[Review] Year Walk

System: Wii U
Release date: September 17, 2015
Developer: Simogo / Dakko Dakko
Publisher Simogo

Author: Travis

When you first pick up Year Walk, “peaceful” and “serene” are two words that may pop into your head. You find yourself in a quaint, Swedish forest in the winter, with snowflakes falling, the wind gently whispering, and ‘barely there’ atmospheric tones.

The odd sense of warm security you feel in a chilly setting is misplaced, however. Despite the calming, ambiguous way Year Walk opens, your character’s goal to eventually see into the future by partaking in a ‘vision quest’ takes a few disconcerting turns.

What I’m trying to say is that this game is going to rustle your jimmies.

Originally created for iOS back in 2013, Year Walk is a simple puzzle game that is more story-driven than it initially lets on. Gameplay is restricted to moving laterally in different areas, solving sometimes simple and occasionally complex puzzles. The only controls used are the left thumbstick, ZR to grab, and the gyroscope to use your cursor. Though the gyroscope becomes frustrating to use at times, given the tone of the game (which I’ll explain later), it makes absolute sense. Additionally, like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, this is a game that seems like it was built with the Wii U GamePad in mind, as referencing the world map, jotting down puzzle notes, pulling up clues and studying up on the world’s lore is a seamless process without any interruption to the world you can be easily sucked into.

It’s the aforementioned lore that seems oddly misplaced, however. As if it were the game’s digital manual, a large majority of the story, including the reason you’re out in the woods and explanation of the odd encounters you’re seeing, is entirely optional to read. If, then, you’re someone who doesn’t want to jump into a game and read paragraphs and paragraphs of lore, you’re going to have little explanation for what’s going on.

But with Year Walk, patience is key. The tranquility you experience while roaming around the Swedish forest helps put you in the right frame of mind; this isn’t a race. You’ll need patience as you’re searching the landscape for clues, and if you choose to familiarize yourself with the story before you begin your adventure, your experience will be that much greater because of it.

The “year walk” is a ritual that stems from Swedish pagan practices dating back to the 19th century. In it, someone would deprive themselves of food and would walk alone in the Swedish winters, through the forest to their local cemetery. If successful, they could find out what the next year held for them and their family, but along the way they could encounter unspeakable fears and horrors, including strange creatures, deceased children, the supernatural, and more.

It’s this process that takes the game from pleasant and peaceful to harrowing and genuinely disconcerting. Like the journey of one on a year walk, the game successfully balances the somber atmosphere of walking through a Swedish forest alone in winter with the the knowledge that dark spiritual forces are at play, and though the setting is serene, you’re far from safe. It doesn’t seem accurate to call Year Walk a horror game, but from the souls of fetuses to demons jumping out at you, this title isn’t particularly light. This, of course, makes sense; you’re on a spiritual journey, which could have good or bad consequences.

Year Walk’s enhanced controls help to fully immerse you in the atmosphere the game sets out for you. There were times when a ghost had jumped out at me and I was legitimately scared, and I wanted to be as unengaged in the game as possible while still completing my objectives.

Traditional controls, such as pressing ‘A’ to interact with a character, would have sufficed here, but Year Walk would not throw me a bone. Instead, I had to press LZ, use the gyroscope to target the character, and then move the controller around again in order to interact with it how I’d like. This could sound cumbersome, and at times it is, but it serves the purpose of immersion beautifully. I could not simply press ‘A’ to progress – I needed to be fully engaged with the world I was in, even if I was scared of it.

Unfortunately, the one caveat to this adventure is I was surprised by its short length. It only took about two hours for me to complete the campaign, though the game gives you the option of replaying it with more puzzles after you beat it. Given its $7 price tag, you don’t feel like you’re getting ripped off, but the game does seem to end just as you’re beginning to get into it. Still, games that successfully immerse me the way Year Walk has are few and far between, and the experience alone, albeit short, is worth the price tag.

For those who are interested more in a story or experience than gameplay, Year Walk is a must have. The atmosphere is haunting yet serene, and you’ll find it difficult to play this indie title half-heartedly. From the beginning to the end, you’ll be sucked into Year Walk, whether you want to be or not. This isn’t just a game – it’s a disconcerting, engrossing experience, that would be a shame to miss.