Review: The Path

[waggmd]

Thanks Susan for this review without it I most likely would have never heard of this game. This style of horror appeals to me more than the shock horror used in most games and movies today.

 

[Xaryn Mar]

I guess It says something about my mind that as soon as Susan said "not all wolves have fur and claws" And I saw the girl sitting down next to that dude, I just kinda stared at the screen for a moment wide eyed and said "Oh FFFFFFFFFFFFuuuuu..."

But then, I guess that's the whole point of the game.

Yep, that is exactly the point of it.
Whatever your own mind makes up is more scary than anything that can be shown. Old horror stories (Poe and Lovecraft to a degree) uses this to great effect and now at long last a computer game as well.

EDIT: Yes, Thanks Susan. I would not have discovered this game if it wasn't for this review.

 

[Skeleon]

Hmm, this sounds very interesting. Especially considering how dark the old tales really were before Disney got their hands on them. ;-)

 

[Xaryn Mar]

yes, they were not fun or light stories. They were educational stories in the sense that they told children what not to do and that it was dangerous to not obey.
Most of the old "fairy"tales has a lot of death and violence in them, most are actually horror stories.
Read the original Little Mermaid and compare it to Disneys version to se what I mean (and that is a new fairytale, Little Red Ridinghood is much old as is most of the stories collected by the brothers Grimm).

 

[Satki]

Bought it based off this review, only played for about 10 minutes but I think its great so far, very atmospheric, reminds me a bit of Yahtzee's "trilby's notes" game if anyones played that.

 

[teknoarcanist]

It seems like there's this whole movement going on in the indie development scene, centered on using minimalist design (ie Braid = basic platforming) to comment on the form.
Or is that just me?

 

[Doug]

Hmm...not sure what to make of this game. Personally, I think the game is getting off a poor control set and the lack of a map because its an art game. Ok, it has a map that pops up every hundred metres or so. But its barely up for a second before it vanishes again. I found an area I was looking for, noticed a collectable out of the area a few metres, before trying to return. The return took me an hour before I found it again.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Then I'm afraid I won't be playing this game as that is something so repulsive to me that it would drive me off fullstop. Even if there is a UK retailer.

The original Red Riding Hood is far worse.

And there's no real graphics, just an implication.

If you've had fun and really don't want to meet the wolf, you don't have to. A lot of people won't want to finish it "properly", and there's nothing lost from just living the memories and going to grannys. Some might say you even gain from it.

 

[Incredible Bullshitting Man]

Hmm...not sure what to make of this game. Personally, I think the game is getting off a poor control set and the lack of a map because its an art game. Ok, it has a map that pops up every hundred metres or so. But its barely up for a second before it vanishes again. I found an area I was looking for, noticed a collectable out of the area a few metres, before trying to return. The return took me an hour before I found it again.

Being an "art game" hardly is an excuse. Rather, it should pose a different standard of critique. Elements like controls and map (first thing you do, when you embark on a journey without aim, you burn the map, right) seem to be more like a necessary evil in an art game than a core part of the gameplay, thus developers tend to disregard them, or at least give them very little attention.

I´m not saying you´re wrong or mistaken, heaven forbid. I was just wondering, how evaluating an art game differs (or should differ) from evaluating, for example, a mainstream game. Since art games usually aren´t focused on controls or even graphics, should these things be overlooked in a review? Or are said elements so essential, that a video game isn´t a game, if it doesn´t have proper controls and graphics? If I understood correctly, The Path kinda questions the traditional concept of video game. How do you then criticize it?

 

[Doug]

Hmm...not sure what to make of this game. Personally, I think the game is getting off a poor control set and the lack of a map because its an art game. Ok, it has a map that pops up every hundred metres or so. But its barely up for a second before it vanishes again. I found an area I was looking for, noticed a collectable out of the area a few metres, before trying to return. The return took me an hour before I found it again.

Being an "art game" hardly is an excuse. Rather, it should pose a different standard of critique. Elements like controls and map seem to be more like a necessary evil in an art game than a core part of gameplay, thus developers tend to disregard them, or at least give them very little attention.

I´m not saying you´re wrong or mistaken, heaven forbid. I was just wondering, how evaluating an art game differs (or should differ) from evaluating, for example, a mainstream game. Since art games usually aren´t focused on controls or even graphics, should these things be overlooked in a review? Or are said elements so essential, that a video game isn´t a game, if it doesn´t have proper controls and graphics? If I understood correctly, The Path kinda questions the traditional concept of video game. How do you then criticize it?

True, but I work from the point of view that if a game is sacrificing fun for artistic merits, something is wrong with the game. To be honest, if they just made the map a tad bolder and keep it on screen for a few seconds more, it'd work nicely.

As for the controls, there is no excuse for the character getting stuck on world geometry.

To be honest, there is good stuff here, but it doesn't really 'grip' me to be honest, and I don't really want to discuss the stuff on their forums as they seem eager to link everything to the worse, most unpleasant possible interpretations they can. In a normal game, the geometry thing and the map thing probably wouldn't bother me as much, but in a normal game there are many of other elements that distract or compensate for the lack I perceive.

 

[lacktheknack]

So, uh... what platform is this game for?

PC exclusive, all hail the master race.

 

[Doug]

So, uh... what platform is this game for?

PC exclusive, all hail the master race.

Indeed, those dirty unwashed console playing peasants .

 

[Incredible Bullshitting Man]

True, but I work from the point of view that if a game is sacrificing fun for artistic merits, something is wrong with the game. To be honest, if they just made the map a tad bolder and keep it on screen for a few seconds more, it'd work nicely.

As for the controls, there is no excuse for the character getting stuck on world geometry.

