Walkerman

First impressions: Scandinavian folklore premise. Interesting.

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.

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.

Really enjoyed reading the available acts.

Fun prose, great worldbuilding.

Very much looking forward to the rest of this story.

Actually a really fascinating idea for a VN. You play as a supernatural monster hunter in a somewhat low-fantasy setting, but you can't actually fight any of the night creature head on. But each of those supernatural monsters are governed by rules, like how vampires can't cross running water or have to count if you throw grains. So you have to investigate the monsters first before going for the hunt. The vaguely fantasy scandinavian setting in decline is quite interesting as well, and the production value isn't half bad either. Some parts of the writing bugs me for some reason, but nothing too major.

If there's one major problem is that the main character that is the sole pov of the VN is a major shit, which pretty sure the game know, and presumably the whole game's arc is about him becoming less of an ass. That's the problem of episodic gaming I guess, you know the character have some currently-untold tragic background and character development, but you have to wait until it's written yet! At least he has a character and not just a blank state player avatar?

-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.

Edit: After completing chapter 2 and absolutely loving it I can safely say that the majority of my issues were dealt with. The main character does indeed begin to lose some of the stick up his ass. That and the little flashes of brilliance shine much brighter and more consistently. It is definitely worth slogging though his tirades in this if only so you can appreciate how far he comes later.

Conflicted. I liked most things about the game, the story, the setting, and the characters -except- for the main character, he is insufferable. Honestly having to view the world through his eyes almost spoils the whole thing. He isn't a complete jackass but having to listen to his teenage angst ridden self righteous tirades about how the world is falling into "degeneracy" and how everyone is a degenerate but him was a bit much. The story could have focused so much more heavily on the interesting elements of what being a walkerman entails and having more encounters with the weird but instead it chooses to linger on its protagonist's reactionary political views. You could cut a solid 80% of the massive political diatribes and have a better game.

I might still pick up chapter 2 If there's some kind of growth in the main protagonist or at least significantly less of his whinging because I think that there is a very strong setting and elements outside of the main character are handled well. There were many points were I wished this was a more traditional RPG where I could pick how my character felt about things. As it is I would liken the experience to going on an amazing fantasy monster hunt while being stuck with a teenage edge lord whining the whole way.

This is a great visual novel story-wise. The visuals are great, too. The music is nothing to write home about but it fits the theme and environments. That being said, I can't recommend this game because it's being split up into separate acts that you have to pay for individually. Simply put, I can't and won't agree with this practice, not that the game doesn't deserve it but because I personally don't agree with the practice. I bought this game on the pretence that I'd be getting the full game overtime, but that's not the case. This being the store page for the game itself, the base game is technically incomplete with DLCs available for purchase to make it complete. It's not as bad as I'm making it out to be, but 7.79 for essentially 1-2 hours and then 3.29~ per act just isn't worth it for me, and I feel like it's worth pointing out how this game is being split up into several acts that you need to pay for.

All of that being said, I like the story, the idea of the monsters, and the characters. I agree with something said on a review on the Act 2 page : I would rather buy a series of novels than buy this visual novel as the writing is great but not in a visual novel format.

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.

Walkerman is visual novel that, unlike the majority of visual novels, isn't based off anime tropes, which isn't necessarily a good or bad thing, but one I find a bit refreshing in a genre dominated by anime. Walkerman also sets it itself apart from other visual novels by the fact that it actually has gameplay mechanics in the form of a board game aesthetic for battle sequences. While they have been short so far, the build-up and various different options that players have available more than makes up for the fact.

The characters and world building are also nicely done, Jorgan is definitely one of the more fascinating protagonists I've seen, he has the same world view that you would expect an uneducated peasant in the middle ages to have. He's superstitious, sexist, and racist. Which is great! I don't want him to start out as an accepting and egalitarian warrior, instead I'm much more interested in watching him build himself up to that as he becomes influenced by various different people and cultures and slowly becomes more and more enlightened as the game progresses.

So yeah, I would definitely recommend Walkerman for those of you interested in visual novels, or just reading in general. By the time of this review only the first act has been released, with the 2nd act's release date closing in soon, and I very much look forward to experiencing the rest.

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.

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.

Overall I enjoyed this game, though if it isn't already obvious it heavily draws its inspiration from the popular Witcher series. Even coming a little close to plaigirism in a few parts but it more or less never goes past alternate universe fanfiction levels. As for the gameplay its your standard VN, except for when it comes to the "Battle" part of the game. Using a square tiled map complete with tokens and animations seems a little pointless since you don't actually have any control over where you move your character. Instead, a series of decisions pop up based on context and what clues, inventory or choices gathered prior to the hunt.

Essentially it means you're still playing a VN, except now your choices are represented on a tiled map. The game they're going for here means I understand why you can't give the player actual control of a tile based combat system but it feels like they wanted to do something turn based and instead had no time, budget or couldn't make the system work so they just left it in there minus the gameplay.

