Those damn walking sims (That I love so much)

[The_bad_who]

I love walking sims. I always thought the narrative of a game to be more important than a lot of things, including gameplay in some instances. I simply cannot enjoy a game with good gameplay if the story is just an afterthought of plain boring. On the other hand, I can endure the worst gameplay if the story is worth it. Walking sims allows me to immerse myself into a world, explore it, analyse it at my own convenience and pace. They leave the door wide open to storytelling and character developpement. I always was a bid movie guy, so it makes me feel like I'm in one, living inside it for the time it lasts.
I'd like to have your opinions, theory, recommendations about them. Let's discuss about this polarizing genre, even if you hate them, tell me why! Here is a list of those I played :

- The Stanley Parable
- Gone Home
- Dear Esther
- Firewatch
- Virginia
- Everybody's Gone To The Rapture

 

[Jonathan_Leack]

I actually don't mind these games when I'm in the right mood. However, I recently played The Solus Project and it didn't go so well.

I played the game in VR, which was neat at first, until five hours went by with nothing happening. After a while I just went on a walk in real life instead. Was way better.

 

[The_bad_who]

I agree that these games are not at their best when they overstay their welcome. Usually, after 3-4 hours, the story needs to be really solid to keep me engaged. This being said, even the more well written ones do have some flaws. I recently mentioned the walking speed in Everybody's Gone To The Rapture in another thread as a major pain in the ass.