Walkerman Reviews

Bought Act 1 and 2 on sale and played/read all of it in one sitting. Just couldn't stop. Well worth the asking price even without a sale. Just... Try to push past the intro. The systems at play are tutorialized a bit poorly and the player is never given an opportunity to actually act upon the things they're taught until Act 1 begins. But once things actually get going and the setting is established and your choices stop being fake, it'll hook ya. Promise.

A game I believe to have the potential to be as epic as Pillars of the Earth, or Witcher Visual Novel Edition, if given the chance. Absolutely worth the purchase. EDIT: I've high expectations for Act 2 to begin with, but it still exceeded my expectations with its high polish and astoundingly culture rich writing. There are a couple of bugs, but it was nothing gamebreaking. I would highly recommend any avid visual novel reader to try this out.

Interesting story with enough horror and intrigue to keep me clicking but this game only includes Act 1 at the moment which can be completed in a few hours. I'd suggest waiting for all 5 chapters to be released, if it ever does, before purchasing this game though. There are multiple branches that probably make this single chapter worthwhile but you probably won't be able to see the effects of your choices till the next chapters. While I'm anticapting the completion of the game, I fear it might not be finished judging by the gap between releases and how far it's strayed from its Kickstarter release schedule.

tl;dr - Feels a lot like Witcher: The Visual Novel. The world is a bit lighter shade of grey, but still quite morally ambiguous. Like The Witcher series, the primary conflict is really between people rather than with the monsters. It also has a very similar theme in terms of combat - a lot of investigation and legwork beforehand to set up for the actual encounter. The protagonist is pretty realistically part of the world, i.e. somewhat of a newbie ignorant racist that means well and tries to be moral within his society's definition of morality. If you enjoyed the culture clash digressions in The Witcher, you'd probably like it here. Also seems to have the same chick magnet thing going. It's pretty short as of now and somewhat limited in choices, but if it continues as is throughout the series, it could be pretty impressive. Note though that the prose does tend towards the purple side of the spectrum, which I find somewhat annoying.

Way better than I was expecting. So far, a great story that deserves more attention. Solid writing, intriguing characters, its fresh take on monster hunting and a well-drawn setting set this VN up to be something special. While it's easy to draw comparison to the Witcher, I'd say it sets itself apart as its own thing. I enjoyed taking note that the writer seems to have done more research than average on how the medieval setting would work creating a wonderful grounding for the more supernatural elements. This world feels cohesive and not just a mishmash of tropes from other sources. Well done. The main character is more than just a self-insert as he has his own issues and worldviews to grapple with, often contrasting to the world and events around him making for interesting situations and juxtapositions. His view may come off as abrasive to some, but I can't say that they don't make sense considering the hints we get about his past and the world around him. I'd say it was a good choice for the character and it makes for a better story overall. I really hope this doesn't get cancelled, seems like it's been quite a while since the last act came out. Way shoddier works have lived to see the light of day... If you're the kind that enjoys reading, dark fantasy, mystery, that sort of thing... give it a shot, there's a good chance you'll come away pleasantly surprised.

