Well, I do at least appreciate the honesty this time around.

I was actually quite excited for The Pathless, even though my adventure of exploring Journey-likes throughout the last two years has not been great. I’ve been trying to elucidate exactly why I’ve been so consistently disappointed by all of the spiritual successors in the time since, and I think I’ve figured out why. To put it simply, it’s a matter of focus and cohesion.

The more I’ve written about various video games on Backloggd, the more I’ve come to realize that these are the two qualities I treasure the most when discussing what makes a good video game. With focus, you need a game where every element is fine-tuned to achieve the same overall goal, with a clear and same intent expressed and achieved by every item. That however, is not to be confused with cohesion, which deals with how these pieces fit together. There needs to be a sense of community and harmony amongst all the different elements; often, different elements in games clash not just from opposing intents, but also from clashing rhythms. That doesn’t mean you can’t change the tempo throughout of course, but there has to be some sort of underlying glue to justify this tempo shift with purpose. In other words, focus keeps the destination within sight while cohesion keeps everything moving towards said destination.

Most Journey-likes actually have the issue of too much focus and cohesion in my opinion. They’re so dead-set on becoming the next Journey, copying the ambience, game structure, and storytelling to a T, that despite the golden formula “working” since it was already proven in 2012, these games all feel rather uninspired since their lack of ambition fails to elevate the final product to anything more than yet another indie copycat, forgoing any sense of identity. For what it’s worth though, The Pathless is an antithesis of the usual formula because it is at least trying to do something different.

In this iteration, you get to play as the Hunter, who has traveled to a mysterious island afflicted by a curse, and must traverse the wilderness to free possessed spirits from a malevolent warrior dubbed “The Godslayer.” You can think of The Pathless as a combination of Journey, Breath of the Wild, and Shadow of the Colossus: the overall narrative strikes many of the same beats as thatgamecompany’s magnum opus, as do the visuals (courtesy of Matt Nava, creator director of Giant Squid and one of the main artists behind Journey in fact) and the original score (composed by Austin Wintory, who also composed Journey’s OST), while the exploration loop borrows heavily from BOTW’s open world structure and the boss fights seem heavily influenced by the epic dances of death of SOTC. I think you can see where this is going; it’s a combination of some of my favorite trends (and in fact, some of my outright favorite video games), and it’s like your favorite band from your high school days got revived for a world tour to play all their greatest hits.

It's such a shame, that Giant Squid’s ambition led to this jumbled mess lacking in focus and cohesion.

Let’s start with the most noteworthy positive: the core movement within the overworld. I admit I wasn’t too impressed at first, since I originally thought that all you need to do is just hold down the right trigger and release as soon as you finishing locking onto floating talismans with the outline turning red to refill and maintain momentum in your dash gauge. However, as wondermagenta points out, there’s actually more to this: if you release your trigger as soon as the outline is about halfway filled, you’ll fire a golden “skillshot,” which not only flies faster (so you can fire at even more targets), but also provides an even larger speed boost. This becomes even more important if you’re firing while airborne, as nailing successive skillshots means that you’ll spend less time free-falling (since you can’t glide while charging your arrow) and thus gain more overall distance. So, there’s two levels of optimization here: planning your path amongst the talismans to avoid firing arrows that get blocked by obstacles like hills and trees and jumping/gliding over rivers and gaps that would slow you down, and reacting on the fly by charging and releasing the arrow to chain skillshots and maintain momentum and the dash gauge. You can absolutely just autopilot and rely strictly on a full red outline + context sensitive aiming to get by of course, but nailing this skillshot over and over turns simple overworld traversal into quite the engaging exercise instead of just holding the control stick forward.

The problem then, is just about everything else.

We'll begin by considering the puzzles that serve as the “destinations” between the core movement. They’re an intentional slowdown from the freeform travel for sure, but unfortunately, I find this change of pace rather unwelcome. You need to solve a certain minimum of puzzles in each area to unlock emblems to activate spirit towers, so there are plenty of puzzles you’ll be forced to tackle. Unfortunately, despite all the different combination of elements (torches, ring switches, weighted switches, etc) interchanged throughout, they all begin to bleed into one another by the end because they’re all absolutely tedious affairs.

Your AI companion is one key reason here: you essentially have to keep an eye on your falcon and guide it closely to switches or while dragging around hoops. Waiting for the falcon to finish is not particularly engaging, and positioning gets particularly annoying in some circumstances such as this where you not only have to stand in the right spot to get the falcon to drag it to the appropriate height, but also quickly swap targets by again getting into the right position (for the context sensitive prompt and for the falcon to “come” to you) before quickly letting go and getting into position for the shot. Speaking of which, the game also often feels far too finicky about being in the right position when taking shots for switches and torches, such as this example. It looks like I’m in the vicinity to shoot an arrow at the first torch to light the 2nd behind it, but the game is rather stingy about factoring in the perfect height for a shot, not just the specific direction itself. You also have to be the proper distance away (if the shot is made too close, your arrow will just clang and disappear), and this gets further complicated since many of the torches/switches must be shot properly in mid-air with a full charge/powershot. As a result, it’s rather obnoxious constantly adjusting your player model and taking potshots at what should be a simple line of sight aim to get your wanted trajectory to properly register. Finally, a lot of these puzzle sections are large enough to justify dashing between objects of interest, but in many scenarios, no talismans are around to refill your dash gauge; as a result, you’ll most likely have to spend most of your time slowly walking around the area, a far cry from the enthralling dashing and sniping that The Pathless exemplifies.

Some of these “puzzles” are actually cursed shrines that immobilize your falcon as the main condition, and that brings us to the next major nitpick: The Pathless often tries to be a precision platformer, and it really does not succeed because the game was not built for verticality. You see, in these cursed shrine sections, you are often reliant upon shooting talismans while airborne to nail specific long and extended jumps, and this doesn’t quite work because the Pathless’s vertical movement is split between a simple standard high jump with little horizontal momentum, and talisman shot-boosted jumps with tons of horizontal momentum. You’ll constantly find yourself undershooting with the former, and often overshooting with the latter. There’s no gimmick to these areas besides the lack of a usable eagle, and the only other formality attached is that you have to waste more time rubbing your eagle to purify it of its curse afterwards, resulting in these shrines feeling rather like gimmicky padding.

It gets worse though: this issue also translates to the overworld, because a good chunk of the hub levels relies heavily upon scaling cliffs and buildings that can’t be easily covered with the sub-par standard jump and thus require you to expend wing flaps for that quick vertical boost (since shooting mid-air talismans gives little vertical height, instead focusing on a quick forward horizontal boost). Since flaps are also a finite resource that must be recharged by remaining grounded, cliff/building traversal requires a fair bit of waiting around for full recharges; I’d like to say that this issue gets alleviated as you progress, but that would also be misleading since while you will have more flaps to work with from collecting flight crystals from optional puzzles/exploration and defeating bosses, the heights themselves also gradually increase and will require more flaps as is. This issue could have actually been more properly tackled if shooting talismans in mid-air restored flaps, or if the blue crystals that provide significant vertical boost that are introduced in the 4th area were introduced earlier for this specific purpose; as it stands, I think those crystals are a great addition, but stands as a case of too little and too late when the majority of the game feels stunted by how awkwardly verticality is handled.

