[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.
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.
fucking amazing
Giant squids first real video game, has some glaring design issues but it nails the core gameplay. movement goes weeeeee
incredible movement, amazing adaptive soundtrack, stellar use of tension to make traversal choices feel more meaningful, and a cool open-world structure.
beautiful and very fluid gameplay, fun puzzles that don't get too convoluted and incredibly satisfying to master
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
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
This game is pretty fun. I like the gameplay and the music and art direction are great. However, I hate the part of the game where the monster can catch you while exploring. It just isn't fun. I had some fun with the story and thought it was interesting how it was told through a different language. It made it at points difficult to understand what happened at each moment but I liked the story overall.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 !
But overall, this game is an easy recommend for a chill nice weekend !
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.
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.
One of the best usages of movement I've seen in games.
The story was good, same with fluid gameplay and melodical soundtrack.
The only con was the predictable game core - played the first section? - you are very likely to know how the rest of the game develops.
The story was good, same with fluid gameplay and melodical soundtrack.
The only con was the predictable game core - played the first section? - you are very likely to know how the rest of the game develops.
Not what I thought it was gonna be and put it down after 2 hours of playing. No rating for this one.
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.
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.
It makes me sad that no one talks about this when they talk about games that cure their open world burnout. Played it once when it released on the PS4, played it again now on Steam. I actually raced for world first on the PS4 platinum trophy! I have very fond memories of this game on release, talking and enjoying it with all the other Giant Squid fans.
Both playthroughs were extremely worthwhile and enjoyable. Just wish I had waited long enough to forget all the puzzle solutions...
Both playthroughs were extremely worthwhile and enjoyable. Just wish I had waited long enough to forget all the puzzle solutions...
This game is magic like
Atmospheric , artistic ,fast gameplay with wonderful music
Indie games can be dream like when they mix art with gameplay boss fights were amazing kinda repetitive but still enjoyable in this short game
Atmospheric , artistic ,fast gameplay with wonderful music
Indie games can be dream like when they mix art with gameplay boss fights were amazing kinda repetitive but still enjoyable in this short game
An early Apple Arcade game and feels like it was tailor made for mobile as it’s slight and immaterial.
Stunning!
Increíble juego con movimientos fluido, espectacularidad por todos los poros y un musicón importante. Nada malo que decir del título excepto una cosa. La primera hora o más bien la primera media hora es bastante mala, estuve a punto de dropear el juego y me habría perdido una obra así. Aguantad el tipo, que luego se viene lo bueno. Para aquellos que duden es una mezcla entre Shadow of the Colossus, Breath of the Wild y Journey. Si eso no os convence...
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!
neironicno hidden gem
Very enjoyable game due to the movement feeling so fluid. Similar feels to Abzu but more 'gamey' and challenging, highly recommend!
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!
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!
I loved Abzu so definitely want to finish this one at some point. Loved petting the bird.
This review contains spoilers
My favorite 3D open world adventure game where you have to conquer 4 god-like creatures that preside over 4 areas in which you have to conquer smaller puzzles in order to reach the boss encounter, those bosses being cursed by a god killing antagonist (who's identifying color is a very saturated red) whom you defeat with a bow made from light in a climactic, very spectacle oriented final boss sequence where said boss takes a massive form that fills your screen.
wait this isn't breath of the wild
wait this isn't breath of the wild
Really enjoyed this. Once you get the controls down the movement flows really nicely. The plot is pretty forgettable, but I remember enjoying it at the time. Definitely my favourite when compared to Journey and Abzu.
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.
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 and visually stunning but doesn't have much staying power
This was the first game I completed almost entirely on my new OLED Steam Deck; turns out its use of colors and darkness in its visuals ended up making it a very good "control" game. The bow-boost mechanic never really got old, either, and I appreciate the lack of an actual fail state.