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mandragorsa · 8 years ago

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Notes On Year Walk (And why video games, on all platforms, are becoming groundbreaking art)

The Music

The main soundtrack consist only of realistic sounds - crunching snow, wind rushing between trees, distant voices of the creatures you are looking for - there is a constant, vibrating sound. This is a phenomenon observable only in winter, where the echos of ambient noise and any sound otherwise produced are cushioned by the snow, trapping the vibrations from it and reverberating for moments after it would have died out.

There is music in the game, played at according times. Such as when encountering the hanging doll in the cabin - while it’s head spins, it plays a simple, six-tone lullaby with a grim, slow rhythm. There is something wondrous about the melody, however unsettling by the toy that emits it. The nerve spiking atmosphere is further emphasised by the deep, somber last few tones; or during the opening/ending credits or cut scenes, to further immerse the player in the grotesque, 19th century experience.

The Narrative and Storytelling

Simogo created a masterpiece, a wealth of crude and tangible knowledge - warning, spoilers ahead! - through your exploration, the spirits and wreaths you encounter have all been crucial parts of Swedish culture and urban legends for hundreds of years. Too often, the word ‘mythology’ brings to mind only Greek gods and Pegasi, when there is a world of treasure buried in every corner of the world. The Year Walk shines well-deserved spotlight on stories we’ve before missed out on.

Completing the game took about 2-3 hours, with diligent note taking and research during, and I don’t doubt it could be completed far quicker.

Despite it’s short storyline, I implore you, delve deeper into it’s plot and backstory, you will not be disappointed. Play it over and over, to truly understand your (the character’s) actions and motive to undertake the journey.

Stina, the main character’s love interest, and the most solid piece of conversational narrative the player receives. Our interaction with her clarifies the setting and story, to a basic extent, just enough to see motive behind the journey one is about to partake in.

Despite the intro, the Year Walk’s narrative is mostly visual and soundtrack based - after speaking with Stina, we do not encounter any other people to converse with, nor is any non-diegetic commentary provided. We can see, from her clothing and the machinery around her, as well as the fact we find her in a mill, she likely works or resides there. From her statement of, ‘you and I, we come from different worlds.’, it is hinted she is from a different social hierarchy than the character one has taken on, though as she is the only human we encounter throughout the gameplay, no other hints to racial, gender, or political representation are given. The player finds their way around and discovers the events via journal entries and gameplay uncovered directions - for example, the crude owls scratched into the shed walls on both sides of the wooden doll, signify the sequence in which the birds should be addressed when approached.

The narrative and progress are both linear - your choices do not affect the outcome, and no progress is made unless you follow the game’s clues and directions.

The Art

The flat-shaded, 2D, monochrome artstyle, very well captures the unsettling atmosphere, rarely straying from black, white, and grey, with few variations of faded, light blue and brown to upkeep the nature of the unforgiving Scandinavian setting. There is no shown progression of time, giving off the impression that no time passes at all -at least for Daniel, the embodiment of which the player becomes upon entering the game’s first half. This rings true to the practice and legend of Year Walking as a tradition, as the entire journey would span over a singular night - the Walker, after fasting for a day and engaging no human contact or seeing no light, is made by the practice fit to enter a variant of their own reality, in which the monsters and gods they encounter converse with, guide, or hinder their progress. We do not meet any other humans during the game’s progress, nor do we see any sign of remaining life, past ominous footprints marring the freshly fallen snow - there is no fire in the furnace we find whilst searching for clues, cart long abandoned by the horse that may have lead it. Simogo masterfully captures the progression, moulding each chapter together with impressive smoothness. Year Walk is a short game, meant to be played for it’s story and visuals, rather than relying on enemies and nerve wracking pace to instil fear and suspense in the player.

The clean cut lines resemble shadow-box art, a medium in which different colours, patterns or textures of paper are expertly cut and layered over each other to create the illusion of deeper than reality dimension, by play on shadow, lights, and colour. The craft was mostly prominent in the northeast, where shadowboxes often most served as children’s entertainment. For adults, also, more elaborate plays, highly detailed landscapes would be crafted with utmost patience over the courses of weeks. It was a theatrical art, similar to puppet plays, with paper figurines mounted on thin, wooden or metal sticks to allow control. The game uses similar methods to create a feeling of distance in the 2D landscape - the foreground and background layers shift accordingly with each move the player makes.

In 2013, it sold 200,000 copies on the App Store, with Apple singling out the developers -

Simogo - as ‘’developers to watch in 2014’’. Simogo created a multitude of similar games, in their known theme of ‘experience’ based media, rather than focusing on skill and action. Year Walk artistically grasps the vague and fleeting nature of folklore and cultural customs, both via visual representation and information embedded in its lore and game progress - enhanced by the ‘Companion’ App, which consists of background stories for the game’s characters, and historical facts on the creatures featured.

Public Response

Consistently receiving ratings between 8/10 and 10/10, the game’s fanbase and following has skyrocketed with the release of the Steam version - it features improved graphics, new puzzle pieces and saturated landscaping.As stated in the Polygon online newsport, at Unite 2013 conference, Year Walk won the category for ‘Best 2d Artistic Experience.’ This view was shared by over 1,160 Steam users, with the game coming up to a ‘Very Positive’ standard on the Store page (Game cost - £4.79/$5.99)

At a wider perspective, though the genre the developers decided to pursue rarely adheres to such a broad audience, Year Walk managed to stun the charts and tear through the App Store’s lists to the top 50 games in the beginning of 2014, as well as a nomination for the Nordic Best Artistic Achievement Award, Nordic Best Handheld, and Nordic Best Game of the Year in the same year. Other titles by the developer and publisher, Simogo, also featured as nominations in the Nordic Game Awards ceremony.

The Year Walk has since been ported to the Wii U. It is now one of the most readily available titles, playable on PC, smartphones, tablets, and console.

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