To expand upon this further, players often need to rely upon Spirit Vision to figure out points of interest, marked by orange glows when the radar wave rolls over the landscape. There’s two major issues here. Firstly, much of the landscape is obscured by tall environmental objects (cliffs, towers, hills, etc), which can make it quite difficult to make out exactly where all the glows are and if everything’s been covered, unless you get to a high enough height yourself to pick out every point; as we’ve established, this is a pain in the ass because traveling up and down just to temporarily spot points of interest is extremely time consuming. Secondly, not every glow is created equal: many of these glows are smaller exploration points with simpler one-note solutions that reward you with yellow experience crystals, and it’s not as easy to pick apart smaller and larger/more prominent glows when smaller exploration points are often clustered together. For what it’s worth, these puzzles are quite diverse in nature and include activities such as lighting all the torches, playing Simon Says, and platforming from one end to another while “the floor is lava.” Unfortunately, the reward is just not there; the only thing that these experience crystals give you is more flaps with your eagle when you level up, which again is not a great incentive because flying often feels removed from the established momentum-based running. There’s no “dash” when flying, so forward momentum has to be preserved by shooting talismans that are scattered rather loosely in the air, and aiming your bow will result in vertical drop because your eagle can’t hold you while you aim, in a way defeating the original purpose of flying. The result is that movement potential is actually somewhat stunted by the amount of flying required throughout, and that exploration feels tedious at times because figuring out exactly where to go is not necessarily simple nor rewarding. I think this feedback loop could have been better handled by allowing players to invest experience towards stat growth of their choosing (higher jumps, faster movement speed, a larger dash gauge, etc) rather than just funneling all experience towards more flaps.

Speaking of frustrating gaps interrupting continuous movement, did I mention the forced stealth sections? That’s right, The Pathless has mandatory forced stealth segments, my favorite addition to any great video game. Every time you enter a new area, a red cyclone will appear and swarm the player, chucking your eagle buddy off into the grass several feet away while you must inch your way towards retrieving it and avoiding detection from the searchlights of the possessed spirit demon. While getting caught doesn’t result in dire consequences (you just lose some progress on your experience bar and are thrown out of the cyclone), actually getting caught isn’t much faster than doing the task properly, so you might as well try. That doesn’t remove the red cyclone however; it remains within the area as this malignant tumor that seems to follow you around and will shove you back into another forced stealth section if you get too close to the eye of the storm. It especially loves showing up at the most inconvenient times, such as when you’re trying to solve puzzles for emblems or clearing up that last small orange glow for EXP, which again breaks up any built-up momentum and limits player choice because you’re running away if you don’t want to sit through another playable cutscene and there’s nothing you can do about the situation except solve puzzles more quickly for faster tower activation to rush towards the next phase to get it off the screen. And even that’s another case of limiting player choice: why situate the mandatory boss encounter in the center of the area where there’s other exploration I might want to tackle first, instead of isolating the red blob without encapsulating anything else of interest?

Boss fights usually have two distinct sections: the chase, and the arena. The first phase is actually quite thrilling: you spiral around the red storm pursuing the now fleeing beast, shooting the talismans in your path to maintain momentum, and must land enough hits on the beast in the form of eye targets before letting your eagle get the final takedown. It’s not free thankfully, due to the need to keep refilling the dash gauge while hunting and because the beast will spew pulsing fireballs and leave behind flame walls that must be circumvented or jumped to avoid getting stunned and falling further behind. If this was the entire boss fight, then I would have been left quite satisfied.

But, there’s more. Once your eagle knocks the beast down, the fight gets transported to the arena at the center of each area for an epic showdown. Or so it seems, but these fights actually lack any teeth. They essentially become rhythm game segments where you just have to aim and fire your bow whenever you see the flashing white context-sensitive prompt while you walk around in circles and jump occasionally to dodge attacks. Not only do I feel like these fights fail to utilize the full toolkit of The Pathless (namely, the smooth ground momentum-based movement), they’re also quite trivial in that once you’ve figured out the first phase, that is basically all there is to it. These fights simply have no stakes involved; if you happen to take too much damage and get knocked out of the arena, all you have to do is walk right back in and resume the fight in the exact phase where you left off. It’s what separates the one-dimensional fights of this game from the intimate dances of death of Shadow of the Colossus. In the latter, the sense of scale is fairly apparent because you are this ant crawling up a giant hulking stone creature, clinging on for dear life while the screen shakes wildly and the frames spiral out of control as you scale this magnificent artifact, plunging your sword into its weaknesses while it writhes in agony. In the former, you get to take a few potshots at a slightly oversized animal here and there while tilting your joystick to the left/right against a beast that’s all bark and no bite, letting go of the right trigger whenever you see a flashing white box on screen and once in the blue moon, getting the chance to shoot a crystal to regain dash gauge or jumping and hovering with your eagle to dodge the ground for a bit. Summed up, it’s a far cry from what originally inspired it in the first place, and it’s just too scripted and too straightforward for any emotion to be properly conveyed in the first place.

At this point, I think I’ve gone into enough detail regarding the lack of focus. Giant Squid wanted to introduce so many different elements into the game, that looking back upon this, so many of these different elements feel rather undercooked and require far more polish to really stand out on their own.

That said, there’s also a lack of fluidity throughout the whole experience; the clean ground movement across the overworld is consistently broken up due to the middling and sluggish puzzles, and in fact the dashing and shooting is often stymied by how much verticality is required for travel as well. The exploration loop gets broken up over and over due to the glowing red storm following you and interrupting any puzzle solving, while the loop itself is really more of a frayed tangle of threads since much of the exploration leads you to unrewarding mini-puzzles. Even the boss fights themselves are more of a nuisance than a highlighted destination because they goad you to stop whatever you’re doing just to get rid of the possibility of forced stealth segments, and go from an exhilarating hunt to a glorified cutscene. The gameplay elements all feel at odds with one another, and momentum isn’t preserved because the game insists on shifting the player back and forth with little purpose. What really seals the deal though, concerning the lack of cohesion, is that the underlying narrative to tie everything together just isn't there.

I think there’s two lines of reasoning regarding the weak storytelling. The first reason is that the execution doesn’t live up to the premise, both in terms of the characters and the worldbuilding. The forced relationship between the eagle and the hunter has been pointed out by many before me, so I won’t go into excess detail here; needless to say, I concur that at no point does the eagle ever feel like a separate entity. Almost all of your interaction with the eagle revolves around the eagle as a gameplay mechanism: send your eagle to move around weights and targets, shoot off your eagle to knock down the boss, go after your eagle in the forced stealth segment to be rid of the storm temporarily and then rub it a few times so you can flap again, etc. The eagle never gets a chance to do anything of its own volition; it’s essentially stuck as yet another “thing” you have to account for to avoid getting stuck and nothing more.