TL;DR: A VN with flowery prose, an unusual protagonist, lots of world building and an interesting take on what combat in a VN can look like. If you are here for boobs or voice acting, you have been misled. Stuff to read: This is a review of the Prologue and first Act of Walkerman. Walkerman does not really deliver what its store page suggests. While in the Steam Store it currently looks like this is a sex, horror and combat filled visual novel with a dark tone, the actual game reads much more like a young man's struggle to retain his very religious values in a society which seems to have abandoned the tennants of its faith. This is not to say, that that is the only thing that happens in Walkerman, but it undoubtedly takes the largest chunk of the currently 4 hours of gameplay, with the horror/detective elements making up the second largest bit. You see, the titular walkermen hunt things that go bump in the night and our protagonist has decided to take up the mantle of his father, move to the city and become a walkerman himself. However, in this world, scary creatures can't simply be hunted with an exceptionally sharp silver sword, but must be tricked to be slain. For some otherworld reason, all creatures in Walkerman must obey certain rules, all unique to their monsters. Because of this, our protagonist must research his opponent and gather material to use in his confrontation. This focus on the details suits the visual novel format surprisingly well, as the reader is already expected to pay attention to the massive amount of text being deluged on the screen. Once the walkerman finally goes out to hunt, the player is rewarded with a tense combat puzzle. This approach to combat seems oddly native to the visual novel format. Since there are really no balancing issues to be considered, you end up with a fight that leaves you feeling like you got through it by the skin of your teeth, which is a feeling you don't really expect to get from a visual novel. I have to note however that the imprecise translating of the visual novel style choices into the characters actions becomes incredibly jarring once you are in a situation in which any wrong move could potentially kill you. A more precise description of what exactly the character will do once you choose a certain action seems like something that would greatly relieve this issue. In comparision to the combat, the story portrays a very different sort of struggle. In an unexpected turn, it turns out that the protagonist has quite the personality in contrast with the usual visual novel faire. In fact, it is that very personality that will net him a lot of disdain from the reader. As it turns out our main character is in fact very religious and also very, very racist. This will turn a lot of people off and I can't even imagine many people liking the guy even if they end up reading this visual novel anyway. It is nonetheless incredibly interesting to follow his thought process, especially because his ideology runs so contrary to the norm. To be fair, his views are far more representable of the world he inhabits, but it does really seem like it was the intention of the writers to create a character that one can at once sympathize and disagree with. After all, we do help him fight for his life. This is where I have to push some worries however. The game is as of yet unfinished, but it does seem to promise that there will be romance in the future of this dear racist douchebag. This poses a tonal problem however, as most of the romantic interests that have appeared so far are explicitly of a different race, all of which our protagonist is very dismissive of. Considering how strongly he holds to his views in the current part of the story, I worry about how hard the character shift from monogamous, no-sex-until-marriage and locally-sourced-broads to gotta-catch'em-all is going to be. To be sure, nothing has happened yet, but the threat of this 180 on the horizon is truly what is keeping me from being overly enthusiastic about this visual novel at this point. Some more technical notes before I conclude: The art is great, but you can see that for yourself. Sadly, you stay in the city most often and the character portraits - aside from the women - are rather bland. There is no voice work. The writing on a technical level tries the age old trick of typing out thick accents to give certain characters - well ... - character to varying levels of success. There are also no tags to help you distinguish characters in the dialogue box, though I personally did not find that problematic. The sound is pleasant enough to leave running for the duration of your stay, but nothing to buy an OST over as of yet. In conclusion I would note that Walkerman does a lot of things well that set it apart from the pack. It however strangely has problems with the things that are all too common with visual novels anyway - namely text formatting and romantic plots. If you have an interest in original worlds and lore, characters with differing viewpoints from your own and tense combat puzzles with a long preparation phase then you will probably get a kick out of this. If you want great voice work, lots of schmalzy romance, wholly inoffensive characters and hours upon hours of reading material then you are currently out of luck.

*NOTE: Please understand this is an episodic game, and currently all content is not out. If you have a problem with the story cutting off early and waiting, dont buy this game now. I am not generally a fan of Visual Novels, but this one really got me. The story and world is interesting, and the concept of learning about the creatures and trying to fighting them off is pretty well done, though it looks like its going to get even better soon so thats good. Its pretty cheap and I recommend it with the above caveat.

-The game has a some nice backgrounds and overall the art is good but the backgrounds get used over and over and over. The same can be said about the characters, you get the odd flip left and right but the amount of actual unique art is very limited. -The sound/music is alright, nothing to right home about, but the blaring "Walkerman" headbanger outro after each act... fml. -The game/narrative is a blatant rip off of The Witcher, I am actually surprised that the developer hasn't had a legal injunction filed against him, maybe there is just enough changed for it not to be considered intellectual property theft... If you have never played the Witcher, do yourself a a favour and run and grab it and stay clear of this. -The story here is bland and the protagonist is mostly unlikeable. The character development is shawdy at best. -While the game gives you choices, it really doesn't. There are 2 ways choices go in this game. You are given a choice and that choice will change the next line or two of dialogue (which has no bearing on any future part of the story) OR you will be given an option for example "Turn Left" or "Turn Right". f you turn left the story goes on, if you turn right, you are either immediately killed or you continue on to the next set of choices where every single one of those choices will immediately cause certain death and you will hope you saved prior to that first set of choices so you don't have to go through 500 lines of dialogue to get back to it so that you can pick the only choice to move the story forward. It is SOOO F*&%$NG lazy! There are so many better ways that this could have been done. -The battle sequences put you (the protagonist) onto a board game essentially, but you can't move or do anything other than to make choices.... so why they went through the extra effort in visuals, I just don't get it. It's like they had an idea for something really interesting and just said "F&%K it, this is going to take too much time." Again just total laziness. And just with any other choices, it's basically pick the right choice or death... I just don't even get the point of why there are even choices available in the game, you are on a completely linear path, so why bother. It's not like there are 30 different endings, there isn't, there's one and only one outcome and the choices don't mean sh!t. -The game according to the developer was 80%+ complete 5 years ago and yet of the supposedly 5 acts that are coming, only the prologue and 2 of the acts have come out.... I sense this project has run into failure. There seems to be no communication on the kickstarter page and it's totally doubtful this project will ever get finished. I'm sure every person he recruits onto this project takes one look and decides that they don't want to have any part of this terrible Witcher parody that and probably not want to get sued down the road... In conclusion while there is a bit to like about the game. there is an awful lot more not to like. I'd suggest saving your money, IF and its a big IF they ever actually do get the complete project finished and it's on for a great sale... maybe pick it up but for now, run, and run fast.

