Year Walk

Year Walk (2013) is a horror narrative traversal game where you partake in the ancient Nordic tradition of Year Walking to see glimpses of the future. As you travel the snowy landscapes by moonlight, you see creatures and characters from Swedish mythology and must solve puzzles to progress. It stands out for this dark, twisted reimagining of an ancient ritual, complete with a mystery to solve and scares to brave.

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The game is based around Årsgång, an old Swedish ritual in which journeyers would venture out at midnight on New Year's Eve to the local church, completing a set of instructions that, if completed, grant you a glimpse at the next year's events. As Daniel Svensson, you set out on a Year Walk to see what your future holds and uncover a dark twist of fate at its end.

Play involves moving through the forest, going left, right, up and down to explore the different layers of the world. During your journey, you encounter beings from mythic tales, such as a Nixie (a horse spirit in a river) and Huldra (a seductive forest spirit), who create one of the game's more unsettling and horrific moments. To progress, you need to solve simple puzzles such as moving objects or going to the correct places to unlock new areas. The game is supported by a free app that provides details of the year walking phenomenon. Progressing unlocks clues in the journal, which can be pieced together to uncover (and solve) a dark mystery, and even find the secret "true" ending of the game.

The result is a game that wants you to get lost. Like the real-world journey into the wild, you must embrace this uncertainty to find a way forward. This combines with the dark recreation of ritualistic tradition to both unsettling and intrigue. Slowly progressing as the ambience and darkness build make for a haunting and memorable experience.

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Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Year Walk 6 months ago. It was re-examined by Ellen Robertson and updated 7 days ago.