I also have to question the writing behind the main villain himself, and whether or not his personality really fits with the overall tone set. Much of the worldbuilding is included within the exploration loop; you wander about the vestiges of a ruined civilization, and scattered throughout the decaying buildings and forgotten relics are memories of a society torn asunder, with some lost souls praying for a release from their supposed doom while others give in to madness and pray to their new “savior” only to find themselves on the receiving end of the gods’ anger. It’s such a promising (albeit somewhat tropey and clichéd) idea to run with… which is why I was left quite disappointed by how over the top and comically evil the main villain comes across at the end. Are you kidding me guys, this is the supposed Godslayer that you were all looking towards for direction? He was literally spouting lines like “wItTNeSs My aScEnSiOn” during the final confrontation, how did he ever get this far on the storyboard for what was supposed to be an introspective and spiritual tale? Maybe this civilization deserved its demise if this was the best they could muster up.

Even more importantly though, beyond all the loose-fitting gameplay mechanisms and the dissonant writing, is the lack of cohesion beyond the narrative and the gameplay itself. The way I see it, video games have great potential as a medium, because they’re capable of marrying storytelling and gameplay through interaction in a way that other mediums cannot; when done properly, the gameplay should serve as a vessel for the narrative. Thus, there should be both mechanical meaning and narrative/metaphorical meaning behind actions in a game to tie everything together. However, the Pathless has a lack of narrative purpose behind much of what is going on in game. Mechanically, it makes sense why smaller puzzles are scattered throughout the areas to help guide players’ attention and keep them engaged with smaller tasks, but it's never really explained in-game why this came to be. Why do I suddenly get one more additional “flap” whenever I get enough of these crystals, and why do I now get to “mega-flap” when I’ve beaten this particular boss? The best example of this disparity between gameplay and narrative however, has to be the secret ending (obvious spoiler alert from clicking on the link, you’ve been warned) that is unlocked once you collect every talisman in all the areas and activate the golden switches in the purified arenas. Again, it mechanically makes sense for there to be some kind of reward for finishing every major puzzle in the game, but it bothers me that there’s nothing in the world-building or story hinting at the possibility of another end; I never even knew there was a secret ending until I looked it up. I have no problem justifying mechanical purpose for elements within the game, but if they can’t be justified within the narrative itself… then how is my sense of immersion supposed to remain intact?

I’ve deliberated upon writing this particular review; I don’t particularly enjoy writing negative reviews, especially ones of indies emulating my favorites, and my feelings have only become more and more complicated as I’ve pondered over these past few weeks. In the past, I’ve gone from feeling sheer disappointment and anger while reviewing Journey-likes, to mostly indifference and acceptance that this was just the way things played out, and that industry would continue to pump out palette-swaps of one of my favorite games until the death of the sun. This time though? I just feel bummed. There was so much shaping up to be a success here: it had all the right inspirations in all the right places, the “glue” that was supposed to hold everything together seemed solid enough, and Austin Wintory’s score is phenomenal. But this just… isn’t it. The lack of detail tying everything together more than shows when you try to dive deeper into the pool, and ultimately, this could have easily been the next Journey, but now it will never be anything more than yet another spiritual successor living in the shadow of its idols. I didn’t want to be this harsh, but I suppose I get this emotional towards the things I love. Maybe it’s time I moved on and finally got around to that long delayed replay of Journey. Sometimes, you just can’t beat the classics.

In the middle of two much larger projects I'm working on, I decided to take a little time to write down my experience with this game. For context, I enjoy Journey quite a bit. I also enjoyed Abzu despite its lack of originality. It was like eating the same really good meal for lunch and dinner. If The Pathless was "Journey in a forest" in the same way Abzu with "Journey in the ocean" I would have been satisfied. Unfortunately, The Pathless is a study in maximalist game design, and minimal originality. In a misguided attempt at adding new gameplay mechanics, Giant Squid walks a terrible line between not being mechanically interesting or allowing you to fall into that "Journey Feeling". While Journey was never a mechanic heavy game, it submerged you in a world that never took you out by throwing a million red targets all over the landscape. It all feels like the developers had an okay concept, but began adding things to it to make it more “full featured”. In many ways, it’s a very bad attempt at mimicking Breath of the Wild’s success. Someone should have told Giant Squid that Breath of the Wild was not great because it added a hundred tepid puzzles around the world, it was in spite of that. Speaking of those puzzles, if you thought they were boring in Breath of the Wild, you have a tall glass of lukewarm water to sip on here. The only concrete reward you get from most of these puzzles are essentially keys to unlock the next level. I nearly wrote that that was the only reward you got from these puzzles, because the other reward is a miniscule amount of progress on a bar. This bar, when filled up all the way, increases your run meter. I believe many of this game’s issues all lead back to this meter. Its existence pushed the developers into adding so much unnecessary filler to the world. One of the game’s main draws is its movement, and this meter just puts a limit on how much fun you can have with it. Well, it would have if the movement was any good at all. It’s not even as fun as pressing R2 in the Insomniac Spider-Man games. At least in those games there was some sense of momentum, that every swing would bleed fluidly into the next and (pardon my cliche) make you feel like Spider-Man. If you let go of the run button in this game, your character grinds to a halt. In fact, doing anything except holding forward, holding the run button, and pressing R2 over and over again to hit targets ends any semblance of inertia. I feel like this is a step backwards from the simplicity of Journey and Abzu. In the process of trying to make the movement more of a mechanical interaction, Giant Squid removed any overlooking I can do in favor of aesthetic.
It goes without saying that The Pathless also rips Team Ico off at many turns. Its bosses are big forces of nature that have an attempt at seizing empathy in their death. While its narrative isn’t wordless, it certainly feels like it should be. It’s the desolate world that evokes Ueda’s output the most though. It’s no surprise that The Pathless doesn’t do a good job with its Team Ico inspiration (I can’t really think of a game that does), but its attempts at replicating the smaller moments really irked me. In all of Team Ico’s games you would happen upon little interactions with your NPC companion. These range from dialogue to animations to physical input from the player. It’s a little time for you to grow closer to the person/animal you’re journeying with. They have no pretensions, and just give some humanity to digital creatures. I almost put my controller down and shut off my console when The Pathless directed me to press square to pet my eagle. This was, of course, after a forced stealth segment where I had to turn my brain off lest I lose my mind of boredom. The way it all plays out is downright insulting, down to the miniscule patches of darkness that you have to go back and rub before you proceed. This game is just so passe. I don’t remember the last time I’ve played a game this bankrupt on fresh ideas or simple fun. I’ve also never played a game whose title reflects the developers much better than the product itself.
Edit: Out of morbid curiosity I finished the game. I can't believe how bad the ending is. I thought that the ending would lift the game up in a similar fashion as Journey and Abzu, but I was wrong. I knew that they would assume that I cared at all about the eagle, but I didn't know that that was going to be the main conceit of the ending. My review also neglected to mention the lack of a health bar, which worked in Giant Squid's previous game, but it siphons any stakes from the boss fights in this game. It's not like simply placing a health bar into the game would make it any better though, as every boss is insultingly easy after you learn their patterns. For some reason, the final boss has the most evergreen patterns in the game. Once you beat his first phase, you will have a hard time failing. This is probably the worst game I've played since Outlast 2. It's a Frankenstein's Monster of good ideas from other people, but with none of the tact to bring it back to life.

