Would you enjoy this game? This has some similar vibes to Shadow of the Colossus, but I wouldn't compare it to that game directly. The giant creatures are the main focus of the story, but the gameplay is more for people that enjoy traversal-heavy exploration and puzzle-platformer games.

Moment to moment, you're dashing, jumping, gliding around looking for more emblems or crystals, while evading the beasts. Movement feels good, as does the bow. There's a nice little bonus to shooting speed if you can time your shots exactly right, and bouncing off a chain of talismans to cover lots of ground feels great. There is a bit of an issue in some cases getting the targeting to aim at the thing you want, but not enough to spoil the experience. But where are you dashing to and what are you shooting? Actually, mostly you're solving environmental puzzles, which are all pretty well done. Actually fighting the giant beasts is only an occasional punctuation to the puzzling and running.

The medium-term experience of the game is one of trying to search out the items you need to fight back against these looming monsters while trying to avoid said monsters. Getting caught by them is a moment of tension, but ultimately more of a nuisance than anything. You don't have a visible health bar, so it mostly feels like an interruption. But they're usually clearly visible (or the storm around them is anyway) so avoiding them isn't to hard unless you get unlucky. Once you have what you need, you can initiate the boss fight, then you can either move on to the next area, or continue exploring the current now-peaceful area. Exploring feels rewarding as there's lots of little hidden nooks with a few extra crystals, and those crystals provide a meaningful reward by boosting your traversal ability. I don't think you need to find these to beat the game, but it would be harder without.

Should you buy this game for the aesthetics? Maybe. The game has a nice style and it's fun to just run around the world, but it's not such a spectacle as some other giant boss games like Shadow of the Colossus or Solar Ash.

Should you buy this game for the story? Maybe. The story does a good job keeping you moving forward, and you care about the characters, though there's only a few of them of note. The backstory is presented well through the lingering thoughts of the dead scattered around the world, which further incentivizes you to explore. The ending is satisfying and the moral it presents rings true enough.

Should you buy this game for the gameplay? Probably. If you enjoy running around and exploring a world without much in the way of explicit guidance or character interactions, solving puzzles and making a few tricky jumps, then you should enjoy this game.

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.

The brisk traversal mechanics and sweeping adventure make “The Pathless” an easy recommendation for a weekend. I initially played thru it three years ago, but this second play thru hit just as well as the first. The puzzles walk a fine balance between not too difficult and not too simple, while the boss fights left me shook and all aided by a wonderful story with great atmosphere. I do wish the game had a mini-map system. I get why it doesn’t, as navigation is baked into the mechanics of the game, but whilst doing the side quests I found it difficult to navigate sometimes. Otherwise, this is a great game and a great entry into Anna Purna’s gameography.

I love these kind of games and GiantSquid never dissapoints. Artstyle and movement is impecable. Performance-wise is extremely smooth. The game's mechanics are quite simple but really satisfying to do. Momentum is really easily gained and easily lost so it becomes this game of snowballing your movement though I didn't quite like that the game has a really low speed cap for the boosts. I would've loved that you could potentially gain as much as speed as possible. The gameplay loop is quite repetitive since the challange-skills gained are extremely static. Since you don't gain any new skills (or at least really significant ones) the difficulty in the game plateaus. Visual effects and music are insane. The fire and the speed movement particles are extremely smooth. Also the beasts have quite a unique design and art to them. I was a bit underwhelmed by the inherent lack of content of the open world since, the only reward you got from it was a really little experience boost which only added a jump to your eagle. It would've been more interesting if exploration could reward you with different attire or bow improvements (more arrows shot per volley, faster drawing speed, more range, etc). Overall really satisfying game.

ABZU showed that "Journey but again" is still nice but already tiring, especially when you are even a little worse than Journey. So here is an open world adventure game, with some of the best traversal in one.
This, alongside its beautiful landscapes and atmosphere, is the games biggest strength. It is amazing to sprint and leap through this world, depending on you shooting magic targets which nail a perfect balance between being challenging to hit and reuqiring no thought at all at such a pace.
It is also nice they decided against a map and objective markers. Instead, all you are handed is an eagle eye mode, highlighting places of interest you have not been to. Resulting in cool scenarios where scouting for final bits to explore required me to go to high places and, well, look for them, instead of just having a map tell me where to go.
For the main duration in a region, you also have a moving red fog always inconveniencing you. In the way that it may block some places of interest, but also that if you end up in it, you have to play hide and seek with the monster. If you fail, you lose some progress on an upgrade. The closest this game comes to consequence since death is nonexistent.

One of the biggest issues this game has is the amount of repetition combined with little variety. The task is always the same: collect some spirit things, activate towers, fight a monster in a well done set piece, go to the next area. If you are interested, you can do additional exploring and do more puzzles for upgrades.
There are stand out places and overall this is still all good enough but those painfully similar puzzles do definetely become painfully repetetive.
Journey and Abzu work with little gameplay variety because they are short experiences. The Pathless is 5 times the length of each of those, so having no gameplay variety AND little to no puzzle and exploration variety does drag it down.

