The Walk: Turn a Boring Walk Into A Game of Espionage - Paste Magazine

What if staying active was actually entertaining?

For many people, the decision to run or not to run is pretty simple. Those who are more active know that it’s the most basic form of exercise, and will often work it into their daily or weekly routine. Others hate the idea of running, and it would take an awful lot to get them out and active for long periods of time.

That’s where Zombies, Run! came in—as a fun app that simulated zombie stories with RPG elements, gamers had a great excuse to get active. But what’s even more ingenious for getting pretty much everyone involved? The Walk, course.

The Walk is basically a pared down take on Zombies, Run! with one major obvious difference—walking is the core exercise. Walking is one of the easiest things you can do to stay healthy, and with sedentary lifestyles that don’t want to (or can’t) go to the gym or engage in any other strenuous activity, it’s perfect.

The concept is simple—you’re essentially playing a fitness app game. The Walk initially displays a world map that shows a virtual, fictitious world. As you walk in the actual world, the game will track your steps and update your game. Simple, right? Literally all you need to do is walk around, and the app will deliver new stories, and influence you go to further.

As most gamers know, the ongoing quest to “unlock” more content is insatiable, and since The Walk shows you exactly how far you need to go to get the next story piece, it’s easy to stay motivated. Should you get bored of a particular route, you can change it at certain intervals, custom tailoring the experience to your liking.

If you’re not a fan of the story or RPG elements, you can just use it as a pedometer, as it tracks how long you’ve walked and your steps. As an added bonus you can just keep the app “idle” to keep tabs on the steps you’ve made throughout the entire day, even if you’re at work or at home.

So what’s the story like? Well, after a massive explosion at a train station in the UK, you’ve just been giving a mysterious package by mistake, and from there, it basically turns into a mini-thriller. Combining such a high stakes narrative with a walking pace seems silly, but it works, and it works well given the constant evolution of the paths and goals.

All in all there’s approximately 800 hours worth of audio here, and if Run, Zombies! is any indication, there will be a lot more free content and paid IAPs down the line.
For the “hardcore” walkers out there The Walk has achievements and challenges much like many other iOS games, which you can strive for or completely ignore.

The Walk isn’t going to revolutionize the fitness industry, or give you six pack abs. But it will encourage you to get a little bit healthier, which is always a good thing in my mind. If you’ve been itching to take more casual walks lately, this is your excuse.

The Walk is an iOS app available for $4.99 in the App Store.

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