The Pathless's most eye-catching feature has to be its movement system: I know I was instantly drawn to the game when I saw footage of its main character sprinting over this huge grassy field, then going into a slide as she draws her bow, gaining a huge burst of speed on hitting one of the floating targets dotted all over the screen. There's actually a little bit more to the system than you initially expect: targets can be hit with more precise timing to get an even bigger speed boost, and those exact windows are naturally dependent on your current distance to each individual one, keeping you active and constantly trying to intuit when to let go of the trigger. Going for a more difficult shot and then fucking it up will slow you down more than if you'd just gone for the easy shot in the first place, and while none of the game's challenges ask you to think about it that hard, maintaining your momentum with no awkward breaks is intrinsically satisfying and presents you with a perpetual guessing game of how best to approach each target, which specific ones to go for and how to smoothly transition between grounded and airborne traversal. A lot of that natural pacing translates perfectly into the boss fights; even though they're not nearly as varied or surprising as I would've ideally liked, they provide meaningful shots of excitement, as well as a glimpse at just how special The Pathless could've been.

Because ultimately, the experience feels sadly torn between all the obvious potential of its overall premise and general execution, and all the different elements that are so painfully undercooked. The four area bosses that you will eventually fight also roam the world as you're exploring, and coming into contact with them triggers a stealth sequence where you need to dodge lights as you try to get back to your eagle companion. Mechanically, it saps the game of all its appeal, while also failing to elicit any sense of tension or worry for your pet with how bland and rigid the execution is (not to mention that the punishment for being spotted is inconsequential.)

This brings me to the much larger issue in that the bond between the hunter and the eagle feels incredibly anemic. It's clear The Pathless is specifically trying to fill the shoes of both Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian, but it doesn't do itself any favors with how much less organic and elegant it comes across by comparison. There's never a point where the eagle steps up from being a gamey mechanic existing solely for your convenience, to anything even resembling a living creature in the vein of Aggro or Trico. Moments of implied peril will just leave you cold when the eagle is so clearly artificial, always there at the touch of a button and with no unique behavior arising naturally from play. The way you're reliant on the eagle feels so specifically gamey and rigid that it actually ends up running directly against a lot of the story's themes: as you explore, you begin to understand that the people's over-reliance on the Gods and clear instructions for how to lead their lives is what lead to the slow decay of the world; but the way the game's message ends up boiling down to "find your own path or whatever" doesn't hit when, mechanically, the way you conquer every new obstacle is through some Deus Ex Machina power-up for your eagle (most evident in the final rematch you have with the main antagonist, where the game isn't asking anything new from you mechanically to overcome this previously unbeatable challenge, instead you just get buffed to shit in a cutscene.)

The game's impact ends up being so much weaker and more generic than it could've been, I feel, though from my perspective it also seems difficult to reconcile a lot of that potential without significantly more time spent in development. I can point out all these avenues for improvement, but making players feel shit is hard, and just like with the game's overall message, you can't follow a set blueprint if you want to move forward. While The Pathless gets too caught-up trying to reference surface-level aspects of more powerful games, I can give it some credit for at least trying.

(Footnotes: flaps are bad and hurt level design, having different arrow types to let you choose what an orb does rather than different orbs might've been more fun, puzzles are bland but it's cool how organically you can enter different locations from unique angles)

Hard to express my disappointment in Giant Squid's output. It wasn't until the last legs of this game that I learned it was by that studio; the developers of Abzu, and offshoots of the crew from Thatgamecompany - but it contextualised everything.
It's almost insulting how formulaically they seem to conceive their titles, they might just continue to make 'emotional, artsy' games where the Good Blue defeats the Evil Red until heat death. It's all too convenient, it's the type of theming you come up with while playing Halo multiplayer, made all the less engaging and challenging when you take into account that it follows the very same beats as Flower, Journey, and now Abzu. Giant Squid's games feel robotic, outside of paying the aesthetics lipservice, there is no narrative throughline to keep them together, everything feels present because "they should be" rather than because there is a story that needs told.

It takes more key inspiration from Shadow of the Colossus this time around, the framing and gameplay is essentially identical. This only serves to make Giant Squid's unsubtle hand cause ripples throughout the game at the absolute worst moments. Trying to conjure the quiet grace of Team Ico in one scene, then throwing a tutorial prompt that pauses the game at your face which reads "Press and hold flap while gliding to perform a Super Flap. This powerful move will consume a large number of flaps.", I couldn't help but laugh.

Pathless was not without merit - if it innovated at anything, it was making the normally tedious task of travelling across a vast videogame landscape into a far more engaging affair. A sprint meter that would only get refilled with well-timed shots at ever-present targets that litter the world map. I'll miss those next time I'm expected to hold the analogue stick forward for ten minutes to heavily approach a waypoint on the other side of an empty grassy field. Also present is some nice music that punctuates key setpiece events, including some very engaging boss chase sequences.

Nice presentation and fairly minimalist gameplay, pretty pleasant but I feel like it could've done more.

It lacks a kind of emotional connection like the strangers in Journey, it really wants the eagle to replace that but it feels a bit weak with the eagle being a bit personality-less. Also it makes a point of how no-one's experience in life is the same but doesn't really reflect this in the gameplay. It's open world but is just linear enough and has just basic enough gameplay that it didn't really feel like I was on my own unique journey.

It looks really nice though, has nice music, just a nice experience overall but I didn't get much more from it than that honestly.

In 2020 after my dreams of playing Cyberpunk 2077 were dashed by the glitches, I went to the PS Store in search of one more game to play before the new year. On a whim I bought The Pathless completely unaware that this game was from Creative Director Matt Nava, the mind behind beautiful games like Journey and Abzu. If I had known this I would've bought this game straight away. Once I picked it up I couldn't stop playing it. I was surprised at how much I thoroughly enjoyed my time with The Pathless.

The Pathless is an open world game where you explore a mysterious land, on a mission from a voice in the sky, and fight giant monsters who reside within the land. If that sounds familiar it's because it's the same framework as hit game Shadow of the Colossus, but instead of climbing on the monsters you chase them with sick parkour moves and a bow until they tire out. These monsters are gods who've become corrupted by The Godslayer, a man who wants to destroy the world and recreate it in his vision. Y'know... like Thanos.

In this open world game you have no map. You see the theme of this game is about making your own path. Nobody will travel the world the same way you do as you strive to bring light back to this dark land. However, I do think the game itself sometimes battles against its own theme. I may be running around the way I see fit but the island is very much split into sections, and you have to defeat each monster before you can traverse onto the next which means you don't have free range on this open world. You're given a section of the land and once you complete this section's main objective a new section opens up. It's more of a nitpick I guess but that's why it doesn't have much effect on my opinion of the game.

