In the theoretical part of my master’s thesis, I explore the video game genre known as the “walking simulator” within the broader field of video games and examine its role in art. In addition, I present the concept of liminal spaces, which, similarly to walking simulators, are based on reduction. The walking simulator genre involves a reduction of rules and gameplay mechanics that, in a way, define the video game medium itself, while liminal spaces are visually distinguished from other spaces through a reduction of formal elements or through unusual anomalies, which make them appear uncanny. As I demonstrate, liminal spaces can also be understood as a form of interspace in which the walking simulator genre itself is situated: the walking simulator exists in the interspace between the definition of a game and a non-game. In the practical part of the thesis, I describe the process of creating a first-person experimental walking simulator entitled LIM SIM, set within an environment of liminal spaces inspired by the aesthetic of early 2000s video games with a touch of 21st-century internet aesthetics. The game is based on a system of procedural generation that allows spaces to expand infinitely, to the extent that the gameplay experience, despite repetitions, always offers different experiences.
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