ser una niña es la experiencia más desgarradora por la que puede pasar alguien
As a game... It's just not a game. It's a different way to tell a story.
haven’t seen skinamarink but I assume it’s just like this tbh.
rlly uncomfortable and disconcerning.. the fact this runs so badly and barely functions as designed makes it more disturbing. very fascinated by its usage of overlaying different animations and scenes over one other, reminds me a lot of various experimental video work and short films I’ve seen and it’s not smth usually present in games. the scenes where ur navigating the house are so like disorienting and nauseating. def unique and probably very novel in 09 but now seems quaint and well intentioned but still problematic. like idk I think gameifying assault and abuse is incredibly fucking iffy, I don’t mean like making a game out of these concept but including more arcade-y elements of game design like collectibles and ranks I find a bit gross. of course drakengard 3 and rule of rose are very game-like games w big boss fights and similar themes and both were trying to be marketable but also both are so dense in terms of both written text and implied text. and this simply isn’t, it’s incredibly visual which I do like but sometimes the shocking image is just that, it’s just shocking and a little toothless, they can be powerful images but still seemingly only there to push boundaries of accepted good taste.
also pls listen to the ost it’s seriously so beautiful
will prob draw some fanart of the girls bc in love w their designs
rlly uncomfortable and disconcerning.. the fact this runs so badly and barely functions as designed makes it more disturbing. very fascinated by its usage of overlaying different animations and scenes over one other, reminds me a lot of various experimental video work and short films I’ve seen and it’s not smth usually present in games. the scenes where ur navigating the house are so like disorienting and nauseating. def unique and probably very novel in 09 but now seems quaint and well intentioned but still problematic. like idk I think gameifying assault and abuse is incredibly fucking iffy, I don’t mean like making a game out of these concept but including more arcade-y elements of game design like collectibles and ranks I find a bit gross. of course drakengard 3 and rule of rose are very game-like games w big boss fights and similar themes and both were trying to be marketable but also both are so dense in terms of both written text and implied text. and this simply isn’t, it’s incredibly visual which I do like but sometimes the shocking image is just that, it’s just shocking and a little toothless, they can be powerful images but still seemingly only there to push boundaries of accepted good taste.
also pls listen to the ost it’s seriously so beautiful
will prob draw some fanart of the girls bc in love w their designs
this game is literally a masterpiece anyone who says it’s boring just doesn’t get it
i love games about girlhood and growing up gotta be one of my most favourite genders!!!
i love games about girlhood and growing up gotta be one of my most favourite genders!!!
oh i was obsessed w this when i was a kid though it also scared the shit out of me. the art direction is great, and the symbolism is interesting, though the mechanics do make it a janky, tedious game. i still remember the fey wolf's piano tune very clearly... i think the little girl's was most terrifying though :(
What the actual fuck is Rose’s story
Looks boring
‘walking sim’ done right
Arguably the best game ever funded by the Flemish Government.
I have a gender, and I must scream
This review contains spoilers
stay on the path.
☆
The Path is a game that is definitely more interesting to discuss rather than playing it. It's a walking simulator, starring a group of six girls, in which you're just immediately shoved into an apartment without any explanation/story and forced to choose one to begin your journey. Once you do choose between one of six sisters, you're met with a path, and only one objective: "Go to grandmother's house and stay on the path".
Sounds simple enough, right?
With very straightforward instructions, you begin to walk the path all the way to grandmother's house, enter, find her lying in bed with a sweet portrait of your chosen sister above her head, and the game ends there. At this point you'd feel like you have just wasted your time and money, until you're met with a screen stating, "failure"...
...Huh?
How could that be if you followed the instructions given?
After being sent back to the apartment and being able to choose either the same girl or a new one, you're back on the very same path with the very same set of instructions. This time, you stray away from the path.
This is where the game begins.
Once you walk far enough, you turn around and discover that the path is no longer visible, and no matter how far back you retrace your steps, it seems to have vanished into thin air. After enough wandering, you would stumble upon various objects that will trigger text from your chosen girl to pop up on screen, leading you to form a new objective on your own: Find all the objects hidden in the deep woods, and discover the meaning behind them. However, it isn't as easy as it sounds. The area is extremely hard to navigate and ends up looping when you reach a certain distance, causing you to feel lost at all times. It doesn't help that running for too long causes your camera to move up, casting a downward view on your character and making it much harder to find your way around.