Now you may be thinking "Oh god, no map. I'm gonna get so lost looking for everything." No worries mate, because you're given a mask that has the "Sight of Truth." When using this sight, puzzles and important areas of the land glow so you can more easily find them. The Sight also keeps track of everywhere you've traversed, highlighting wherever your feet have touched the ground. However your feet are only going to be touching the ground half of the time because you have a companion Eagle with the strength to hold onto you as she glides.

This birdie's a stronk-boi because she's the reincarnation of The Mother Eagle God, here to help you revive her children. At first this power seems like it only helps a little but as you power up you'll fly like an eagle, to the sea, fly like an eagle let your spirit set you free (sorry I had to). As monsters attack you they will harm your feathered friend, and you must heal her by giving her well earned skritches. That's right, you can pet the eagle, and it's an important mechanic.

The simplistic yet stylized flair of Journey and Abzu is back at it again with a beautiful forest environment that is stunning to take in, along with another breathtaking score from Austin Wintory. Wintory and Nava go together like peanut butter and jelly, man. I luv em. They mix together seamlessly to always give you a great experience.

In essence this game is Shadow of the Colossus meets Journey, so it makes sense that 2 fantastic games would make a wonderful combination.

Giant Squid already showed with Abzu that they mastered the way of creating games with a zen like flow and atmosphere. The Pathless follows the same path, and throughout my roughly 13 hours of gameplay,I experienced nothing but tranquility and a sense of inner peace.If you're a fan of Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke, you'll discover numerous similarities in The Pathless. While playing, I found myself recalling the movie frequently, making it perhaps the closest we'll come to a Mononoke video game.

It probably has the most helpful and charming companion out of any game I've played recently. Every time I could pet the eagle, my heart jumped with joy; his animations and demeanor felt so lifelike. he is also very well integrated into the puzzles and traversal aspects. At the end of our journey, i really felt melancholic when it was time to say goodbye.

The puzzle design may become repetitive over time, and, with a few exceptions, the lore bits are quite basic. The initial three areas seemed somewhat monotonous and perhaps less spectacular, especially when compared to the final area. Despite this, the boss fights were expertly telegraphed, delivering a cinematic and epic experience. Even though you are practically invincible, there's still a rush of adrenaline in each one, creating a compelling contrast to the otherwise calm and peaceful nature of the game.

Beautiful game art style that feels so smooth as your run through forests shooting the bow, solving puzzles, and petting the cute eagles. In the meantime, the boss fights are great with amazing design, albeit slightly repetitive. In general, the entire game has some top notch colors and it is a very calming game to play while relaxing. However, it can get slightly repetitive and the story is completely incomprehensible (although minimal) additionally, it could've used more variety. Still quite enjoyable.

If Shadow of the Colossus is considered ahead of its time, and Journey simply of its time, The Pathless trails somewhat behind on that spectrum of minimalist adventure games centred on movement and traversal of sprawling landscapes.
That's not to say it has little to offer, but it's just not walking on particularly fresh ground. Some of the lovely imagery is even just borrowed from the more ethereal moments of Giant Squid's previous effort, ABZÛ.
The puzzle solving and vast exploration are perfectly enjoyable, though not as intriguing as its key influences such as Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The boss battles can also feel repetetive but are often the most fun parts of the game, and turning them into cute animals is always nice.
I'd like to think I'll revisit the game to collect the last few bits I missed in the open world landscape, as it can be a soothing playthrough, albeit empty in places.

The Pathless, by Giant Squid, is really an enjoyable game to go through. The scenery and art direction in general is amazing to look at when you are just gliding through the grass. The puzzles you encounter are engaging, but not too difficult. The movement and the boss designs might be my favorite part of the game in general. Petting the eagle is always a joyous time. There is a bit of haptic feedback on the DualSense when shooting arrows, which is a nice touch, but do wish there was more. The game runs well, minus when the game crashed a few times on me. However, the auto-saving is very forgiving, and I was right back where I was when I restarted. Definitely recommend it!

This is probably one of my least favorite Journey-like games (if you can even categorize it as one of those games), but I appreciate what it tries to do. I really disliked pretty much everything that had to do with the baddies. The main villain is a walking trope, the boss fights are weak and repetitive (another fireball attack? groundbreaking) and the stealth sequences are just outright boring. Another disappointment was, surprisingly, the soundtrack. Aside from a couple of standout tracks, it was kind of one-note. I expected a lot more from Austin Wintory.

The traversal system, however, I loved, especially after everything was unlocked. I also really liked how exploration was handled. It was always fun, even if most of the areas looked the same. The puzzles were also pretty neat, I just wish they were a little more varied.

There's a lot to like and dislike here, but I ultimately enjoyed the game, it just wasn't what I was expecting.

Completed with platinum trophy earned. While mechanically fairly simple, The Pathless is a beautiful open-world adventure from the creators of Journey and ABZÛ, casting the player as an archer seeking to lift the curse on an island. Largely the gameplay is based around puzzle-solving, making significant use of an eagle companion as part of the necessary interactions - and while these puzzles are never overly challenging, they still manage to evoke a wonderful feeling of satisfaction. These puzzle challenges are scattered around a series of five expansive areas - perhaps somewhat too expansive, as it can at times become difficult to find a few particularly well-hidden. I understand the intention behind the game not including a map or any HUD waypoints, as this does genuinely bring benefits to immersiveness, but it also makes navigation more difficult that I'd like - instead, you're forced to make use of an alternative vision mode that highlights points of interest, but this requires line-of-sight. Judicious use of a guide helps to offset this, thankfully.

Despite these navigational frustrations, between each puzzle area, traversal across the world comes with a fantastic fluidity of motion, especially later in the game as you earn upgraded abilities. Boss encounters that become accessible after reaching a minimum threshold of solved puzzles in each area are also a definite highlight in this regard, initially seeing you chasing after each creature, challenged to make use of your movement abilities to catch them.

Normally, I would say that a tutorial that efficiently prepares you for the whole game is an asset but in this case, it merely highlights how little The Pathless has to offer. Giant Squid's interpretation of a minimalist open world is a world where there's only one thing to find - puzzles that advance progression. Of course, there are bosses and stealth segments but once you've seen them once, you've seen them all with no variation and no spice. Worse yet is that the story employs a Saturday Morning Cartoon level of nuance and care to decree that prescribing a single path for life is bad, in a game where the only choice is what order you do puzzles in. The Pathless is breathlessly pretty and thrillingly brisk in its exploration but is in desperate need of some more meat on its bones.

A beautiful game that is successful in being exactly what Giant Squid wanted it to be: a unique evolution of the open-world experience on an indie budget that is beautiful and flashy enough to keep your attention to the end. It is somewhat impressive that a game with absolutely no real combat, health, map, or proper upgrades manages to be an enjoyable experience throughout. The puzzles of The Pathless are smart, and the world is full of plenty of secrets to discover if you so choose, which I personally found enticing enough to do. I think that this style of "minimal" game that this or other games such as GRIS and now Solar Ash fall under can turn a lot of people away due to their over-simplicity, but are worthy experiences, especially in-between larger scale games that require much more commitment and time.

