Traditional controls, such as pressing ‘A’ to interact with a character, would have sufficed here, but Year Walk would not throw me a bone. 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. Year Walk’s enhanced controls help to fully immerse you in the atmosphere the game sets out for you. This, of course, makes sense you’re on a spiritual journey, which could have good or bad consequences. 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. 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’s this process that takes the game from pleasant and peaceful to harrowing and genuinely disconcerting. 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. In it, someone would deprive themselves of food and would walk alone in the Swedish winters, through the forest to their local cemetery. The “year walk” is a ritual that stems from Swedish pagan practices dating back to the 19th century. 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. Though the gyroscope becomes frustrating to use at times, given the tone of the game (which I’ll explain later), it makes absolute sense. The only controls used are the left thumbstick, ZR to grab, and the gyroscope to use your cursor. Gameplay is restricted to moving laterally in different areas, solving sometimes simple and occasionally complex puzzles.

Originally created for iOS back in 2013, Year Walk is a simple puzzle game that is more story-driven than it initially lets on. What I’m trying to say is that this game is going to rustle your jimmies. 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. The odd sense of warm security you feel in a chilly setting is misplaced, however.

A year walk lets play