The story was nice enough. I would have liked more nuance but also feared for there to be less. What I am getting out of it is a commentary on the stasis of a world or the status quo, how the desire for change can convince someone to complete annihilation of the status quo, and about purpose. Purpose and fulfillment is perhaps the most straightforward theme. Describing the antagonist as "The Pathfinder" in the game "The Pathless" could not make this more clear.

All in all, this was a nice and beautiful experience and a breath of fresh air after Abzu. Where it fails is to offer variety in any big sense. Either way, I am thrilled for Sword Of The Sea, the next project of Giant Squid.

Fun game, it was peaceful, relatively short, had fun traversal mechanics, had really fun boss encounters, amazing music, and a somewhat interesting story. I will say the game's progression is pretty formulaic, and even the traversal can get a bit old at times. Wish the game introduced more complicated mechanics and methods of getting around instead of just "more bird flaps". It didn't get me emotional or anything, but the music was so good that I was frustrated at times that it didn't play more. It works better as an action game than I expected, if the studio every wants to revisit this idea, I would be very interested since, as I said before, the boss fights were excellent!

The gameplay felt very inspired by Breath of the Wild and Shadow of the Colossus but failed to bring any good innovation into it. The movement mechanic felt great on the first plateau but became stale pretty quickly, especially once I had enough flaps to not really bother with the targets anymore.

The Story was quite nice, I especially liked the lore bits you could find scattered around the world, as they gave more insight into what had transpired on the island and felt very personal sometimes.

The music was also a great pluspoint, it was very atmospheric and moody and tied into setpieces, events and bossfights very well.

Overall a relaxing experience that I could recommend to fans of the above mentioned games, but not anything that I would see myself ever playing again.

a wonderful and bealtiful tale only held back by minor annoyances.

let me get the bad out of the way, the game gets a little repetitive even for its short lenght, now i am not one to criticize small game lenght, in fact i love when a game respects my time, but the pathless it manages to still be short yet repetitive.
another problem is that its a bit hard to tell what place is optional and what place will give you the necessary items for progress.

with that out of the way everything else is marvelous, the scenery, the music, the bealty of the artstyle, the story, its a short but sweet fairytale about a hero's journey, its not as deep as youre expecting but its so well crafted i can't help but be sweetened by its charm. huntress is now one of my fave characters.

AND YOU CAN PET THE EAGLE

Sights & Sounds
- At this point, I'd be more surprised if a game published by Annapurna weren't pretty to look at. Even by that standard, The Pathless is often a very pretty game
- It's a marked improvement from Giant Squid's previous game, Abzû. It's not that Abzû was unpleasant to look at (on the contrary, it was also quite scenic), but now the spacious environments this team apparently likes to create aren't so barren and featureless. Level designs are peppered with ruins, caves, and forests that often contain puzzles or offer a good viewpoint for getting the lay of the land
- The character and boss designs are also interesting. I like the little motifs like the extra eyeballs and forked tails that unify the way they look
- The music was fairly somber and relaxing. Appropriate for the overall mood of the game, but it's not the type of soundtrack you'll find yourself thinking about days later

Story & Vibes
- Speaking of mood, The Pathless is a pensive, philosophical game that gives you plenty of time to absorb its peaceful settings
- The narrative is dropped progressively as you find and read the last thoughts of the spirits that scatter the almost entirely unpopulated land you explore
- The central thesis of the game's message is essentially summed up in a memorable line towards the end of the game, "The truth is a pathless land." The game's plot mostly serves as an allegorical vehicle to drive that point home
- Beyond that, there's not much meat on the bones, narratively or rhetorically speaking

Playability & Replayability
- As you traverse each of the game's large environments, you're accompanied by your trusty bow and your eagle buddy who helps you solve puzzles, access higher locations, and glide from place to place. Your bow is primarily used for shooting small boost icons that scatter the maps, which cause you to run faster and jump higher. In tandem, these two mechanics can help you navigate swiftly from place to place despite each level's verticality
- Your eagle's flap ability works as an extra jump and is the only upgradeable ability in the game. You obtain experience for it by solving puzzles
- Puzzles can be easily located with a spirit vision ability that highlights points of interest in a glowing fog. In addition to experience, you might also be rewarded with a special crest
- Collecting these crests is important for unlocking the boss sequence in each level. When using your spirit vision to look for puzzles, you'll encounter large towers. You'll have to ascend a certain number of these in each level, insert 1 or 2 crests, and move to the next one
- After lighting all the towers in a level, you'll initiate a chase sequence that requires chasing the boss down and shooting its weak spots while on the run. Succeeding here will take you to the boss fight, where you'll have to dodge and shoot your way to victory
- The boss fights begin to feel repetitive by the end. The chase sequences are all basically identical, and their attacks during the fights also feel fairly similar
- Beyond what I've already mentioned, there's poorly-designed stealth sequences that are fortunatley brief. These are only triggered if you try to enter the roving boss area before lighting each tower (or otherwise find yourself caught in its path as it moves around the map)
- Given the repetition and shallow mechanical depth for every system besides movement, I'm not feeling motivated to replay this anytime soon