8/10

I've seen a lot of reviews refer to The Pathless as a 'Journey like' title. I can certainly see the connection as the game's developer Giant Squid was initially formed by ex-ThatGameCompany staff. Their debut title Abzu certainly didn't stray too far from that initial vision creating a short beautiful underwater fantasy title. The Pathless is more than that though, it takes aspects of those types of games and expands it into a much bigger adventure game. In my opinion for both better and worse.

You control a nameless archer trying to end a curse put on an island by the Godslayer corrupting the former animal gods that resided there. Each has it's own domain it rules over you have to cleanse section by section by exploring ruins and solving puzzles before culminating in a fight against the corrupted god at the end.

Exploring around, at least for me was extremely satisfying, though not at first. It has a unique mechanic where you use your bow to shoot at floating talismans by holding R2 which give you a burst of speed and an energy bar allowing you to keep running until it drains. These talismans are everywhere so if you continuously chain your shots you can smoothly sprint across the plains, fields and forests. The talismans when aiming have a bar themselves with two points, a full charge and a half charge. If you let go at the right time at the half way point you perform a 'skill shot' which means you fire faster and get a bigger speed boost. The game doesn't tell you this that I saw though and I found out by looking up trophies. with practice this can become second nature allowing a really smooth movement from location to location.

When not on a flat surface you can jump and grab onto your pet eagle to glide. shooting talismans gliding gives the same speed boost in mid air and a slight lift to keep your momentum going. The eagle can also flap to lift you a set amount up. You only have a certain amount of flaps which grow as you explore. Much of the environment has puzzles that as rewards give gold gems. Collect enough of these gives you another flap which allow you to explore and travel higher faster, getting to more puzzles to unlock more flaps. Though the flaps can take some time to unlock requiring a lot of gems I did enjoy the exploration and reward loop where they tie into each other.

The puzzles are going to be hit and miss depending on how you like your puzzling. I like mine simple enough I don't get frustrated and can work out what to do relatively quickly then spend time actioning which is what you get here. The mechanics are limited though, using your bow to light torches, or bounce arrows from mirrors mixed with using your eagle to carry pots of pull some items is your entire repertoire.

The simple puzzles and smooth traversal is exactly what I wanted. The gorgeous art design of ruins, statues, mountains and skylines accompanied by a stellar soundtrack by Austin Wintery makes playing the Pathless is a beautiful and relaxing experience.

Until it isn't.

Where my enjoyment of The Pathless comes to a screeching halt is everything related to the story. The story itself isn't very good. The Godslayer is just comically evil for no reason I can fathom. He wants to kill the gods and reforge the world for an incredibly vague reason about a path to truth and even hunting through the lore whilst exploring I couldn't see a more in depth reason then he's just a tosser. I can live with this though, it's an established trope to give an antagonist I've seen many times before. Where it really grates me though is the game actively gets in my way of enjoying it by having each corrupted animal god have a red storm in it's area until cleansed. the corrupted god is inside it and the storm moves around sometimes especially when you first enter their domain seems to home in on you. If you go into it you have to do a stealth sequence where it searches for you whilst you try to get to your eagle. If you're caught you can permanently lose some gold gems.

It's awful.

whilst exploring an area I would sometimes have to wait until the storm moved away to avoid it so I could carry on exploring. It actively gets in the way of me enjoying it. Unfortunately the boss fights aren't really much better and just feel like they get in the way as something I had to do. Each one starts with a chase through fields of fire before fighting in an arena with a specific mechanic. The final boss and slight spoilers here, turns into a giant doom demon towering above you like something out of Devil May Cry that's so out of place I couldn't work out if I'd changed games by accident. It was actively comical.

A bit of a shame as the core exploration loop, wonderful vistas and music make for a great experience. Overall it's a fun game and it plays super smooth on the Playstation 5 with an easy platinum to boot. I had a good time with it, I'd recommend it but where the game veers into more adventure territory away from it's origins is where my enjoyment wobbled. Still pretty excited for their next title Swords of the Sea, now that is a Journey like!

+ Movement mechanic is fun and unique.
+ Beautiful art design and use of colours.
+ Wonderful soundtrack with a focus on drums, string and wind instruments.

- Storm sections get in the way of the game being fun.
- Boss fights are intrusive and feel out of place, especially the final boss.
- Story is uninspired.

so bored of this song and dance

the "so vague as to be inoffensive" aesthetic nod to First Nation Pacific Northwestern spiritual iconography feels less like taking sensitive/subtle creative influence and more like Giant Squid wanted to make a kewl myth but didn't really have anything to say and couldn't be bothered to work with an actual tribe to make something specific or meaningful! I fully understand the limitations of games as binaristic programmed creations driven by market genre demandz but am very bored of the way themes of reverence and prayer are so commonly reduced to dull glyph collecting, "casting out darkness", and spiritual development as marker of incremental progression (insert gate unlocked chime sound effect with added reverb to make it more mysticool here). At this point there are so many versions of these same sorts of exploratory systems and to see games continue to half-assedly wrestle with ideas as huge as ritual, miracle, and the way cultures survive through their symbols in these smug, claustrophobic, near-identical formal iterations without at least problematizing or raging against their own programmatic confines is frankly a lil disgusting!! Wish more of these developers extended the scope of their vision beyond mere aesthetic facades and approached programming as a potential form of boundless incantation in and of itself rather than a repulsive seratonin conveyor belt on a "digestible gameplay" assembly line

Full Review + Trophy Review and Tips Below

The Pathless is a beautiful and fun puzzle/action game that I would recommend for anyone looking for a smaller experience in between the big AAA blockbuster releases.

The story of the game is engaging and full of lore that you can pick up as little blue orbs. Your goal in each area is to complete puzzles with your eagle and bow and arrow to gain lightstones that you shine on 3 obelisks that trap the area boss. You then enter a two part boss battle where you are first zipping through the arena giving chase and taking out the weak points of the boss. The 2nd phase puts you in an arena facing off with the boss 1 v 1. The boss fights are easily the best part of the game, each encounter unique and visually stunning.

The rest of the game revolves around purifying the land by completing puzzles and mopping up all the collectibles. You use talismans that work as boosts to run, jump and climb areas. Your eagle gives you the ability to glide and fly upwards with designated "flaps" that you earn to easily reach high locations.

None of the puzzles are all too challenging and it can easily feel repetitive. This is a game to be played in small sittings as a nice palette cleanser.

Trophies
Difficulty: 2/10
Time: 12 hours
Trophy Guide: Not Needed
Trophy List Score: 7/10

Pretty standard trophy list that is not too challenging and the majority of the trophies are easily attainable as you play through the story. The puzzles in the game won't give you any trouble neither will mopping up the collectibles. I wish the developer would have added some fun little challenges to make the trophy hunt more entertaining. There is a trophy for getting 10 trick shots in a row, which is achieved by timing your arrow show to when the talisman is half full vs all the way full. This specific trophy was fun to attempt as you zoom through the map chaining together perfect shots.

