There are a lot of highly anticipated games that come out in 2023, but the year that has just passed left us with a lot of wonderful games, too – and some not so much. One genre that really got into the hearts of gamers, though, is walking simulator games.
Whether they are classic walking sim games or play with the limits of the genre, these games give fans many different feelings: from absolute horror to complete meditative states, but most of all, the walking simulator games give an immersive experience.
7 Last Days Of Lazarus
This game is becoming fast one of the fans’ favorites, and it has so many good features: the graphics are superbly beautiful, the story is engaging, and the setting is unique. Last Days Of Lazarus launched on the 22nd of June 2022 by Darkania Works and GrimTalin, is a horror single-player game that works both as a puzzle and as a walking sim.
When their mother commits suicide, Lazarus has to return to his family home and seek Lyudmila, his sister. It is full of Eastern European images since it is set during the post-Soviet era, and the player is called to explore the many secrets that the house holds in it and reveal a very disturbing story, both of the protagonist and of his family.
6 Hazel Sky
While it was still in development, Hazel Sky was considered one of the games that could challenge the platformer games genre. Since its release on the 20th of June 2022 by Coffee Addict Studio, it has shown that the rumors were true.
Stunning graphics, amazing narration, interesting gameplay, and lots of options as to how the character moves and where he goes. The player assumes the role of a young engineer who is sent into the flying city of Gideon. Swimming, flying, walking, jumping, sliding – everything is possible in this sweet adventure.
5 A Butterfly's Dream
In this walking simulator (which is a flying simulator in reality), the player is transformed into a butterfly and is left to explore beautiful and colorful landscapes. The magic of this game, which was released on the 4th of April 2022 by The Philosophical School Of Games, is more of a meditative practice than anything else – and a very good one at that. A lot of games recently have played with the idea of meditation, and even Outer Wilds is making the player have to learn to meditate if they want to reset the time loop.
It is part of The Zen Koan series, and it is based on a Zen Koan about Master Chuang Tzu. A Koan is used as a meditation tool, and it can be a phrase, a story, a statement, or a question that provokes what is called “the great doubt.” The goal is to abandon the dependence the students have on reason and seek intuitive enlightenment.
4 The House On Holland Hill
Released on the 1st of March 2022 by Hedgefield, The House On Holland Hill is a walking simulator that really doesn’t waste the player’s time. It might be a short game, but it has stayed in the players’ hearts and has led to many positive reviews that all basically say the same thing: “you won’t regret playing this!”.
The player will get in the shoes of Luigi, who is a food delivery driver and takes regular orders from a specific house – the one in Holland Hill. It might be an impressive villa, but Luigi suspects that there is more than meets the eye… And with 4 different possible endings, the player can choose what that eye will see!
3 Under The Moon
It was released on early access on the 5th of August by Bamya Games, and even if more or less it is still considered “unknown,” it received many positive reviews, and it is expected to really blow over once it is properly out. It is a puzzle game/walking simulator in which the player goes on a journey with Ali Kemal and tries to find his one true love.
The colors are vibrant, the design is brilliant, and there are more than 6 countries to explore (Turkey, China, Russia, Egypt, Germany, and Scotland) and more than 100 riddles. Also, the way the game starts is going to remind the gamers of How I Met Your Mother, which is always a good thing!
2 BABBDI
It might have been released only a few days before 2022 ended (specifically on the 22nd of December), but the positive reviews it has acquired until now are off the charts! BABBDI was developed by Sirius Lemaitre and Leonard Lemaitre, and it is a unique experience that looks like nothing else.
This artistic walking simulator has no combat throughout the game, but the player is called to collect objects from around town and use them to try and escape the town of BABBDI, which given the way it looks and feels, is more than understandable.
1 Aery – Dreamscape
In the last couple of years, there have been a lot of games about flying, and they haven’t limited themselves to flight simulation games. What plays exactly like a walking simulator in the sky is the Aery series, where the player is a bird and explores fantastical landscapes.
One of the latest additions to the series is Aery – Dreamscape which was released on the 14th of January 2022 by EpiXR Games UG. The player has the opportunity to enter people’s minds, and each one of them takes the player to an imaginary world made out of their hopes and fears.