Upon starting your new objective, you seem to discover a deeper meaning behind these girls and try your best to form a story to attach to each one. As you continue to walk around you can end up finding another little girl who seems just as lost as you. Stand by her for a few moments, and she will do you the honor of taking you back toward the path. Stand still on your own for long enough and she will come running toward you to do that same. This makes it feel like anybody else you meet would be kind enough as well, right?
Then you end up stumbling upon each girls' "wolf".
Each "wolf" for all the girls is vastly different from the other, ranging from people to... an actual wolf. These, along with each girls' specific discoverable objects, are extremely important to the story. Play through a little cutscene with each wolf and unlock a deeper part of the story, told almost artistically and forcing you to come to your own conclusions about what you witnessed, and what happened to your girl. After interacting with your wolf, you are thrown right outside of grandmother's house, able to do nothing but walk straight forward and inside in a slow, haunting manner.
Once inside, everything changes. You aren't met with your grandmother, but with a house in which every room changes to some cryptic area and all you can do is walk through, trying to connect the dots. Once you reach the end, you are knocked out, and shown images that correlate to your girl and what she has gone through. The story is completely up to interpretation, but there are very obvious hints to events for each girl that are not ignorable.
You are usually given a ranking after this, and that's where your journey with your chosen girl ends. You are sent back to the apartment, forced to choose a new girl (since the one you completed has now vanished) and repeat the process all over again. Once all girls have gone, the apartment is almost completely empty. There is one new girl left, the same one in a white dress you meet throughout your playthroughs. Choose her, spawn in on the path, and have the same objective as all the others.
Playing as her makes it extremely easy to go and collect all the items you missed beforehand since she is able to navigate around the woods with her ability to always find the main path when needed. One difference is that it's raining for some reason. Once you're finished and head to grandmother's house, you're met with an array of rooms before heading into grandmothers' room, in which your girl does not sit on the bed, but kneels at its side. The run is over, and you are sent back to the empty apartment. The girl in white stands there with blood staining her dress as the game restarts, and all six sisters enter the room, returning to their respective places. The little girl in white's section can 100% be open to interpretation, with many people speculating her to be a wolf herself.
While this game is very basic gameplay wise, it's the aesthetics that make it what it is. You truly end up feeling just as lost as these girls are, and everything just feels so cryptic until you're able to piece together small sections and finally form anything coherent. I'd recommend playing this game as an artistic experience, but only if you'd be willing to enter discussions about everything you endured. Watching video essays on it or putting your own interpretation/review out there is key to enjoying the game to its fullest. As for me, this game just SCREAMS girlhood, and what it's like going through the scary world being one no matter what age you're at. With this mindset, everything feels even more eerie as you play through the game.
☆
The Path is a game that is definitely more interesting to discuss rather than playing it. It's a walking simulator, starring a group of six girls, in which you're just immediately shoved into an apartment without any explanation/story and forced to choose one to begin your journey. Once you do choose between one of six sisters, you're met with a path, and only one objective: "Go to grandmother's house and stay on the path".
Sounds simple enough, right?
With very straightforward instructions, you begin to walk the path all the way to grandmother's house, enter, find her lying in bed with a sweet portrait of your chosen sister above her head, and the game ends there. At this point you'd feel like you have just wasted your time and money, until you're met with a screen stating, "failure"...
...Huh?
How could that be if you followed the instructions given?
After being sent back to the apartment and being able to choose either the same girl or a new one, you're back on the very same path with the very same set of instructions. This time, you stray away from the path.
This is where the game begins.
Once you walk far enough, you turn around and discover that the path is no longer visible, and no matter how far back you retrace your steps, it seems to have vanished into thin air. After enough wandering, you would stumble upon various objects that will trigger text from your chosen girl to pop up on screen, leading you to form a new objective on your own: Find all the objects hidden in the deep woods, and discover the meaning behind them. However, it isn't as easy as it sounds. The area is extremely hard to navigate and ends up looping when you reach a certain distance, causing you to feel lost at all times. It doesn't help that running for too long causes your camera to move up, casting a downward view on your character and making it much harder to find your way around.
Upon starting your new objective, you seem to discover a deeper meaning behind these girls and try your best to form a story to attach to each one. As you continue to walk around you can end up finding another little girl who seems just as lost as you. Stand by her for a few moments, and she will do you the honor of taking you back toward the path. Stand still on your own for long enough and she will come running toward you to do that same. This makes it feel like anybody else you meet would be kind enough as well, right?
Then you end up stumbling upon each girls' "wolf".
Each "wolf" for all the girls is vastly different from the other, ranging from people to... an actual wolf. These, along with each girls' specific discoverable objects, are extremely important to the story. Play through a little cutscene with each wolf and unlock a deeper part of the story, told almost artistically and forcing you to come to your own conclusions about what you witnessed, and what happened to your girl. After interacting with your wolf, you are thrown right outside of grandmother's house, able to do nothing but walk straight forward and inside in a slow, haunting manner.
Once inside, everything changes. You aren't met with your grandmother, but with a house in which every room changes to some cryptic area and all you can do is walk through, trying to connect the dots. Once you reach the end, you are knocked out, and shown images that correlate to your girl and what she has gone through. The story is completely up to interpretation, but there are very obvious hints to events for each girl that are not ignorable.
You are usually given a ranking after this, and that's where your journey with your chosen girl ends. You are sent back to the apartment, forced to choose a new girl (since the one you completed has now vanished) and repeat the process all over again. Once all girls have gone, the apartment is almost completely empty. There is one new girl left, the same one in a white dress you meet throughout your playthroughs. Choose her, spawn in on the path, and have the same objective as all the others.
Playing as her makes it extremely easy to go and collect all the items you missed beforehand since she is able to navigate around the woods with her ability to always find the main path when needed. One difference is that it's raining for some reason. Once you're finished and head to grandmother's house, you're met with an array of rooms before heading into grandmothers' room, in which your girl does not sit on the bed, but kneels at its side. The run is over, and you are sent back to the empty apartment. The girl in white stands there with blood staining her dress as the game restarts, and all six sisters enter the room, returning to their respective places. The little girl in white's section can 100% be open to interpretation, with many people speculating her to be a wolf herself.
While this game is very basic gameplay wise, it's the aesthetics that make it what it is. You truly end up feeling just as lost as these girls are, and everything just feels so cryptic until you're able to piece together small sections and finally form anything coherent. I'd recommend playing this game as an artistic experience, but only if you'd be willing to enter discussions about everything you endured. Watching video essays on it or putting your own interpretation/review out there is key to enjoying the game to its fullest. As for me, this game just SCREAMS girlhood, and what it's like going through the scary world being one no matter what age you're at. With this mindset, everything feels even more eerie as you play through the game.
Chapeuzinho Vermelho é um conto popular que passou por várias iterações ao longo da história, mas a Tale of Tales conseguiu extrair um resultado muito intrigante, agoniante e, em termos de design, inteligentíssimo.
Chapeuzinho segue o caminho do bosque para visitar a avó, apesar da advertência dos perigos de sair do caminho. Chapeuzinho é ousada e pega rotas alternativas. Nela, ela se depara com um Lobo que descobre o destino final da Chapeuzinho, chega lá primeiro, se disfarça da avó e engana a Chapeuzinho, que é salva por um caçador.
Esse é talvez o conto mais simples da Chapeuzinho, mas essa história possui várias versões em seus séculos de existência, algumas que abordam temas muito mais sombrios. São esses temas que encontraremos em The Path.
The Path é um "slow game," um jogo a se queimar lentamente enquanto aproveitamos o caminho, ou no caso desse jogo, a falta dele. Isso é uma provocação clara aos termos do game design, o que eu aprecio e não me surpreende vindo da Tale of Tales.
Vamos começar pelo tópico "caminho" em game design. Se torna quase um mantra. Temos caminhos principais, secundários e atalhos. É esperado um comportamento padrão de quem joga, e os designers precisam ser oniscientes e prever os passos e as posições para garantir o ENTRETENIMENTO. É uma tarefa injusta para as duas partes.
Mas The Path desconstrói isso com uma ordem a ser quebrada e usa a história da Chapeuzinho Vermelho para ilustrar a vontade rebelde dos jogadores em descumprir ordens e explorar tudo, menos os caminhos.
A analogia aqui te coloca na pele de 6 personagens diferentes, cada uma com um conjunto de traumas e memórias que transformam elementos característicos do conto, como o lobo, o lenhador e a casa da avó.
O mais interessante é que, diferente do conceito de caminho alternativo no design que geralmente te entrega uma mecânica concreta, aqui em The Path os caminhos alternativos não entregam uma recompensa, mas um desfecho sinistro em cada uma das 6 personagens. Exploramos o medo e os traumas em diferentes versões do "Lobo" e de outros personagens. Desde os mais clássicos até as iterações mais bizarras, como um lobo que abusa da Chapeuzinho, que ilude a Chapeuzinho, que a alicia em atos ilícitos e muito mais. Mas tudo isso é contado de forma obtusa e abre muito para interpretação.
Esse jogo brinca com um conto famoso, com game design e com nosso imaginário.
переосмислення червної шапочки на кшталт дорослішання. не вразило
From an aesthetic point of view, this game has become one of my favorites. The symbolism and overall tone is just perfect, and I could just look at the concept art of the game all day!!
But from a gameplay point of view, it is kind of tedious, at least for me.
Nevertheless, putting up the pieces of story that the game gives makes me forgive it for the tediousness of walking so much :D
But from a gameplay point of view, it is kind of tedious, at least for me.
Nevertheless, putting up the pieces of story that the game gives makes me forgive it for the tediousness of walking so much :D
This review contains spoilers
This game is so interesting if you think about what all the characters go through!
At first, when the game tells you to go on the path, you go there, but it tells you that you failed? Why so?
Because, when you go to the woods, you choose to face your own wolves. That's why i love this game- it shows us what kind of frustriations the character are going through while growing up- and when they are all grown-up ( just like Scarlet, that is a mature woman who can't live her life the way she wants, because she feels like a puppet on strings, just like the game shows us)
There are no jumpscares, but there is definetly an odd and eerie atmosphere that always makes us somewhat umcomfortable.
The soundtrack is fire!
This is definetly a really abstract game, and it's not for everyone, especially the quality and the controls of the game. But, i really loved it! :D
At first, when the game tells you to go on the path, you go there, but it tells you that you failed? Why so?
Because, when you go to the woods, you choose to face your own wolves. That's why i love this game- it shows us what kind of frustriations the character are going through while growing up- and when they are all grown-up ( just like Scarlet, that is a mature woman who can't live her life the way she wants, because she feels like a puppet on strings, just like the game shows us)
There are no jumpscares, but there is definetly an odd and eerie atmosphere that always makes us somewhat umcomfortable.
The soundtrack is fire!
This is definetly a really abstract game, and it's not for everyone, especially the quality and the controls of the game. But, i really loved it! :D
angela carter's 'the bloody chamber' in video game form. like touching a fresh bloodstain. made me feel like someone was breathing down the back of my neck constantly.
the path is a video game in which you assume the role of little red riding hood on her way to grandmother's house in the forest. it is a shockingly vibrant game, with an art style rooted in modern pop art and the uncanny valley nature of playstation 2 models, which makes the long trek to grandma's house a blindingly bright experience. it is pure white, ketchup red and vomit green with inspired, whimsical character designs laser-focused on communicating character personality and nothing else. upon reaching your goal, you shuffle uncomfortably through grandma's empty, foreboding house with a sense of unease, and then your character's model settles on the bed next to the corpse-like image of her grandmother, and you get the news. you were ranked with a "failure."
as a walking simulator, the path is equal parts game and art experience. it is a horror tinted vision where the goal is to encourage you to think and relate to the game in your own way. playing the path felt like holding a microscope up to my own recollection of childhood memories, picking out the moments that seemed to echo the path. it is primarily interested in the dissection of childhood and what it feels like to grow up in a world that you're still learning about. each of the little red riding hoods has her own personality, storyline and wolf to encounter in the woods, adding to this feeling of growing up as you play. proceeding from youngest to oldest is a stark experience of growing up from a young girl to a teenager and then burgeoning young woman; it echoed my own life experiences in a haunting way, but perhaps it wouldn't be as such for every other person out there.
decorated with a unique artstyle that indulges in the doll-like appearance of ps2 models, the path also sounds lovely with an ambience that has not be replicated in games since it. it is handcrafted to feel like a fairytale that is held together with wire, drapes and shadows, never quite revealing what it's end game is until you decide you've had enough and want to digest it on your own. it has a vested interest in leading you through an emotionally uncomfortable experience, allowing each player to have a unique take on what they interpreted the game to be about. the closest thing to it is looking at a painting and talking to other people about it: everyone notices and feels something different, so robust conversation that gives you peeks into one another as human beings feels like a component that has been baked into the path.
it is a bug-laden mess that is a pain and a half to get running these days, and when you get it to, there's still hoops to jump through. still, getting it to play feels like hitting a coffin after digging into the earth for hours. it feels like a skeleton you shouldn't be looking at, like the past is haunting you as you play.
it's worth noting that there is simply no user interface to this game. in fact, it probably is one of the earliest examples of a modern game completely forgoing a UI to hammer in the experience of it's stage. it expects you to learn to walk on your own, taking the game at your own pace and exploring as you wish, alongside the red riding hood of your choice. in this day and age, this doesn't quite achieve the effect it did almost fifteen years ago, but i'm sure that it added to the sense of disorientation back then. it just felt like something worth mentioning: there are multiple instances where things feel dated. the intuitive ui is one example, but the writing can be another. overwrought at times with a desperate need to sound like a page out of a fairytale, it can miss the mark when it really cannot afford to.
i don't think this is a game for everyone and i would hesitate to recommend it even to close friends. if you like stuff like night in the woods or what remains of edith finch, this #ArtGame might be for you. it's a masterclass in atmosphere, topped with some of the most uncomfortable gaming experiences i've ever had that were completely on purpose. the path is also arguably the best of tale of tales' gaming catalogue, and the development team's thumbprint is still pressed into the silicon form of gaming today.
as a walking simulator, the path is equal parts game and art experience. it is a horror tinted vision where the goal is to encourage you to think and relate to the game in your own way. playing the path felt like holding a microscope up to my own recollection of childhood memories, picking out the moments that seemed to echo the path. it is primarily interested in the dissection of childhood and what it feels like to grow up in a world that you're still learning about. each of the little red riding hoods has her own personality, storyline and wolf to encounter in the woods, adding to this feeling of growing up as you play. proceeding from youngest to oldest is a stark experience of growing up from a young girl to a teenager and then burgeoning young woman; it echoed my own life experiences in a haunting way, but perhaps it wouldn't be as such for every other person out there.
decorated with a unique artstyle that indulges in the doll-like appearance of ps2 models, the path also sounds lovely with an ambience that has not be replicated in games since it. it is handcrafted to feel like a fairytale that is held together with wire, drapes and shadows, never quite revealing what it's end game is until you decide you've had enough and want to digest it on your own. it has a vested interest in leading you through an emotionally uncomfortable experience, allowing each player to have a unique take on what they interpreted the game to be about. the closest thing to it is looking at a painting and talking to other people about it: everyone notices and feels something different, so robust conversation that gives you peeks into one another as human beings feels like a component that has been baked into the path.
it is a bug-laden mess that is a pain and a half to get running these days, and when you get it to, there's still hoops to jump through. still, getting it to play feels like hitting a coffin after digging into the earth for hours. it feels like a skeleton you shouldn't be looking at, like the past is haunting you as you play.
it's worth noting that there is simply no user interface to this game. in fact, it probably is one of the earliest examples of a modern game completely forgoing a UI to hammer in the experience of it's stage. it expects you to learn to walk on your own, taking the game at your own pace and exploring as you wish, alongside the red riding hood of your choice. in this day and age, this doesn't quite achieve the effect it did almost fifteen years ago, but i'm sure that it added to the sense of disorientation back then. it just felt like something worth mentioning: there are multiple instances where things feel dated. the intuitive ui is one example, but the writing can be another. overwrought at times with a desperate need to sound like a page out of a fairytale, it can miss the mark when it really cannot afford to.
i don't think this is a game for everyone and i would hesitate to recommend it even to close friends. if you like stuff like night in the woods or what remains of edith finch, this #ArtGame might be for you. it's a masterclass in atmosphere, topped with some of the most uncomfortable gaming experiences i've ever had that were completely on purpose. the path is also arguably the best of tale of tales' gaming catalogue, and the development team's thumbprint is still pressed into the silicon form of gaming today.
An interesting Red Riding Hood walking simulator that presents various impressively unnerving sequences depending on the girl you choose to go to the grandmothers house.
Not an especially frightening horror game but I found the cheap 3D models and spaces to be deeply uncanny, most notably the dreamy conclusions upon reaching the 'cottage.'
Not an especially frightening horror game but I found the cheap 3D models and spaces to be deeply uncanny, most notably the dreamy conclusions upon reaching the 'cottage.'