Other trophies that looked like they may provide a similar distraction such as "bouncing an arrow off two mirrors", "gliding for one minute" or "hitting 5 talismans without touching the ground" are achieved without you even realizing it. So as easy as the trophy list is, they missed the opportunity to add some fun challenges.

For this list your goal is going to be to beat the game and purify each of the 4 areas by locating all the lightstones. Along the way most of the misc. trophies will pop on their own and you just have to keep an eye out for lanterns to upgrade your eagles flaps. Upgrading flaps not only makes later sections easier you also need to get 10 for a trophy.

Tips:
- Purify each of the 4 areas before tackling the final boss so you don't have to beat him a second time to get the extended ending. You can only get the extended ending if you have received the animal gift from each area.
- Some areas will have a building surrounded by black smoke and you won't be able to use your eagle. I thought my eagle would die if I was in the smoke but he doesn't. You just have to complete the puzzle without the use of your eagle.
- Each time you enter a new area there will be the boss surrounded by a red storm. Avoid this storm so you don't have to perform a small stealth mission. Also if you are seen the boss will knock you out and you will use some of the progress towards a new eagle flap. If this happens enough times it will make getting the required flaps more of a pain.
- When clearing out the collectibles in an area, climb to the top of one of the obelisks which will give you a great view of the area allowing you to easily see where there are still collectibles to be found.
- There is a trophy for obtaining all the lore in the game. This is misleading. Although you should read every lore you come across to get to the 45 needed for 3 of the trophies, the lore they refer to hear is specific to one location in each of the 4 areas.
- You will typically recognize the area with the lore because instead of 1-2 there will be 8+. Just make sure you comb that location to ensure you got all of them.

Happy Trophy Hunting!

Solid on a moment to moment basis while navigating the world. Even as one who has a distaste for open world gameplay design, I enjoyed the traversal and general exploration. This is helped heavily by a world map that isn't huge, in addition to a game that doesn't overstay its welcome length wise.

Things became more iffy when gameplay became more intensive or involved. Namely with the combat and stealth sequences. Nothing was completely broken (other than the time I got spawned into a stealth section directly in the path of an enemy with no chance of escape) but I'm not sold on any of it. I guess it broke up some of the exploration a bit in terms of variety but I could've gladly did without.

This falls into a similar hole that many games do where the narrative kinda steps into focus (after being in the background or even absent) resulting in some weird pacing. The forced walk and ~cinematic sections in the last portions of the game put a damper on things a bit.

Overall enjoyable and I'm glad I gave it a go but I'm not sure if I'll ever return. After this and ABZU (which I think I prefer) from the devs, they'll be on my radar for sure.

if anything perhaps a little Too attuned to my tastes for my current liking (im somewhat in the mood to be Aesthetically Challenged recently) but i wont be ungrateful to something that so specifically seeks to please me. more of Everything should take place in forests, more games should experiment with movement beyond just button combinations, more games should have spiritual aspirations in their thematics, more games should be unafraid of the Ritual...the gameplay loop here is a strange sense of Ritualized Freedom, finding your own way and adapting within a prexisting repetitious structure...really really does feel like a Pilgrimage. like many of these kinds of games, the texture fills in the blanks left by the simple narrative, and as didactic as the main theme is, as someone who left the authoritarian constraints of monotheism and only rediscovered my deep need for spirituality in more Multiplicitous and Esoteric places, i cant say i didnt feel seen, or didnt find a balming beauty. giant squid's (and ofc by extention thatgamecompany's) approach to "artsy" games is something i might have been inclined to scoff at as insubstantial or too eager to explain itself previously, and maybe i can see the argument for that, but the Populism they bring is something im currently in a place to admire a lot i think. more of Everything should take place in forests.

The Pathless is a pretty game with an expansive world, satisfying movement system, and a fair amount of good old-fashioned puzzle solving. However, in my eyes it fails to really nail any of these positive attributes and is also a host to a number of other problems.

Movement is, as I said, satisfying. It is also painfully shallow, which means that I often found myself bored traveling the large open (and somewhat barren) world. The art style is good but nothing more, the puzzles are mostly very simple and somewhat repetitive, and there are annoying segments where your movement is completely restricted to walking.

The game also insists on having boss fights at the end of each major area, which might as well be cutscenes because there is no challenge due to there being essentially no consequence to getting hit. I can't deny that there was some sense of grandeur to them, but the illusion was shattered when you realize you can't lose.

If it sounds like I'm ripping into this game hard, that isn't my intention. The Pathless feels like it oozes potential and the team behind it no doubt has talent. On a deep discount, the game is certainly worth a try especially as many others hold it in high regard. Personally though, I was disappointed by how mediocre I found the experience throughout.

[Reposting and updating my review from another site for the archives. Originally posted in December 13, 2020]

This went above my high expectations. It started pretty slow, but as the world opens up more, and I begin to grasp the game's mechanics, at some point it just clicked. It's interesting enough that I felt compelled to get the platinum trophy, which is something that I rarely do these days, and I definitely loved it more because of all the side content that I did.

Let's start with the game's most unique element, the movement system. You basically need to shoot orbs that are scattered all over the map in order to boost yourself forward, and you have to keep shooting them in order to maintain the speed. If you shoot these orbs at the perfect time, you'll get a bigger boost. It's a delightful system that is a bit challenging to master, but it's worth it, as the sense of speed and style that the game exudes is a most satisfying reward.

The game's open world is filled with fun puzzles and interesting lore, mostly placed in well-designed points of interest. The puzzles are mainly based on figuring out where to shoot your bow at, and thinking about the arrow's trajectory, which is a three dimensional task that I had a lot of fun with. While you can make an educated guess of the main story if you just focus on the main content, piecing together the truth from all the lore texts is quite satisfying, and I like that many of them are not directly tied to the most important events, but rather divulge history that makes you care more about the game's world. There's a hint of fascination towards mysticism, spirituality and mythological beings, which reminds me of games like Fumito Ueda's trilogy.

Having a detective vision-esque ability in place of a traditional map for navigation is a cool idea, and it's well executed here, since exploring felt more natural and in-the-moment because of it. It's most useful only at certain times, like when you reach a high enough vantage point, and this is more than enough to discourage mindless usage of this ability.

Other than the exploration, the game's other main segments are the boss fights, which starts pretty decent with the first boss, but the later ones gets not only more epic in presentation (the soundtrack especially pops off), but also more engaging gameplay-wise. It's not the most complex boss fights, think of them as interconnected rhythm puzzle mini-games, but they're more than engaging enough. Not to mention, each boss fight ends in a touching manner, as you disarm the corruption that overwhelms these beasts, and be able to communicate with their true, best selves.

Overall, this was quite a surprise. I think the game could benefit from more types of puzzles and objectives, and I feel that more of the optional lore could be told in more ways than just text, but as it stands, it's still an incredible game. This is already one of my favorite open world games ever.

