“the joy of watching is triumphant”
In a sense, this statement proves a lack of agency throughout the duration of many walking simulators. They are not meant to provide a story that the player can affect or change, but instead make an illusion of agency by making it seem like they can. Instead of deriving joy from making the story the way they want it to go, they get joy from watching the story play out. This, even with the lack or illusion of agency, still allow for the game to be enjoyable.
The Story in the Maze
In Adventures With Anxiety! the player chooses the path taken through the "maze" of choices that all lead to the predefined ending of bonding with the "anxiety".
It was Daedalus who built King Minos of Crete a labyrinth to contain the deadly Minotaur.
Contains a literal maze in the story, but does not play out in the term of "maze" in videogames, lacking the multiple choices to get to predefined end.
However, there is a drawback to the maze orientation: it moves the interactor toward a single solution, toward finding the one way out.
A solution to this issue could be that more than one ending/way out can be provided based on the path that they took and the decisions they made.
Just as it is hard to see where a tangle of virtual corridors is leading, so too would it be hard to foresee the consequences of your actions and to determine what to value and whom to trust.
Like a maze, it is impossible to tell where a choice will lead you. It is unpredictable and up to fate with where it will end up and conclusion you receive.