Year Walk is Simogo's fourth iOS game, released on 21st February, 2013.
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Originally code-named Game 4, Year Walk is a 2D/3D first-person puzzle/adventure game set in the Swedish woods during the 19th Century. Traditional Swedish folklore plays a predominant role in the game.
The game is set in the fictitious town of Vedtorp, Sweden during the late 19th Century. It tells of a young man named Daniel Svensson who goes out on a 'Year Walk' in the hope of seeing the future.
During his Year Walk, he encounters various mystical creatures who act as both obstacles and sources of assistance in the game. After completing the quests given to him by the creatures he is given the key to the Vedtorp church where his future would finally be revealed. It is there that he discovers that the girl he loves, Stina Nilsson, does not actually love him.
The game draws to a close on the discovery of Stina's lifeless body, whom Daniel has supposedly killed subconsciously.
After the puzzle box is unlocked within the game, a newspaper clipping confirms that Daniel is later executed for the death of Stina.
End of SPOILERS!
Gameplay[]
Despite being in first-person view, the control method of the game is in 2D; navigating around in the game involves swiping both left and right to move left and right respectively. At times, a small triangle appears above the screen, indicating that areas ahead can be accessed by swiping down.
The game mixes both puzzle and adventure elements and integrates the use of the device's hardware to create varied gameplay.
The Year Walk Companion (released separately alongside Year Walk) can also be used as a guide to assist players during the game and offers background information regarding the origins of the mystical creatures that are encountered within the game.
Development and Influences[]
The game began production late May 2012, with numerous Year Walk prototypes developed and scrapped, one being a third-person adventure.
Simogo has noted that the game has been influenced by:
First person shooters (FPS)
Yuri Norstein
Pop-up books
Safari browser on iOS
The Legend of Zelda series
Traditional folklore
The main chararacter models also had numerous iterations during development and these can be seen below.
Soundtrack[]
On the 20th March, 2013, the official soundtrack to Year Walk was released. Included in the soundtrack is all the music from Year Walk by Daniel Olsén plus Oh The Joy (the credit music) by Jonathan Eng.
Months before release, Simogo left behind various clues and teases regarding Year Walk. They are summarised below:
In April, 2012, Simogo first began to tease their upcoming game with a screenshot of the 'Bumpy Road Theme' in the app 'Clear'. Contained within the screenshot were a list of perculiar tasks relating to Year Walk's mythological themes. When you hovered your mouse over the image it would state:
WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN IS THIS SOME HINT ABOUT WHATS NEXT???
A QR code with a horse on it entitled 'Hoof Key' - the image flashed momentarily on a blog post every few seconds. When scanned it leads to an image of a Nix on Wikipedia.
The Nix is a mythical brook horse. In traditional Scandinavian folklore, it would appear near lakes, often during fog. Anyone who climbed onto its back would not be able to get off. The Nix would then jump into the river, drowning the rider.
A blog post containing major information about the game, includes an image with a book entitled En gång i Sverige ('Once in Sweden'), a book which examines and contrasts modern Sweden with its rural past
A hidden 'invisible ink' message was left above a blog post regarding fan art. It stated:
Certain nights are not meant for us
Tonight is meant for them
If you hovered your mouse above each fan image posted in the blog, it would read:
There is a mystery in every song
But can you really read a song?
A blog post containing printable art also had hidden messages in it when your mouse hovered over each one:
Bring
Me
Unwanted
Children
The major blog post regarding Simogo's next game had the words Lake Wary hidden in the image when your mouse hovered over it.
In a recent blog post entitled Friday 13th a picture of a dirt covered hand has the writing lakewary.com [Note: this site has now been pulled down]
lakewary.com leads to a page entitled WATCHERS with six symbols. When your mouse hovers each symbol it creates This night belongs to them.
When downloaded, the image in the blog post entitled 'This and that about GAME4' has the name horseinthelake.
A recent post on Simogo's Blog has hidden within it the word Myling. This refers to the mythical Myling, an incarnation of unbaptised children who haunt the living.
Towards the end of 2012, vedtorp.se was discovered by Touch Arcade Forum members. This was found following Simogo's release of a 'greetings card' trailer (see below). By diagnosing the trailer frame-by-frame, TA members were able to discover letters contained within some frames, together spelling 'Vedtorp', the fictitous town which is the setting of Year Walk.
Contained within the site is an image of the horse with the text: "Welcome to Vedtorp" in Swedish. Below it states:
Vedtorp's online meeting place is under construction. Have questions about Vedtorp's card or other offers, please contact the civic office. Looking for the Month of Vedtorp Enthusiast Website, click here (this lead to a page which said 'under construction').
The website has since been updated with tourist information regarding the town. Until today it is unclear as to the significance of this website.
