Walden, a game

---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☐ Beautiful ☐ Good ☑ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☐ Good ☑ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☐ Very good ☐ Good ☑ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☑ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☑ Potato ☐ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{ Game Size }--- ☐ Floppy Disk ☑ Old Fashioned ☐ Workable ☐ Big ☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive ☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it ☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data ---{ Difficulty }--- ☑ Just press 'W' ☐ Easy ☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☐ Significant brain usage ☐ Difficult ☐ Dark Souls ---{ Grind }--- ☐ Nothing to grind ☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks ☑ Isn't necessary to progress ☐ Average grind level ☐ Too much grind ☐ You'll need a second life for grinding ---{ Story }--- ☐ No Story ☐ Some lore ☐ Average ☑ Good ☐ Lovely ☐ It'll replace your life ---{ Game Time }--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☐ Short ☑ Average ☐ Long ☐ To infinity and beyond ---{ Price }--- ☐ It's free! ☐ Worth the price ☐ If it's on sale ☑ If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{ Bugs }--- ☐ Never heard of ☑ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs ---{ ? / 10 }--- ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☑ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7 ☐ 8 ☐ 9 ☐ 10

A relaxing Peaceful Game indeed. I give it a Thumbs up, has very good Graphics, and smooth Game play.

The writings of Henry David Thoreau are elegantly incorporated into this beautiful walking simulator. The world of Walden Lake and its environs (including Concord and Emerson’s house!) is a joy to wander around. This is a game about looking, and really seeing, and about the relationship between walking and thinking. It’s not an exaggeration to say that it’s changed the way I’ll look at the natural world: I long to know the names of every tree, plant and natural phenomena I see. Alas, pent up in the city, as I am, I don’t see much, but the sight of a flower peeping up from concrete is a richer balm to me now. It’s perhaps ironic that it’s a piece of electronic technology that’s instigated this desire to reconnect to the natural world, to notice more deeply the changing seasons and our lost place in complex ecosystems. In terms of gameplay, you play as Thoreau during his year in the woods (although the game allows you to stay beyond the year he spent there). You walk around the gorgeous lake - the art is stunningly beautiful, every screenshot I took is like a Dutch Golden Age landscape - and listen to his writings (the voice acting is superb). There’s also some light crafting and farming, activities which help establish a rhythm to life in the woods. The game also acts as a kind of introduction to, and (auto)biography of Thoreau. It all feels like it’s been immaculately researched. I love this game very much, and will return to these woods whenever the city has got too much for me. There’s so much more to say about this game, but I’ll stop here. PS I’d never read Walden; or, Life in the Woods before, but I will be soon.

As a Boy Scout, many years ago, I gained a lifelong Love, Appreciation, and desire to continue to experience God's gift to our species... the prefect, balanced and beautiful NATURAL WORLD. Also years ago, I attempted to read (Paperback) the book...I could not finish it. Too difficult a read, rather I continued to backpack camp, hiking, biking, scuba diving, bird -watching. I have my own thoughts and love and desires of the great outdoors. Quite spiritual. So I get WALDEN, a game, on a Steam Sale. Absolutely love this 'Walking Game'. It's simple, I can't kill or be killed, oft times repetitive, but with entertaining errands,puzzles, quests, and explorations. And also quite spiritual' The prose I could not discern in my earlier life, comes to life as it's read aloud to me whilst looking at great natural scenes, and back-grounded with the ambiant sounds of rain,wind,birds,frogs and mammals afoot in the brush. Your activities include: walking, running,wood-chopping; planting,pruning, and harvesting beans. Fixing your spartan home, fixing your clothes; finding books, poems,animals,plants,taking notes, row boating and fishing. The game's visual effect is very good, and the sound is excellent. Our man-made world, our civilized society, has and now (more than ever) often troubled me. My sojourns into the natural world have always given me solace and calm and respite. This game does so too on rainy nights and cold cold days. If you'd like to find relaxing, stimulating, and entertaining relief from our troubled times...GET OUTDOORS. Or if you prefer...get "Walden, a game" and enjoy it's promise from the comfort of your living room.

fine

This is easily the worst game I have ever played. The idea of putting Henry David Thoreau's book into a game is solid, but the execution is unbelievably poor. The camera is janky and jittery (unless you have your lantern out, then it becomes normal). There is very little to do in the game, and what little there is to do is beyond mind-numbing. From the roughly two thirds of the game I played, I spend about 50% of it waiting around for the day to end so I could progress the story and continue quests. If Sophia and Emerson's quests are finished, there is nothing to do each day beyond the absolute essentials. I read other reviews that say the game has pretty visuals and promotes reflection and I can only half agree. The visuals are very poor, it's the same couple trees, rocks, and bushes copy and pasted around the forest. The bit on reflection is a bit more accurate. There is nothing but reflection to do in this game. (That's what lead me to make this review. I really formulated exactly why this game is bad.) Don't buy or play this unless you really want to walk around an empty forest, doing nothing but clicking on bushes.

One of the most enjoyable games i've played in years. A bit too much time is needed on survival rather than exploring - but maybe that is the message

So glad this game exists. They nailed the pond; having grown up around there, the landscape was familiar. I could always tell where I was supposed to be based on the environment. The game is slow, but it's perfect as a kind of interactive museum of Thoreau's mind palace (lots of voice-acted journal entries and letters between friends). Might be best played in bed on a steam deck (it runs great). Can't imagine anyone who likes the book not being fond of this game.

Until a FOV changing option is present, the game is unplayable for me. Not even 10 minutes in and I have a migraine from the close FOV. The concept seems amazing from what I saw, I just cant enjoy it with the low FOV.

A quiet reprieve.