Being based on Swedish mythology is easily Year Walk’s greatest strength, giving it a fresh feel even among its fellow horror titles. Sort of a mix of supernatural wonder and horror elements, Year Walk presents players with something quite unique in the gaming world. This is the catalyst for everything that follows in Year Walk, a game that will be equal parts disturbing and fascinating for players. Many people die while attempting the activity, and even if they don’t, finding out the future isn’t always a good idea. However, Year Walking, which is an actual Swedish tradition meant to give one a glimpse into the future, can be extremely dangerous, as Stina points out to Svensson.
#Year walk mylings how to#
Unfortunately, Stina has been proposed to by another man, so Svensson decides to go on a Year Walk to figure out how to handle the situation. For a mere four pounds / six dollars, though, this is a walk worth taking.Year Walk tells the story of Daniel Svensson, who is in love with a woman named Stina. Resist the temptation to use them because they make an already short game shorter.
#Year walk mylings Pc#
A hint system and map, both additions to the PC version, reduce aimless wandering, but in the process they kill part of what Year Walk is about - the wandering. While often obtuse, ambiguity is part of its charm. It's in turn bamboozling and disturbing, constantly throwing up both chilling curiosities and fresh interactive experiences. Later, inside a shimmering cave, a tuneful melody is a clue as to how you should progress. Snow crunches underfoot, and only by following a siren's distant call will you find her.
There's a goat-headed Church Grim to defeat, and a hidden language to decode (keep a pen and paper to hand). The dark recess of Year Walk hold all manner of warped puzzles. One of these Mylings can be found in the pages of your encyclopaedia, hinted at by strewn letters and dripping blood. When a beast called the Brook Horse rises out of a turquoise stream carrying the ghosts of four babies (Mylings), you must search for their bodies by following trails of bright blood stained into the white snow. Written by my favourite Scandinavian folklore expert Theodor Almsten, this encyclopedia details the kinds of myths and monsters that make you glad you grew up with Humpty Dumpty. According to the in-game encyclopaedia, "A year walker had to avoid other people, so they commonly locked themselves in dark rooms and were not allowed to see fire for an entire day." In this sense, the game nails its namesake. The featureless landscape combines with an excellent use of silence to evoke a feeling of unsettling isolation. These abandoned artefacts make it seem as if you've awoken to find a world devoid of people, like they've melted into the snow. The perspective isn't as freeing as conventional first-person, as you're always facing forwards and can only travel up and down at set points, but environmental cues indicate when: a mysterious set of footsteps leading into the distance.
It's a conspiring maze, luring in year walkers and displacing them amid endless trees and tundra. The midnight icy wilderness in which the bulk of the game takes place is a grid of screens that you navigate by travelling forwards, backwards, left and right.