Gabbie
circus enviroment

Through researching other walking sim games especially the more popular ones include aesthetic scenery for players to look at whilst finding out the initial story and some detective work whilst the gameplay is just walking around. Here are some of the more popular walking simulator type games that i have found.

what remains of Edith finch 
this game focuses on Edith as she returns to her childhood household and finding about the cursed family history that caused all of the family to die except for Edith herself. Playing as both as Edith and her late family members you see how each member died. the first death seems to be the most ambiguous ending with molly, after being sent to bed without dinner so she looks for food showing how she becomes a cat that chases a bird, an owl that swoops after rabbits, a shark that hunts a seal, and a sea monster that eats people. She returns to her room where she is writing about what has happened to her while the monster waits for her under her bed. some people think the girl ate something poisonous as she ate dry gerbil food, toothpaste and red berries and died after having a fever dream The story of Odin's death is told through a series of images, narrated by Edith, that tell of how Odin left Europe to escape the family curse when his house wrecked off the coast of Washington, drowning him in the process. His daughter Edie, her husband Sven, and Molly survive and begin building the house Edith is now exploring. with Odin's body being the first in the cemetery, Calvin the grandparent of Edith who died at a young age of 11 he was into space and wanted to fly this lead him on a swing that had the view of a cliff where he wanted to go around in a circle above the bar holding the swing. he did manage this task with his unfortunate end coming from the swing flinging him off past the cliff into he rocky waters below. Barbra the child movie star dead at 16 gets taken out mysteriously whilst babysitting her younger brother the story goes that she was attacked by a man with a hook however she managed to take him down when the doorbell rings and the monsters from past movies she has been in come to surprise her but she and her boyfriend disappeared only leaving a bloody ear behind, this story being found inside of a comicbook as another not fully explained death. Walter dead at 53 hiding in his secret bunker for decades after Barbra's death he was terrified with the cursed deaths in the finch family, getting fed up of his bunker he breaks out to the surface from his bunker walking along the train track waiting to get hit which he inevitably does it seems except their was no way for a train to hit him as the tracks cut off at the cliff lining so its more possible he instead committed suicide . Sam dying at the age of 33 on a hunting trip falling of the edge of the cliff after Edith's mum shoots a dear and Sam gets knocked off the cliff by the wounded dear. The youngest to die is next as Gregory the 1 year old drowns in the bathtub. Gus the 13 year old was at his fathers wedding playing in the stormy weather with his kite as tents get blown away one of them lands on the child killing him. Milton the 10 year old dawn (Edith's mums) other child leaves a flipbook before vanishing, the flipbook shows Milton having a magic paintbrush and leaving through the magic door he painted with the magic brush. Lewis, dead at 22 the one who kept himself locked in his room taking different substances got clean and a job with the help of dawn where he cut fish heads. substance abuse lead him to hallucinate himself a new world where he is a king  being crowned where a slicing sound happens this implies that he put his head in the machine that chops of fish heads and losing his own life. After the death of Lewis, Dawn decided to get Edith away from Edie and the curse that had taken over the Finch household, but she didn’t tell Edie until the night they left. Edie wanted to tell Edith about the family curse and the stories of how her family lived and died but Dawn blamed her grandmother’s story telling for the curse being reality. She felt that without those stories, the family wouldn’t have been so unlucky in life. She therefore decides that her and Edith should leave Edie and the curse behind with the house, even if Edie insists that they cannot run away from it. They leave with Edie still at the house and they never see her again. Edith's mum dies of some terminal illness leaving Edith and her unborn baby as the last remaining living family members. Edith wants to ensure that her child hears about the fate of their family so she writes down everything in her journal once she reaches what used to be her room. next up Edith dies at the age of 18 giving birth to her son leaving the journal to him.
What Remains of Edith Finch: Story and Ending Explained (twinfinite.net) 
What Remains Of Edith Finch FULL STORY & ENDING EXPLAINED - YouTube
This story all takes place as the player walks around a house and I would like to take my game in the same direction meaning that in my game i would like the player to stay in the same tent, interacting with objects and talking to NPCs to find out what is happening with the "freaks" coming and going all of the time to reveal the secret within. Edith finch captivates its audience  with its storytelling and I may not be a storyteller myself but I would like to be able to also take the player out of their own world and temporarily amuse them with the dark mystery going on in my game.

fears to fathom:
fears to fathom tells stories given by people on the internet playing as the writer of the story and going through the story mostly walking around and hearing the players character talk or talk to other NPCs, the first episode you play as a kid that is home alone with the parents out unknown to the character you play their is an intruder lurking outside the house and then that breaks inside without the character knowing, You don't fight the intruder however and instead go through the house doing normal stuff due to the fact that the character does not know he's not alone and the player seeing the intruder creep around occasionally until the ending, where it can end with either surviving by playing cautiously which is the writers ending as these are known as true story episode game. The way the horror was done in the first episode was very good as whilst playing you knew something bad was about to happen with their being an eerie atmosphere and whilst completing tasks you would occasionally see a dark figure in the background, that being the intruder, this created suspense for the player when you don't get the confrontation that you might be expecting. you play in the first person perspective for both episodes that are out. the second episode "Norwood hitchhike" takes you along the story of the 19 year old holly on her way home from a gaming con, where her car breaks after she gets fuel and dog food from a gas station. After this you hitchhike with a man from the place the car broke down to a motel. the character buys a room and sleeps for a while before waking up and getting a coffee from outside of her room, the coffee makes you drowsy so after that you go back to your room and sleep once again, answering the ringing phone after getting up again and this leads you to telling the reception man about the coffee. Except when leading him to where you get the coffee theirs nothing their. going back to your room after this you take the pills i the room with water from the bathroom these pills lead to to sleeping once again and being awoken by somebody at the door. you tell them to leave and hide in the closet where you the player have to stay quiet as the game uses your mic to immerse the player. this is how you win the second episode avoiding the men that go after holly.
info found at: Fears to Fathom - Episode 2 Walkthrough & Achievement Guide – Steams Play

in conclusion from my research into different walking simulator games is that they are less game based and all to do with a story. i see them as interactable movies basically they bring a new way of storytelling different from your usual shows or books.