Thirith on 18/2/2019 at 10:22
I have to admit that I wouldn't have the first clue as to what is meant by that, other than the "first-person" bit.
Judith on 18/2/2019 at 10:32
Just as a non-gamer would wonder why the hell this is called walking simulator, as it doesn't simulate anything.
Thirith on 18/2/2019 at 10:50
I'm not sure you can point to semantics when the term you propose might as well include games as different as Breath of the Wild, Grim Fandango and Sunless Sea. All three are games, all three let you go on an adventure, but beyond that they have little in common. Yes, you can specify the way you have in your post above, but at that point the term "adventure game" doesn't actually seem to mean anything much in and of itself.
Judith on 18/2/2019 at 11:22
At least it doesn't point to something it isn't. It's similar to "action-adventure", you can put a whole lot into this bag, and at least you wouldn't be wrong, maybe just vague. "Walking simulator" is only recognizable by a certain group that will probably shrink over time.
henke on 18/2/2019 at 14:04
1. I wouldn't wanna stretch the definition of "adventure games" as far as to include Journey. I think an adventure game should offer some resistance to the player, either in the form of puzzle-solving or choice-making.
2. There's enough good games in this new genre of experience-focused games that it needs its own name, even if it's a bad one like "walking simulator".
Thirith on 19/2/2019 at 07:32
Genre label aside, have you played Journey, Starker, and would you consider it as part of the same genre as Gone Home or Dear Esther? There are some overlaps, but personally I think there are notable differences too. Both the player's interaction with the environment and the objective of this interaction are quite different. In that respect, while there's some exploration in Journey, I don't think that it's at the core of the game the way it is especially in games like Gone Home.
henke on 19/2/2019 at 07:41
I don't think exploration is the defining trait of the genre. I'd say it's games that focus not on providing a challenge, but evoking a certain feeling in the player.
EMOTION GAMES IS WHAT WE SHOULD CALL THEM GUYS I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
also can some mod move all of this into the other walking sim thread(in Starker's post)?
Jason Moyer on 19/2/2019 at 07:55
Quote Posted by Thirith
would you consider it as part of the same genre as
Gone Home or
Dear Esther?
Personally, I wouldn't put Dear Esther in the same genre as Gone Home.
Thirith on 19/2/2019 at 07:58
Quote Posted by henke
I don't think exploration is the defining trait of the genre. I'd say it's games that focus not on providing a challenge, but evoking a certain feeling in the player.
Hmm. I see your point (though I think that
Life is Strange or indeed some of the Telltale games are as much focused on evoking feelings), but I find the question of what the player does more relevant to how you group them, even if you can't fully separate the one from the other. In
Gone Home and
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, the way these feelings are evoked is by letting the player explore their locations, piece together information and thereby form a picture of who the people are that inhabited that space and what happened to them.
Journey doesn't really do that: while you find some few collectibles, one part of any of the locations is much like another. It's much more of a tone poem, and the way it evokes that tone is by its environments. What information you piece together is conveyed by means of cutscenes. In that respect, I do think that what you do is pretty different, which is why I would hesitate to group
Gone Home and
Journey together.