The Unfinished Swan

Walking Sims

The Unfinished Swan is a raw example of how walking tells a story in walking simulators. In the game all I did was walk around in a white world, throwing black balls of paint around me to illuminate the surroundings. Through the act of walking (and painting), the player learns about the world they’ve been placed in—a maze-like kingdom with weird creatures but no people. Since the world is initially white, the story of the game is essentially hidden until you start walking around. Only then do you start to piece together what is going on in the game.

There were game markers along the way to guide my walking and let me know that I was headed in the right direction to progress the story. There were also storybook pages placed throughout that gave snippets of background about the kingdom I was walking through and why everything was white. This gave the game that element of discovery typical in walking sims; by walking around and uncovering objects, the story of the world is gradually revealed. Even though The Unfinished Swan isn’t a mystery at its core, cloaking the world in white and only revealing bits of the narrative as you move around adds a sense of mystery that propels you forward in the game.

I will admit, the bare-bones style of the game and the lack of stimulation beyond throwing paint at white walls did bore me at times. I could easily see myself giving up on the game early on (if not for this assignment…). This suggests that while walking enables story development, walking alone may not be enough motivation to keep players engaged if the world of the game or the story itself is uninteresting.