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[Xdrive05]

Voyeurism may not be the right word for it, or maybe it's exactly right. But you know what I mean; games where the story is told from within the narrative in the world itself, by you snooping around and discovering the history of events at your own pace.

I played Gone Home back when it first came out, and that part really stuck with me. Yeah, it was a controversial release; journo shenanigans, sociopolitical messaging and all that. I think it hit around the gamergate moment and was caught up in all that for the obvious reasons.

But I liked poking around the house and discovering all the weird happenings and situations that took place over the previous year in that story, and also the decades-old family history that was strongly implied through newspaper clippings, letters and such. Even as "side-stories" not directly related to the main concern of your protagonist, that stuff was genuinely fun to discover, since it's what you find as the player rummaging through the house.

It's kind of creepy, the idea of poking around in other people's business to piece together what happened. But it was fun.

So what other games do a good job of this, and let you discover an interesting story in the process?

 

[AV]

What Became of Edith Finch. It's usually either on deep discount or free somewhere.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Another vote for What Became of Edith Finch. Wonderful walkthrough that can be done in a long afternoon. 2 to 4 hours depending on how fast you 'zip' through.
Does Zip exist in a Walking sim?

 

[Null Persp]

Try this, it's a murder mystery where you have to collect evidence, reading newspapers and find clues.

 

[intbal]

One Chance

 

[Humdinger]

Diagetic. Had to look that up. "The story is told or recounted, as opposed to shown or enacted."

Hm. I can't think of any, besides Edith Finch and Gone Home. I'm sure they're out there, but none are coming to mind. I know there have been various indies where you wander through space ships and dig through logs and so forth, to piece together a story -- Tacoma was one, I believe.

I don't find that particular style interesting, myself. I would like to play through a story, not uncover a history of a story. But to each his own.

 

[.Pennywise]

Unfortunately I bought into the hyperbole of Gone Home, and went blind to experience it first hand.

Damn I got bored to death, half way through I just dropped it. Couldn't believe people called that game and its story groundbreaking.

These walking simulators, in my humble opinion, are just a crippled version of the great genre of Adventure Games.

 

[Bonfires Down]

Try this, it's a murder mystery where you have to collect evidence, reading newspapers and find clues.

Really enjoyed this game. It does an excellent job of gradually letting the player know what has happened through diaries, newspapers and the like. And the atmosphere is strong. Should be noted though that it’s not just a walking sim but has quite a few challenging puzzles and the end goal is to figure out who the murderer is.

Actually I'll just paste my review here.

Spoiler: No spoiler review

I thought this would be a horror game based on the cover image, but nope, it's a murder mystery game. The bulk of the gameplay is about finding document and diaries to puzzle together what happened in this town.

The writing is very good and I was impressed by it. However some of the characters are described relatively briefly and could stand to be a bit more fleshed out. The actual story is not quite as engaging as I hoped and I was a bit confused about how it all wrapped up but it's still good. I know there are some documents I didn't find yet that might clear things up.

I had to turn to a guide a number of times because I know I will just get tired and drop a game if there isn't steady progress. I would definitely recommend taking detailed notes right from the beginning of the game, though you also have a camera to help you out. A few times I had a key in my inventory but no idea where it led.

To me this is a game that's more than the sum of its parts and is ultimately quite memorable. The eerie ghost town atmosphere is really unique and impactful. Being able to visit each characters home and see both the mundane and not so mundane parts of them is a subtle but powerful thing.

There's also this game of the same type.

But I would rank them 1.Painscreek 2.Gone Home 3.Dead Secret

4. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. It felt slow and I couldn't get into it.

And I assume Return of the Obra Dinn is similar to these though I haven't played it.

 

[Kuranghi]

After Edith Finch, which is really what you are looking for as others have said, I really like The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (Must be redux version, don't buy the one without that in the title as it has stuttering problems, the redux version is wayyyy better), its not got too much poking around, you move on but the puzzles are unique and fun and it has tons of beautiful detailed environments to look at. It was really surprising for me tbh, I thought it would just be good but I ended up really liking it.

Don't be put off by the first puzzle being quite rigid, just look around a tad farther a field if you feel like you are missing something.

I just checked and you still buy the old version but you get both the OG and REdux version, just make sure you click on the Redux version:

edit - read the wrong price I'm a submental, sorry. Its £14.99.

 

[PlayerPurple]

If you're interested in non-linear storytelling done well, definitely try Thirty Flights of Loving.

It's short, but in terms of execution, it's right up there with Gone Home & Edith Finch.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

The Stanley Parable
Dear Esther
Everybody's Gone To The Rapture (I adore the story that is there, but believe it would have been better in a different medium)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

These last two are more puzzle games than they are walking simulators, but worth looking into as I think they are more enjoyable as videogames and somewhat fit the mold:
The Witness (the story is pretentious, but it fits the bill)
The Talos Principle

 

[brian0057]

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
The Thief trilogy.

 

[nkarafo]

My vote goes to VISAGE. It's pretty similar to Gone Home in that you explore a big house, but it's scarier and has probably the best indoor graphics in videogaming right now.