Antes de começar a falar sobre The Pathless, gostaria de destacar que minha análise foi de certa forma influenciada pela conclusão total do jogo, então alguns aspectos que destaquei podem não causar problemas para pessoas que não sentem necessidade de procurar ou fazer todos os desafios propostos.

Para começar, gostaria de destacar que o enredo do jogo é bem insignificante, não temos muitos diálogos e a maior parte das informações aparece em texto nos corpos encontrados pela ilha e em escritas dispostas em paredes e colunas, ou seja, não espere muita profundidade na história principal. De certo modo, o enredo não é totalmente ruim, pois o final me impressionou de uma forma absurda, as cenas com diálogos e o cenário belíssimo em conjunto conseguiram criar uma atmosfera única e muito imersiva.

Sobre a jogabilidade posso dizer que as primeiras 7 horas foram divertidas, mas após esse período o jogo começou a mostrar sua pior parte, pois não se tem um desenvolvimento identificado em outros jogos (mesmo que alguns não gostem, esse desenvolvimento de habilidades é justamente para evitar essa repetição). O jogador não possui muito o que fazer a não ser atirar flechas nos amuletos que auxiliam na movimentação, e mesmo que os desenvolvedores tentassem variar essa mecânica colocando alguns outros sistemas que melhoram a velocidade e te fazem saltar mais alto, a jogabilidade continuou extremamente repetitiva.

O método de exploração de The Pathless é bem diferente e simplista, ou seja, não temos mapas e nem setas indicando quais locais devemos ir. Na verdade, tudo o que temos são indicações em vermelho dos pontos que devemos procurar para encontrar alguns elementos necessários para chegar ao chefe da região. Infelizmente, assim como a jogabilidade, a exploração sofre bastante com a repetição e com a falta de coisas para se fazer, pois só é possível voar e correr de um local para outro, o que no início é divertido, mas se torna chato e enjoativo com o passar do tempo.

Nos locais de interesse destacados em vermelho nós temos puzzles e outros pequenos desafios que, nos primeiros 2 mapas, são divertidos e extremamente bem produzidos tornando a sensação de exploração recompensadora, porém a partir do 3 mapa é perceptível a repetição, pois não existe muitas variações e possibilidades.

No jogo os únicos inimigos são os chefes de cada região, então o jogador é bem livre para voar, andar, correr ou brincar com os amuletos, e isso é um ponto extremamente positivo já que podemos selecionar uma playlist e apenas relaxar fazendo manobras de maneira satisfatória e extremamente fluida. Esse ponto é muito auxiliado pelos diferentes cenários e pela simplicidade gráfica, o fato do jogo não ser voltado para o realismo deixou tudo muito mais divertido.

Infelizmente, não posso dizer muito sobre a soundtrack já que durante a maior parte eu utilizei minha playlist, porém as músicas da parte final são sensacionais e casam muito bem com a proposta e com a arte.

Como destaquei, o maior problema de The Pathless é a repetição de desafios causados pela mecânica, o que poderia não ter acontecido caso os desenvolvedores não tivessem criado pelo menos 20 desafios em cada região. Por isso, recomendo que não tentem fazer TODOS os pontos vermelhos, pois a chance de enjoar e abandonar o jogo é enorme.

Com isso, caso o jogo não seja seu estilo eu recomendo esperar uma boa promoção, pois apesar de ter amado vários aspectos, a sensação que tive foi de ter gastado um pouco mais do que o necessário. Já para quem gosta desse estilo, acredito que The Pathless seja um jogo bem necessário, então recomendo fortemente a compra.

Uma Arqueira vai para uma terra, onde os deuses vivem, para parar um guerreiro que quer acabar com os vários caminhos da “verdade” que existem. Ele acredita que esses vários caminhos mais atrapalham do que ajudam, e que os deuses só estão mais preocupados com eles do que com a humanidade. Nessa busca dele para criar a sua verdade e, impor ela a outros, esse guerreiro corrompe quatro deuses animais que habitam essa terra, e o objetivo da personagem arqueira que controlamos é purificar esses deuses e parar a cede de poder do guerreiro. Não sabemos se a arqueira está lá pela própria vontade dela ou se foi enviada.

Durante o trajeto encontramos vários guerreiros caídos que podemos ver um registro dos seus pensamentos, e muitos desses pensamentos são de dúvidas sobre o que eles estão fazendo ou sua absoluta certeza. Num desses registros até encontramos um guerreiro que se pergunta o porquê eles sempre se sacrificarem pelo líder, mas o contrário nunca acontece. Pois é.

A ambientação do jogo é bem bucólica, com cores bem saturadas e a sensação de que estamos numa terra intocada a gerações. O design do jogo é lindo. Encontramos animais durante nosso trajeto, mas não podemos interagir com eles, eles só estão por lá mesmo. Os cenários são gigantescos e nos locomovemos atirando flechas em “olhos” espalhados pelo cenário que nos dão um impulso para correr mais rápido pelos cenários. Em cada platô que estamos podemos ver uma doma vermelha, que fica migrando de lugar de tempos em tempos, onde o deus corrompido da área está vasculhando. Quando adentramos essa doma a águia vai ser arremessada longe e temos que salvar ela enquanto o espírito corrompido fica nos procurando. A forma como ele nos procura é um cone de visão, uma luz, que não podemos deixar nos ver, mas como você não morre na gameplay então só serve para colocar uma sensação de urgência artificial na gameplay.

A jogabilidade, no começo, é um pouco “dura”, mas conforme você vai se acostumando com os comandos vai ficando mais fluída. Uma das ferramentas que o jogo te dá é uma águia que nos acompanha durante o trajeto e nos dá o “poder” de planar e impulsionar para o alto, assim conseguirmos alcançar lugares de difícil acesso. O Jogo consiste basicamente em resolver puzzles simples, porém são bem repetitivos. O ponto alto são as lutas com os bosses, os deuses corrompidos, que dão mais desafio ao jogo, apesar de serem repetitivos também.

Em geral é um jogo lindo, mas que peca na sua repetição constante e na falta de criatividade para inovar nas batalhas com os chefes de área. O jogo também se estende demais artificialmente, que dá aquela sensação de enfado por não terminar logo, e nem é por pressa ou coisa parecida, é por ser repetitivo mesmo. Joguei a versão do Nintendo Switch e não está muito polido o jogo para essa versão, com várias quedas de frames e lentidão, mas nada que atrapalhe de jogar. Em conclusão é uma experiencia até que agradável, com partes que você para só para apreciar o cenário ou escutar a excelente trilha sonora incidental do jogo. Fico curioso sobre o próximo jogo que a Giant Squid vai publicar, é um estúdio que vale a pena ficar de olho.

The Pathless is a really neat little game. The movement feels good, though transitioning from air to ground running could be better. The main issue is that there's just so much repetition. There are maybe 4 different puzzle components and there are only so many different ways you can use them before things get dull. The same can be said for the map; the last areas are absolutely quantity over quality, and they're far too big. The boss fights are rancid until the last one, which thankfully rules. Overall if you have a few hours to spare you could find worse ways to spend them.