Episode 18 – Walking Simulators

Meaningful Play Podcast

https://ia601407.us.archive.org/10/items/episode-18-walking-simulators/Episode%2018%20-%20Walking%20Simulators.mp3

In the eighteenth episode of Meaningful Play, Sian and Jordana discuss a genre of videogames that has become increasingly popular in the last decade – walking simulators! Resultingly, this episode discusses definitions of walking simulators and how they are categorised by games audiences and games scholars, as well as dissects and muses upon some notable walking simulator titles.

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References:

Consalvo, M., & Paul, C. A. (2019). Real Games. The MIT Press.

Kagen, M (2018). Walking, Talking and Playing with Masculinities in Firewatch. Game Studies 18(2). http://gamestudies.org/1802/articles/kagen

Montembeault, H. M., & Deslongchamps-Gagnon, M. M. (2019). The Walking Simulator’s Generic Experiences. Press Start, 5(2), 1-28.

Suits, B (1967). What is a Game?, Philosophy of Science, 34(2), pp. 148–156. doi: 10/bsnxpc.

Sliva, M (2020, December 20). ‘Walking Simulator’ Is a Bad Name for a Genre So Diverse, as Call of the Sea Proves. The Escapist. https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/call-of-the-sea-walking-simulator-genre-needs-new-name/

Feldman, K (2020). Wandering Videogames: Play, Performance, Protest. Tufts Experimental College: News. https://excollege.tufts.edu/news-wandering-videogames

Further reading:

Polygon 2020, ‘Ranking walking simulators by how good the walking is’, YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQst_UtBj6c

Games:

Abzu, Animal Crossing, Anodyne, Blair Witch, Dear Esther, Death Stranding, Depression Quest, Firewatch, Gone Home, Infra, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Layers of Fear, Observer, Octodad, Pamali, Paratropic, Return of the Obra Dinn, Sagebrush, Slender, Super Mario 3D All Stars, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Legend of Dragoon, The Station, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.

Credits:

Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.