Walkerman is a thrilling supernatural fantasy visual novel developed by ScalemaiL and published by Sekai Project. Walkermen are people who patrol the streets of various towns and cities at night and use their knowledge of the supernatural to hunt down and defeat monsters of all types. This is based on the fact that each of these creatures obey a particular set of rules that can be used by a skilled person to determine that beasts weaknesses and predelictions in order to defeat them. As Jorgen, a young farm boy, you are looking forward to embarking on your new career as a Walkerman and quite eager to take on your first assignment as you travel to the bustling port city of Midgard. What sort of harrowing adventures and blood curling terrors lay in wait for Jorgen...turn the page? Visually, this is one of if not the most beautifully illustrated visual novels that I have read to date on Steam. The artstyle used in this title is just breathtakingly eyecatching with superb colors, gorgeous shading and fantastic effects. Everything from the people, monsters, buildings and backgrounds are of the upmost quality in presentation and just a pleasure to peruse as you read through the compelling story. With me I don't really care about the art being poor if the narrative in the visual novel is good but if the artwork also happens to be terrific then that is just icing on the cake and in this aspect Walkerman does not dissapoint. With that said, usually there is no gameplay involved in your typical visual novels but that is not so with this title. Whenever you confront a creature the V.N. switches to an isometric view like a turn-based title and offers various choices for you to make as you attempt to win the battle or just try to stay alive. There is definitely some gameplay as well as lite puzzle solving involved which is a nice addition to the story progression of this V.N.. I've been starting to notice more and more visual novels include some form of gameplay in their narratives and for me this is a very welcome trend that I hope continues? The aural presentation is of the upmost quality as the title is peppered with ambient sounds which really help with immersion as you progress through the storyline. Also, the soundtrack is very well orchestrated and blends in nicely with the entertaining narrative. In summary, this novel's visual and aural presentation is of the highest quality and should set the benchmark for V.N.'s on Steam. Walkerman was a highly enjoyable read for me from the beginning to the very end...well I shouldn't say end because my current read included only the prologue and Act 1 which are the only parts available but there are multiple acts to follow in the coming months and I for one can't wait for the future installments to release. The title presented an intriguing storyline that was just a pleasure to read while illustrating it with phenomenal artwork and amazing sound quality. And as I mentioned before, there were even some gameplay elements incorporated which doesn't happen very often with visual novels so when it does it is quite special. Add to that some puzzle solving and you have a wonderful visual novel experience in this package. Replayability is quite high as there are a number of choices to make in the branching storyline. As options go, there are a selection of Steam Achievements to hunt down and Steam Trading Cards to collect as well. Also available are the basic visual novel options for sound/volume control and text speed alongside a C.G. gallery included for various illustrations that you unlock as the narrative progresses. Last but certainly not least is a music room for the titles wonderful soundtrack for you to listen to at your leisure. In conclusion, with this visual novel's excellent supernatural laced storyline and very pleasing illustrations, Walkerman would make a fantastic addition to your Steam V.N. collection so this title is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to fans of the genre as well as to casual gamers one and all.

It's a fairly interesting visual novel with some trial-and-error puzzle solving. The characters are believable, especially the main character since he clearly struggles with internal moral dilemma and his current profession. He's not brave nor particularly skilled in combat but at least he recognizes his weakness and tries to overcomes them. The other side characters are also acceptable though the game clearly focuses on the main character a lot more. The game handles expositions neatly, through the main character wanting a refresher on his religion/beliefs from a Cultist (real world equivalent to a priest) and discussing politics and philosophy with a foreigner. It's explained just enough that players won't get overwhelmed with new information and lore. It's a pain in the *ss to read all of them but it's an attempt at world building so it's fine, I guess. One thing I really didn't like however was determining who's talking in a conversation. There's no name on the text box to indicate who's currently talking at the moment. The only way to tell someone's talking is by looking at their mouths, the one's talking is the one with their mouth open. The change in character portrait is limited in facial expressions only. Which is a bit disappointing but understandable. It conveys the character's emotion well enough but I would've prefer more varied poses and body languages. Also, the music sometimes goes silent in a specific conversation. Sometimes the background only showed a black image. It helps me to focus on reading but I can't help but feel it's kinda out of place whenever it happens. The puzzle is satisfactory but the solution for it are always the same, making some items really not necessary to obtain. One of them is the crossbow. Perhaps it may have an impact in the later acts but in this particular act, it's doesn't do anything useful. Like all visual novel, it has branching paths however there's only one major decision in the 1st act and it'll come in full effect in the next act, which will probably take some time to be released. Other minor choices also barely changes anything since any item you get from that decision doesn't really change the solution of the puzzle. This means the game barely have any replay value.