A Brief History of the Walking Simulator | Sidcourse

When you personally reach “the moment” in The Witness it is truly mind-blowing and is one of my favourite experiences I’ve had playing games.

You may have mentioned it, but I want to point out that when I watch a let’s play it’s almost always because of the players personality. The personality of those that I watch(mostly mythymoo), and I think those that are large (e.g. markaplyer) are fun to watch because of themselves. A commentary-less let’s play is extremely boring to me, and I’ll only watch them when it’s a walkthrough.

MYST was a "walking sim"

You were the one who introduced me to The Stanley Parable a few years ago when I watched this video the first time. I added it to my Steam wishlist at that time, but I eventually forgot about it. I finally got around to buying it when it released on Xbox recently, and it's easily one of my favorite games now. It's rare for a game to frequently cause me to experience such strong emotions, and I greatly appreciate you introducing me to it.

Just don’t call these things games. Call them interactive… whatevers.

The farther you skew a game away from gameplay and difficulty and instead focus more on cutscenes and narrative, it is much less a game (a bad one at that) and more so something in the realm of movie/novel (perhaps a good one).

Great video! Very good analysis, very well told! A+! I wouldn't call The Witness a walking simulator though. It's a puzzle game like Talos Principle, or Portal.

regards you and let's plays, why not co-host with a chill and or analytical streamer of your choosing?
Chris from Errant Signal rolls with the spoiler warning crew, George Weidman of SuperBunnyHop used to pop up there and even on some of the SuperBestFriends podcasts...
Hell. Kasey Ozymy of Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass dropped in for almost the entirety of a stream I watched by either VoiceOfDog or his regular co-conspirator Raqus

After seeing Mandalorian have JCS do segments on his most recent video I know the sky isn't even the limit anymore
someone of your calibre could be an asset almost anywhere

why play the game yourself? The medium is the message, I'd never be able to watch a vid on yt and have the same experience

Great video. I've played all these games and I really enjoyed them. I'm happy to see there are others out there who appreciate them as well.

I'm surprised you consider watching a walkthrough of one of these games to be as enjoyable as doing it yourself.
I find it so much more satisfying to be the one in control of the character, even if the events are scripted.

Stanley Parable is still one of my favorites. It's a shame that Everybody's Gone to the Rapture was not included in this lineup, I am very curious as to your opinion on a game that focuses on music and character relationships in a way that I think a lot of the others failed. Even so, fantastic video.

Really like the trying to give fair criticism to something that you're not personally partial to, not something you often hear!

"Don't worry, they're all pretty short experiences"
The Witness
- Average Playtime: 17½ Hours
- Completionist: 42½ Hours
Sure. Short.

I think that my favorite walking simulator was What Remains of Edith Finch.
I have to wonder why you keep on emphasizing that it's important that walking simulators have no combat. It's not like they're anywhere close to the first ones that shared that trait. We see games like Harvest Moon and Dance Dance Revolution sprinkled throughout the history of video games after all.

This was 3 years ago. Please, do tell if anything came up that approaches the ideal working simulator that you portray

Did not enjoy gone home one bit, but all the other games mentioned here I absolutely adored and played multiple times.

I'd be interested to know what your thoughts on the Last Guardian are.

How is your voice so arousing

Death stranding is the best walking simulator

Amazing video, but let me say the things I dont agree.

The Witness is more of a puzzle game, I think, than a walking simulator, but I do get why you've included it in the video. Also, playing it is way different then watching someone else, because of the puzzles and because of the many different paths. Fiding how to complete this game by yourself changes the experience a lot.


I also dont think Gone Home gives you the same experience if watching someone playing it. The order you find things, you, yourself, taking every information and learning them for yourself... someone playing may miss some texts or details, while you would miss other ones when playing it.

You already said about Stanley, which is also different when playing or watching.

So these game do have a value. And at the end, even Firewatch or Dear Esther can be a bit different when playing, because they are, like you said, interactive experiences. But yeah, not that much differences from watching someone.

Your channel is amazing, and I wonder if you'll make new videos? Maybe talk about the art of death stranding, as a follow up from the MGS video? The editing is one of the best I've seen, the writting and art too.

What a relaxing voice😍 right guys?

Death Stranding, the best walking simulator of all time.

Great job!
I had a pleasure of watching walking simulator genre born and grow in front of my eyes unlike most other big cool genres, that i learned by essays in journals mostly and i need to say couple of things to you.
Firstly, thank you for that brief, but finely paced video. Big props to you.
Secondly, first time an acclaimed game in this genre effectively tried montage technics in telling a story is Gravity Bone and it`s successor Thirty Flights of Loving. It is really minimal in time consuming and rich in impact, so i wholeheartedly reccomend it to you.
Thirdly, you have footage of Brothers: a Tale of Two Sons, that`s hardly a walking simulator, sprinkled all over the video, but not even mentioned Begginer`s Guide (maybe it will be in your depression video? I am still discovering your work). But i really approve your stance on the Dr. Langeskov (with Stanley Parable included, it is the holy trinity of games-as-contemporary-art-for-everyone-in-need-of-understanding for my taste).
Finally, i trule believe (as i tried both ways naturally) that playing this stories actively is vastly more satisfying expirience than watching it. There are GAMES after all. Yes, they truly are.