 

[HaveButOneLife]

The Last of Us

 

[Trunim]

Actually very few good games in this genre. Tacoma is alright, not the same as Gone Home but still decent.

I played Gone Home back in 2014 and I don't know why but I still remember it dearly. It's an immersive experience, if you have the right mindset going in. It's not for everyone, of course.

Like previous posts have mentioned, Edith Finch is great too.

 

[Gideon_128]

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

 

[GymWolf]

Any souls game where you need to discovery the story by reading object descriptions and shit?!

 

[Starfield]

DayZ lmao

 

[chaseroni]

Firewatch and The Beginners Guide are the two I've played that really stand out to me. Some of the others are just...not interesting enough.

 

[Allforce]

I played some game awhile back called Orwell where you play an agent in some clandestine government surveillance agency and have to piece together how a bombing plot occurred in a public plaza. The entire game is played using all kinds of fake web searches, social media, text messaging and social engineering to get info. It was pretty damn cool and interesting and could be played through in a few hours with multiple endings.

I think there's a sequel as well.

 

[GreenAlien]

The Suicide of Rachel Foster was decent, though not as good as Firewatch or What Became of Edith Finch.
Draugen was fine too, but it's not long enough and leaves a lot of potential unused..


Return of the Obra Dinn - more of a puzzle game, but it fits the term "voyeurism simulator" pretty well.

 

[Gideon_128]

The Unfinished Swan is another worthy mention.

 

[rofif]

SOMA (in safe mode)

 

[kiphalfton]

Yes I love looking through countless drawers and turning pictures over to see notes written on the back.

 

[Tsukumo]

Yes I love looking through countless drawers and turning pictures over to see notes written on the back.

Kind of a useless post? This is a thread about good games that fit OP taste, not a thread to discuss whether walking simulator are a worthy genre or not.
Take your shit-posting to reddit or 4chan.

 

[rofif]

Everybody's Gone To The Rapture was a fucking slow nightmare... I had to use cheat engine to speed up the walking speed but I ended hating the game anyway.

Again - SOMA in safe mode.
Another weird pick - Far: Lone Sail. Very relaxing

 

[FrozenFlame]

What Became of Edith Finch.

Another vote for What Became of Edith Finch.

What Became of Edith Finch.

DId I miss some meme? Does the game have a different name in other regions? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

 

[TonyK]

My vote goes to VISAGE. It's pretty similar to Gone Home in that you explore a big house, but it's scarier and has probably the best indoor graphics in videogaming right now.

I adore horror games and this is the only game that it has been too scary for me. Maybe someday I will make another try.

 

[Lupin3]

I liked Gone Home up until the ending, which was a disappointment of galactic proportions. Saw it coming, but it still let me down. An interesting journey that felt like a waste of time after it was finished.

 

[STARSBarry]

Another vote for the The Stanley Parable, only seen it mentioned once and don't understand why, its head and shoulders above many other options that gave been mentioned again and again (gone home lol).

If you haven't played please do yourself a favour and pick it up.

Although they are hard at work making an improved version, so might be worth waiting for that... although it's already been delayed 3 years at this point.

 

[tommib]

 

[Shmunter]

Soma
Edith Finch

Top of the line

 

[GreenAlien]

DId I miss some meme? Does the game have a different name in other regions? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

The dangers of copy & paste can't be underestimated.

 

[Arcadialane]

That Dragon, Cancer

 

[Gideon_128]

Everybody's Gone To The Rapture was a fucking slow nightmare... I had to use cheat engine to speed up the walking speed but I ended hating the game anyway.

Again - SOMA in safe mode.
Another weird pick - Far: Lone Sail. Very relaxing

Agreed...Everybody's Gone To The Rapture useless run button only increases your speed to like 1.2X

I adore horror games and this is the only game that it has been too scary for me. Maybe someday I will make another try.

This looks great but my old man nerves aren't compatible with these games anymore.

Soma
Edith Finch

Top of the line

Soma is another one. I could marathon all the Resident Evils on ps1 no problem, yet I tap out after 15 minutes with this one.

 

[lh032]

So far gone home is the only game i actually like, its unique, thought its a horror game in the first place.

 

[Kuranghi]

Another vote for the The Stanley Parable, only seen it mentioned once and don't understand why, its head and shoulders above many other options that gave been mentioned again and again (gone home lol).

If you haven't played please do yourself a favour and pick it up.

Although they are hard at work making an improved version, so might be worth waiting for that... although it's already been delayed 3 years at this point.

Yeah when exactly IS that coming out, was going to do another run of it soon but prob best to wait now.

 

[Swiss Tartakovsky]

ONESHOT

By and large OneShot does the whole "walking sim" thing a lot better than most games. The world is so fascinating and the game's somber tone and interaction with your computer outside the game makes you want to explore, solve all the puzzles and figure out what happened to this world, and, either get Niko out or help save the world as best you can. Its a very tragic and sad game, and its OST and dark purple/green color pallette helps show how the world is dying, since its directly related to the light in the world going out.

 

[Goalus]

Has anyone tried "The Suicide of Rachel Foster"?

Metascore seems low, but it looks interesting.