Not a huge fan of the chapter ending song, sorry. The rest of the soundtrack is great though! Sound in general is pretty good, everything is mixed right and edited nicely.

At first the art didn't do anything for me but it started to grow on me. I don't love it but I'm fine with it, no complaints. Character designs are good for the most part, though obviously the ladies got more work put into them than the men. Unfortunately our first main story monster isn't particularly rememberable, which is a shame.

The writing is okay. Mostly because Jorgen, our protaganist, can be a real asshole. I don't like ignorance of this type from my MC. Because the story is first person, it sucks to be a character who is blatantly racist and intolerant of anything not "Raider". (his people) Doesn't matter if it makes sense in the setting, I still don't have to like it.

The only other point of contention was with the dancer girl and the socio-political workings of the Walkerman-verse. It felt like a combination of a massive expositional info-dump (nobody likes those) and people who took one class in world politics and have declared themselves experts in the field. It also reminded me of a number of conversations Geralt of Rivia has had in both the games, books and comics.

Now after all this, I enjoyed my time with Walkerman. I don't know if I'll start another playthrough until the second act comes out. I prefer to finish my VN's one route at a time. That said I very much enjoyed the parts where I went out to collect items or clues, do investigations, all in preparation of the final conflict with the "Weird". These moments are the game's strongest point. The fact that you can't just ask every question, collect every clue and item based on your decisions means what you have to work with at the final conflict can be very different from what you might have collected in other routes.

This means that sometimes you have to choose carefully your questions or decisions because you might not be able to exhaust a dialogue tree like other games. Some characters just don't want to answer every question and there's only so many hours in the day. As long as they put most of their efforts towards this aspect of the game I'll keep supporting it.

I am a big fan of a well written story a a choice centered story where the choices you make have a real effect and this game very much delivered on that for me. It's a shame it hasn't gotten more attention really.

+Pros
-The music is very enjoyable for the most part, the main theme was a bit jarring at first but it grew on me in a campy way.
- The main character seems to have a lot of depth to him and has an actual personality in him, rather than many games like this where the main character is as much of a blank slate as possible.
- The supporting cast has thus far seems to have a lot of potential depth to them and while screen time in the first episode was mostly dedicated to introducing them I look forward to seeing how the game builds on them in the future.
- The world building is well done and seems interesting. This is helped by the fact that aside from a few points where the prose gets a bit too flowery, the writing is very well done and helps to suck you in.
-The actual fight and build up to the fight with the enemy in this feels pretty well done in that it encourages you to make logical choices and follow an investigative through line in order to stand a chance in the final battle. While this first one was pretty straight forward and easy I look forward to seeing what kind of weird rules and tricks can be brought in in the future.

-Cons
-While the build up to the fights and the actual execution of the creatures weakness' all make sense and flow together well the actual work of doing the fight feels a bit too trial and error. The essential problem with the encounter is that you lack some very important information during the fight that makes it impossible to tell if using an item early was going to screw you over in the long run. Essentially because the game lets you use most of your options at any time it's very easy to use up an option early that the game expected you to save for later. While this isn't horrible in the first fight, if it's not tightened up a bit moving forward I can see it getting frustrating as the fights become more complex. Thankfully this is mitigated somewhat by the fact that you can save at any time, but going through the same scene over and over could get very frustrating very easily.

- Neutral
- While I enjoyed him, the main character is a bit of a jerk and this doesn't always gel with people reading the story. He's not necesarily a bad person and he's written that way on purpose but don't go into this expecting a golden boy protaganist, this guys has his own set of issues.

Overall I hugely recommend this game and am looking forward to seeing the story develop in the future.

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.

It's like playing chess but you need to find all your pieces before you start the game.
If you didn't find enough of the pieces your dead.
If you don't know how to use the piece your dead.
If you forgot the sequence on how to activate the piece, it blows up in your face and you guessed it your dead.

Also the main protagonist is a stoic masochist, interesting how I enjoy his interaction with the opposite sex.

This series feels really new and fresh. The world building is top notch. Characters, including the protagonist are flawed and interesting. Art is different and unique. I'd reccomend it.

This review will be updated as each act has been added, and comments will be on the acts themself

Prologue: The overall prologue was quite confusing. With the tutorial being, less than amazing, it actually explains iteself really well as you get farther into the game, and serves as a good starting point for the characters and getting to know the main character.

Act 1: This is the meat of the base game, with the other acts being added separate. I am really kind of mad at myself for finding this now and not finding it in two years time, which is when the projected acts will be finished, and with the script completely finished already, we just wait now.

I, uh, really really like this game/VN, All the characters are quite enjoyable, so far enjoying the MC the least, but at the same time can appriciate his dynamic on the rest of the cast. Waifu's are top notch, which is exceedingly important in VN's, an I'm talking A+ -> S Tier Waifu's here. The story overall is intriguing, and i cannot wait for more of it.

*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.

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.

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.