The Game Review

Walking simulators have received tons of backlash from the gaming community ever since Dear Esther set the standard for the genre in 2008. These slow, narrative-driven games where "all the player does is walk" are constantly mocked for lacking gameplay depth and being games that could just as easily be experienced by watching a YouTube playthrough. Is this really true, though? The word "game" is really nebulous, and everyone seems to have their own ideas of what a game is. The most common idea I've heard is that a game is a test of skill for the player; if the player can't potentially win or lose, then it isn't a game. Likewise, the value of gameplay seems to be attributed to the amount of choices the game allows the player to make. I think this is partially why the branching experience of The Stanley Parable is generally more accepted than the fixed experience of Gone Home , even though they're both walking simulators. With the rise of ...

*A snippet of a much longer work-in-progress* At once, Edith Finch and One Hundred Years of Solitude seem to both celebrate the possibilities of imagination and warn against complete detachment from reality. This warning appears in Edith Finch in the form of Lewis’s story, in which the player controls Lewis as he slices fish in a fish cannery. Using the right joystick, the player repeatedly performs the mundane action of moving his hand to drag the dispensed fish into a slicer. The story is narrated by his psychiatrist, who begins to detail the coping mechanism Lewis develops to escape the mundanity of his life. He begins imagining himself in a fantasy world where he’s in control of everything. While simultaneously using the right joystick to slice the fish, the player uses the left joystick to guide an imaginary version of Lewis through this world as it grows in visual detail and complexity. As this section progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that Lewis is losing his sens...

Plot Overview When the player opens up the game, they’re immediately met with a simple box of menu options juxtaposed with the image of Lisa hanging from a noose. A slow, ominous song, fittingly titled “The Siren’s Call,” plays over this menu as though it’s begging the player to continue. This menu never changes and the player must thus be reminded of Lisa’s suicide every single time the game is started up. This image ends up looming over the player just as it looms over Brad, connecting them together even if the player may not realize it at first. Though this may just seem like a simple menu, it subtly ties itself into the plot in an important way by putting the player into Brad’s headspace whenever they start or continue their journey.             Lisa ’s actual gameplay begins with a brief look into Brad’s childhood. In the opening scene, a group of bullies accuses someone of stealing their ball, which leads to Brad taki...