I'd like to browse walking sims but GOG's catalog is as useless as always.. the closest genre tag is "adventure", which brings up 19 pages of all sorts of games. Sigh.

Maybe we could make a gogmix... oh wait. Sigh.

Maybe I could check what was in that sale a week ago.. oh, you can't view the game list of past sales.

Someone happen to have a list handy?

Sadly "adventure" has become a generic "dumping ground" genre for anything that doesn't fit anything else even if it's completely devoid of puzzles. GOG also uses "simulation" as a confused substitute for "walking simulator". So Firewatch, Stardew Valley, SimCity, Tropico 4 and F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter apparently all have the same style of play...

Off the top of my head you'd probably looking at games like:-

Dear Esther
Ether One
Firewatch
Gone Home
Tacoma
The Stanley Parable
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
What Remains of Edith Finch

To add to that list:

- Virginia: https://www.gog.com/game/virginia

Scanner Sombre - https://www.gog.com/game/scanner_sombre

In addition to the other suggested games above i'd add also -

Close to the Sun

It is a somewhat good walking sim with light interactions and optional item finding.

Kona

This one has real puzzles, some are actually pretty tricky. This is available DRM free on Humble. Beginner's Guide too. Also has a few puzzles. The rooms puzzle drove some people mad... :-) Has a few mini-games. But they are really easy, so it might still qualify. True, apparently almost every game is an adventure ;-)


I don't know...

Would Layer of Fear qualify? It's only walking and looking at things, and a "search drawers simulator". The second game has some "escape the monster" scenes (which can be turned off).

Good question.

I wonder about Amnesia. The first game I mean.

It has some puzzles to advance but is mostly walking. And jumping. And running.

Thinking of this SOMA with safe mode enabled also plays like a "walking sim". And it's a good story too.

I only played a bit of that one. But yes it is very good.

The Solus Project could be added although it has survival elements. Just turning down the difficulty to minimum should do the trick.

The last Penumbra game. Where all pretense of game mechanics got kinda tossed aside. You do puzzles, but it's not really much of the challenging types in other games.

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs may as well be one. Again, very minimal puzzles. There's the possibility of death but it's something that you'd really need to work toward, somewhat confusingly I suppose.

It isn't on GOG but Everyone's Gone to the Rapture is another one.

I'd second Layers of Fear, as that's just one long trek through a haunted house - there's no real threat to deal with.

By extension of the above, I assume Blair Witch would qualify as well but I don't know if there's any legit threat posed to the player in it or not.

I guess the definition differs for every one :-)

For instance Ether One is IMO very clearly focused on the puzzles, I'd call it a first person adventure game. And SOMA in normal mode is a lot about avoiding the monsters, planning your route etc.

For me "walking sim" is more about an experience, taking it in, like a painting you can enter and walk around in. You can of course, like in Firewatch (which I love btw.) discover "puzzles" - like the case of the missing boy which you can try to solve - or not.

Originally I, before "walking sims" became a thing, I called open world games with a lot of exploration and "hiking" - like Morrowind - walking sims (only for myself). :-D

It's a bit tricky where to draw the line. Generally, I consider games close to the "Walking Simulator" label when their main goal is to tell a short story and the gameplay interactions beside exploring on a more or less linear path are rather limited. So having a few puzzles or even action sequences in it wouldn't automatically disqualify it as a "Walking Simulator" yet, if the rest fits, unless these gameplay elements become rather dominant.

To me Ethan Carter might still qualify, while Ether One seems more a puzzle/adventure game in the tradition of Myst. I wouldn't consider e.g. Alan Wake a "Walking Simulator" because even though it's linear, mostly about the story and gameplay elements are rather weak, not why you would play it, the action scenes are very present and predominant. But there are other games in which you need to avoid monsters that do border on "Walking Simulators", IMO. SOMA might qualify, Through the Woods to me as well. Not sure about Penumbra and Amnesia, haven't played them long enough.

That being said, and with a grain of salt, here are some more that I would add to the list:

- Through the Woods (has a few monsters that you need to avoid)
- Blackwood Crossing (some light puzzles)
- ABZÛ (very light puzzles)
- Stories Untold (some light puzzles)
- Conarium (I think)
- The First Tree (some collecting, IIRC)
- A Story About My Uncle (not quite, because there is - simple but partially frustrating - platforming involved, but it's close)

Not on GOG:
- Journey (same as ABZÛ)
- Thirty Flights of Loving
- The Beginner's Guide
- The Novelist
- The Path
- The Graveyard
- Sunset
- Paperbark (some collecting)
- Beyond Eyes
- Valley (not quite, because there is platforming and shooting involved, but it's close)