Overall Impressions & Performance
- I found myself wanting a little more of everything out of the game. It's pretty and moving around is kinda fun, but more variety in puzzles, bosses, weapons, abilities, or combat would have gone a long way to improve the experience
- Minimalism in game design can be done well when a single idea or mechanic is explored and used creatively, but a game having multiple shallow systems tacked onto one good one just feels unsatisfying
- The game ran flawlessley, but then again, it's not a program that'll work your setup too hard

Final Verdict
- 6.5/10. The game isn't without its charm and the overall message is nice, but like the developer's previous game, it winds up feeling like a pretty experience that lacks substance. Worth a playthrough on a sale if you want a chill action-adventure game that's heavy on the adventure bit, but don't go in expecting too much

En los podcast de videojuegos se llenan la boca con la necesidad de mundos abiertos que etiquetan una y otra vez como orgánicos. Según su equivalencia, viene a significar ausencia de brújulas y puntitos en un mapa; es el jugador quien hace y deshace según se va topando con cada hito, sin seguir listas de la compra. Aunque The Pathless no es un juego de ese tipo (al menos, de primeras), me sorprende que no recibiera mejores valoraciones porque su composición sigue esa línea. Nos deja entrar en el mundo, orientarnos, decidir qué hacer y resolver con el grado de completitud según nuestro interés.

Porque The Pathless es un curioso cruce entre Breath of the Wild y Shadow of the Colossus, compuesto por un equipo de programación más pequeño que se ha centrado, sobre todo, en la resolución de pequeños puzzles para ir consiguiendo llaves y el enfrentamiento con media docena de enemigos finales que funcionan de puerta entre las diferentes partes del escenario. En ambos casos el trabajo me parece notable, con sus fricciones. Hay detalles del combate final que se podrían haber pulido (ciertas mecánicas de ocultación mal resueltas, por ejemplo), y se echa en falta alguna mazmorra con puzzles más elaborados. Sin embargo, está muy bien medida la aproximación a cada tipo de jugador. Si alguien quiere perderse en cada territorio y completarlo todo, el desplazamiento y los diferentes lugares a visitar están bien cuidados para que sea disfrutable. Si en algún momento decides pisar el pie y resolver, The Pathless lo permite porque no limita el paso de una zona a otra a que se hayan completado todas las localizaciones disponibles (ni mucho menos).

Llegado un punto quizás las mecánicas se hacen un poco repetitivas, pero el progreso respecto a Abzû es evidente. Tengo muchas ganas de ver Sword of the Sea.

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.

A fun short indie title, with barebones story but an artistic and music flair that captures you. The game allows for great sense of speed and awe and is a very smooth experience from start to finish. The hunter becomes hunted narrative around the bosses is also a fun mechanic. The only thing I can knock this title on is the ending sequence drags on a little bit and the last open area (ice place) is kinda trash, unnecessarily huge and hard to spot anything in.

But overall, this game is an easy recommend for a chill nice weekend !

So I have played the game until beating the second boss if you include the first one that was injured. The game has some good style, the controls feel great when you’re gliding, I love the hawk and the music sounds nice.

The rest is on the weaker side and distracting even. The game has an ‘open world’ but it feels so empty. There is little to do. It feels like all the land is for you to glide in but there’s nothing else worth doing besides going to your main objective. The stealth sections are not fun, they ruin the pace. You also lose your XP if you get spotted and you need to be quick enough to pick them up again. The boss fight I’ve seen is not great, but okay. It could have been worse I guess. I mentioned how gliding feels great. Flying with your hawk is also fun to a lesser extend. But your normal movement without speed sucks. And you have a stamina that you need to fill if you want to keep your momentum. This can be fun in itself, energy management. But when you can’t keep up, your pacing really stops to a halt and it feels really bad.

The rest of the flaws might be related to the iPad Pro 2020: the graphics look pretty bad. Like a lot of details are missing compared to more powerful versions like the PC. The fps doesn’t go higher than 30 and it shows.

I can definitely see the game having fans despite the issues I mentioned but it’s definitely not for everyone. Decide for yourself if you don’t like those kind of flaws. Also, definitely make your research if you plan to play the game on iOS devices. I heard the newest iPads received a higher fps patch and they might look better. If I had the choice, I’d play the game on pc. I feel like a lot of my enjoyment might have been affected by playing this on an iPad that’s not powerful enough for this game.

The movement is really fun and the music is good, but that's about all that carries the game for me. I found the world design boring and monotonous. Although there are rewards for exploration, the game's lack of explanation for many of the mechanics gave me little reason to care about those rewards. It seemed like the main unlockable ability was extra jumps while gliding, which wasn't exciting nor was the progression fast enough to be satisfying. The corrupted storms, stealth sections, and boss fights felt like crude interruptions during the rest of peaceful, movement-based gameplay that I enjoyed. That sort of intense experience is not what I'm looking for nor what I expected for a game like this, but I may return to it later if in the right mood.