And i hope you already played What Remains of Edith Finch, that came out only couple of monts after this video.
Thank you!

It kidna pisses me off that people use Esther as something that is among the first ones that combined walking and seeing the story but you have series like Echo Night on Ps1 but none giva a shit...

Books can have a failure state read goosebumps

"I want to do let's plays... however there's not a lot that I can personally bring to the table" 1) Your pleasant voice, 2) I think you'd provide a calm (vicarious?) experience for the people watching. I feel like there's value in hearing someone who typically tries to be impartial in their videos get emotionally attached to and remove themselves of that analytical aspect of their thought process. In any case, it's literally been a year since you've posted anything and I'm still out hoping that you'll start making let's plays, given it would be something you enjoy.

Fire watch seems pretty interesting but I'm quite upset at the developers so I'm not supporting what they are making at the time being.

This is the first video of his I've ever watched, I like looking back at this one and appreciate everything he's taught me through his videos. It's truly amazing the videos Sid makes and I hope he's doing well. (If you see this I appreciate you and the work you put into your videos)

his voice is like so soothing and just could fall to sleep, hearing him say beautiful medium over and over again

Try playing them in VR with Vorpx in cinematic mode. It brings walking simulators to a whole other (beautiful) level. Edith Finch looked exquisite in 3D as did rapture.

Minor correction: Stanley Parable has two voice actors. There is a ??female?? voice in the game as well.

In Japan there were a ton of walking simulators on PS1. None of them were localized. Pretty much all of them were highly experimental, bizarre, narratively minimalistic and focused on the experience/3D-visuals/sounds/exploration from the first person perspective. But just like anything else related to the history of "Japan only gaming" Western players tend to have absolutely no idea and don't bother doing their research.

Thanks for the spoiler alert in the beginning of the video, much appreciated. For that, and your pleasant voice, you just gained yourself a new subscriber. I hope you will make more videos soon. Have a nice day!

Dear Esther looks jaw-droppingly beautiful.  I don't know if it's literally non-interactive, to the point of just being a movie; if so, I wouldn't have much patience for it.  As long as you can choose whether to walk forward or not, though, I think I'd find it incredibly meditative and pleasingly ambient, probably as a background while doing other things, which is an absolutely fine way for a game to be.

I wonder how you sound when you laugh

What about what remains of Edith finch

Another walking simulator that I quite enjoyed (and was hoping for a sequel that never came): The Old City: Leviathan

Another that may be worth including is Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. The environment and music are both gorgeous and immersive. The story is told at a slow pace (mostly due to the movement speed--even while sprinting), but it really gives you a chance to take in the world and explore each of the characters.

I fucking hate walking SIMULATOR play a game or watch a film mixing cut scenes into gameplay is TRASH..

Awesome work

I was honestly surprised that you encouraged let's plays for walking simulators in this video. I started playing video games fairly recently and one of the first games I ever picked up was Gone Home. I played it, loved it, and moved on. Recently I've gotten a girlfriend who was interested in games but didn't know where to start so I watched her play Gone Home. Watching another person experience something that was such a unique experience for me was jarring and honestly kind of uncomfortable. I guess it makes sense money-wise but its a bit like reading a book with someone else's running commentary in my mind: weird weird weird.

Really? Not even a mention of Yume Nikki? What a shame.

Where is more

Great video. One of my favorite discussions to have around games is their unique storytelling capacities and how they can do things that other mediums can't.
Two excellent examples of story through mechanics that come to mind are Journey and Celeste. Journey has relatively simple gameplay, but it's engaging enough that it can convey a variety of emotional beats (whether through joyfully sliding, sneaking past dangerous areas, flying freely through the environment, or through slow slogs that convey hardship).
Celeste uses its tough but fair challenge, as well as its dynamic music and even its abstract feeling pixel art to make you feel like you're experiencing Madeline's journey right there with her. It's also one of the most powerful experiences I've ever had with any medium.
Contrast that with another game, RiME, that appears to be similar to Journey on a surface level, but it just wasn't that engaging to play. I considered giving up on it several times, but I'm glad I managed to pull through. The game has a beautiful, emotional, and touching story and work of art buried within it, but its mechanics did it no favors. It also could have been a small fraction of its length, and may even have been better told as a short film. It was an excellent study in what it is about a game that can make for effective storytelling, and where it might fall flat.

I’m addicted to your videos. The editing combined with your voice is impeccable