Bernband : The Walking Simulator
Walking simulators are a controversial topic. There aren’t any real risks or objectives to these types of games — all you are supposed to do is explore. The gaming community are split on whether or not to call it a game, but for the sake of convenience and to avoid arguing the semantics, I will be referring to this walking simulator as such. While many sims of the sort do have a story to tell (like “The Beginners Guide”), there are just as many that only offer atmosphere and art direction. “Bernband” falls into the latter category — and as someone who values storytelling, the occasional challenge, and meaningful gameplay, why am I enamoured by this walking simulator?
Bernband has no milestones or an end. Zero incentive to start or finish the game. You play as an unnamed protagonist, exploring an alien city named “The Pff”. There are about 23 locations to discover, some hidden and some unavoidable. Its simplistic graphics can be attributed to why this was one of the only games I could smoothly run on my previous laptop — a charmingly low-res, however much bit, 2.5D showcase. It’s the kind of game where NPCs would swivel around as you eye them, thinly veiling their paper-thin sprites. Your scraggly blue arms would bob up and down as you skitter from place to place, taking up the bottom corners of your screen. You’d hear chatter or music as you near its source, like the lecture of a classroom teacher or the galactic funk from a band reminiscent of the one in Star War’s Cantina. And at times, all you can hear are your own footsteps.
To answer my own question, I believe that the reason why this walking simulator dwells on me so can be chalked up to its atmosphere. Typically, this one factor would not be enough to keep me coming back to a game, much less resist from alt tabbing out. There isn’t any plot or suggested lore to this game, so I wouldn’t say that I fill in the gaps during my playthroughs. Instead, I create different narratives, give different names to the unnamed protagonist and imagine locations the developer has not yet borne. Don’t get me wrong — I’m not saying that I like this game because of the “life” I have injected into it. That would be pretentious of me and a disservice to Tom, the creator of “Bernband”. If it weren’t for the work he put into the art or the cohesive city building, I wouldn’t be writing this blog. In fact, the first time I booted up this game, all I did was mindlessly traverse The Pff, curious as to what Tom’s world has to offer. I find myself coming back to the game, time and time again, simply because “Bernband” has the quality to immerse its players. The Pff is alive, and that is what inspires me.
A few of my writings have tried to emulate the way I feel when I play “Bernband”, in hopes to draw readers into a world that feels as real as “Bernband” did to me. To be frank, I don’t think I have achieved this quite yet. Even if you aren’t the biggest walking simulator fan, I implore you to check this one out. You might have violently differing opinions than I do on this game, or share similar sentiments. Whichever it may be, I’d appreciate to hear your thoughts on “Bernband” all the same! You can play it for yourself on gamejolt! Tom has a few more games to offer on both itch.io and steam, with ones more plot or objective driven, if you like his art but hate this genre.
