither totally 2D nor entirely 3D. Year Walk's Adventure Game Puzzles are Anything but Typical There's insight to be found beyond the walk itself, just as there was in the original tradition. To best understand the game's story, pay attention to the clues you're given and explore everything the game has to offer. Remember-a year walk is not something done once and forgotten. While the story is quiet and requires some digging to unearth it, it is there, and uncovering it will give you an entire new appreciation for the visions and experiences you delve into over the course of the short, but effective, game. It would be easy to let interaction drive the gameplay and set story aside, but that's not the case with Year Walk. It's the most basic quest structure there is, and yet the game still feels highly original. While Year Walk actually started off as a film script, the jump to games makes perfect sense-throughout the game, you progress through a year walk, solve the challenges presented by the beings you encounter, and ultimately reach a resolution. Usually undertaken at liminal times of year-Christmas, solstices, and New Year's Eve-this quest could result in the walker encountering supernatural creatures that would test them and possibly herald disaster or good fortune. To understand the story of Year Walk, the game provides you with a short journal detailing the Swedish tradition of Årsgång, a cultural vision quest in which a person, after fasting and resting in a dark room, undergoes a walk through the forest for a vision of the future. Year Walk's Story Combines Folklore with Gaming for Unique Feel Available now for iOS, PC, and Mac, Year Walk is an excellent adaptation of folklore that makes the most of modern technology, seamlessly blending two worlds through time. Created by indie studio Simogo ( Device 6 ), Year Walk is a haunting and beautiful walk through Swedish folklore, with plenty of scares and twists to keep even the most hardened of gamers firmly entrenched in its creepy storybook forest. Year Walk is a vision quest in video game form, a digital recreation of the nearly forgotten Swedish tradition of Årsgång.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |