The game is far too in love with its movement system and doesn't consider that it's incredibly cumbersome to make precise actions which are required for multiple puzzles that get super annoying. There's also many places where they strip half your moves and expect you to hobble into solving some puzzles. There's also tons of minor annoyances like how much time it takes to pet your eagle, having to aim at every single talisman all the time (which probably single handedly used up the lifetime of my RT switch), the massive environments that don't really have much going for them, how time slows when you use detective vision, the completely unnecessary stealth sections and so on. The puzzles also really aren't particularly challenging or complex. One boss battle in particular is also incredibly irritating to get through and requires that you know that you don't always have to fill the arrow bar to shoot and hit the target. The story is also nothing to write home about and is bog standard, tropey, hero's journey through and through.

That said, it's a beautiful, well scored and fairly engaging open world puzzle platformer that's mostly pretty good. None of my complaints are offensively bad and I was invested enough to keep going. If you're just looking for a relatively short, open world, checklist type adventure game then this might be for you

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 !

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.

The Pathless captivated me with its fluid and dynamic movement mechanics, which were the highlight of my experience. However the game's world often felt empty and the repetitive gameplay diminished my overall enjoyment. The storyline failed to engage me, lacking the depth to keep me invested. Despite these issues, the final boss encounter was a standout moment that I thoroughly enjoyed. I suspect my playtime extended over a month which I think most likely detracted from the game's potential for me, as it's probably best enjoyed in a shorter and more concentrated timeframe. I'd like to revisit The Pathless someday under better circumstances to fully appreciate its strengths.

Les mouvements sont le gros point fort du jeu avec une grande fluidité qui augmente au fil de la progression. Les affrontements sont magnifiquement animés et offre un vrai sentiment d'épique. Contrairement à Abzu les environnements sont peu variés ce qui renforce le sentiment de répétitivité dût à une boucle de gameplay qui n'évolue pas, heureusement le jeux ne s'éternise pas et sa durée permet d'apprécier le travail fourni dans la construction du monde, les mouvements du personnages et les affrontements avant que le gameplay minimaliste devienne lassant. Les bonus optionnel sont corrects et aident à fluidifier encore plus les mouvements du personnage. En revanche certaine aurait je pense dût être inclue dans les compétence de base du personnage, notamment le remplissage automatique de la jauge de stamina lorsqu'on marche car se retrouver sans stamina dans une zone où l'on na pas accès à une cible nous force à marcher très lentement et ça peut rendre de petite sections très pénible sans raison. De manière générale une bonne expérience mais pas meilleur qu'Abzu selon moi car visuellement beaucoup moins intéressant.

6/10

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!

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.

Take a little Breath of the Wild, a little Shadow of the Colossus, a little Journey, and a little Sonic the Hedgehog, and you get The Pathless! The resulting gameplay is an interesting mix that I'd never experienced before and likely never will again. This game's art direction is gorgeous, and it's soundtrack is unique and intriguing. The game can feel very relaxing most of the time while solving the satisfying puzzles sprinkled throughout the world or while traversing the landscape, and very intense during the well-done boss battle sequences. The game can be repetitive, as every plateau follows the exact same formula and you definitely always know what to expect. The sequences where you're sucked into the red glowing dome and need to sneak back to your eagle can get annoying fast as well. I'd say overall this is a very solid 7/10 gaming experience and I'm glad to have played through it.

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