To be honest, there is good stuff here, but it doesn't really 'grip' me to be honest, and I don't really want to discuss the stuff on their forums as they seem eager to link everything to the worse, most unpleasant possible interpretations they can. In a normal game, the geometry thing and the map thing probably wouldn't bother me as much, but in a normal game there are many of other elements that distract or compensate for the lack I perceive.

Yeah, it´s true that getting stuck on world geometry really is a crippling flaw, but the question is, can the core audience tolerate it, if the game otherwise manages to offer them a decent "artistic" gaming experience. Again, I personally don´t know, how bad a flaw it is. Secondly, whether or not the blood of fun has been shed for the sake of artistic merits, is a matter of opinion, I presume. Apparently many have enjoyed playing The Path, so it´s not completely void of fun. Well, at least not to everyone. Anyway, if the game doesn´t grip you like it does the other guy, that´s fine. I have no objection, to anything, ever.

 

[Doug]

True, but I work from the point of view that if a game is sacrificing fun for artistic merits, something is wrong with the game. To be honest, if they just made the map a tad bolder and keep it on screen for a few seconds more, it'd work nicely.

As for the controls, there is no excuse for the character getting stuck on world geometry.

To be honest, there is good stuff here, but it doesn't really 'grip' me to be honest, and I don't really want to discuss the stuff on their forums as they seem eager to link everything to the worse, most unpleasant possible interpretations they can. In a normal game, the geometry thing and the map thing probably wouldn't bother me as much, but in a normal game there are many of other elements that distract or compensate for the lack I perceive.

Yeah, it´s true that getting stuck on world geometry really is a crippling flaw, but the question is, can the core audience tolerate it, if the game otherwise manages to offer them a decent "artistic" gaming experience. Again, I personally don´t know, how bad a flaw it is. Secondly, whether or not the blood of fun has been shed for the sake of artistic merits, is a matter of opinion, I presume. Apparently many have enjoyed playing The Path, so it´s not completely void of fun. Well, at least not to everyone. Anyway, if the game doesn´t grip you like it does the other guy, that´s fine. I have no objection, to anything, ever.

Oh, I wasn't implying anything was other than my own personal opinion - I just hate getting lost and wondering around the forest without sign of anything interesting for an hour or so. Also...well, the plot just has me confused at the moment. Maybe it'll all make sense at the end, although apparently according to the 'scoring system' I've missed quite a few things already.

 

[Incredible Bullshitting Man]

Don´t worry; I read the "I work from the point of view" part. Oh, and I rather enjoy wandering around without purpose, so we both work from quite different points of view. That is fine, too.

EDIT: Well, the quote wasn´t really needed.

 

[sorry user name taken.]

Hmmm, this game looks very, very interesting - I'll have to check it out sometime. I love artsy, experimental stuff like this ^__^

i have to say its great that people are still making clever and atmospheric games like this.I don't play many PC games but i will too be looking out for this....Hope it comes to the UK =[

 

[Disembodied_Dave]

I just played the first chapter. It was really interesting. I just happened to wander upon the wolf while just exploring the forest (and trying to go the opposite direction the girl in white was going). I'm really like it so far though.

It seems to be one of those games/stories where you have to play it over and over again to really figure out what's going on.

 

[Susan Arendt]

True, but I work from the point of view that if a game is sacrificing fun for artistic merits, something is wrong with the game. To be honest, if they just made the map a tad bolder and keep it on screen for a few seconds more, it'd work nicely.

As for the controls, there is no excuse for the character getting stuck on world geometry.

To be honest, there is good stuff here, but it doesn't really 'grip' me to be honest, and I don't really want to discuss the stuff on their forums as they seem eager to link everything to the worse, most unpleasant possible interpretations they can. In a normal game, the geometry thing and the map thing probably wouldn't bother me as much, but in a normal game there are many of other elements that distract or compensate for the lack I perceive.

Yeah, it´s true that getting stuck on world geometry really is a crippling flaw, but the question is, can the core audience tolerate it, if the game otherwise manages to offer them a decent "artistic" gaming experience. Again, I personally don´t know, how bad a flaw it is. Secondly, whether or not the blood of fun has been shed for the sake of artistic merits, is a matter of opinion, I presume. Apparently many have enjoyed playing The Path, so it´s not completely void of fun. Well, at least not to everyone. Anyway, if the game doesn´t grip you like it does the other guy, that´s fine. I have no objection, to anything, ever.

Oh, I wasn't implying anything was other than my own personal opinion - I just hate getting lost and wondering around the forest without sign of anything interesting for an hour or so. Also...well, the plot just has me confused at the moment. Maybe it'll all make sense at the end, although apparently according to the 'scoring system' I've missed quite a few things already.

There is a solution, but this is a fairly big spoiler, so read at your own peril.

Watch the border around your screen. The more times you visit grandma's house, the more detailed clues the border will provide. Sometimes it'll be a picture of what's nearby, other times, just a swirl that'll indicate there's something in that direction. Just a few trips to grandma's, either directly via the path or otherwise, will help you a great deal in finding your way.

 

[Doug]

Hmmm, this game looks very, very interesting - I'll have to check it out sometime. I love artsy, experimental stuff like this ^__^

i have to say its great that people are still making clever and atmospheric games like this.I don't play many PC games but i will too be looking out for this....Hope it comes to the UK =[

Available on Steam, in the UK.

 

[sorry user name taken.]

Hmmm, this game looks very, very interesting - I'll have to check it out sometime. I love artsy, experimental stuff like this ^__^

i have to say its great that people are still making clever and atmospheric games like this.I don't play many PC games but i will too be looking out for this....Hope it comes to the UK =[

Available on Steam, in the UK.

i think its time to get steam back >]