Review: The Path

[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.

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.

I won't call that a spoiler myself, to be honest.

Anyway...

Spoiler

I wouldn't call that a solution, given the locations it gives are random and often not what I was looking for. Further, they only ever have 1 or 2 locations listed and once I saw 3.

Spoiler: BIG SPOILER

On the girl in white 'epilogue' I saw the locations were then listed but by that point I just didn't want to goto those damn locations again for the 100th time.

For instance, I was looking for the spider web thing at one point - I'd been there before, and knew it was somewhere in the top right of the map. But when I went looking for it, I was always going back and forth between to other locations because of the lack of a minimap command, or compass, or something other than an occasional glimpse of a map. I eventually looked at a forum today, and found out the random white blurs at the edges of the screen were where the girl in white was, but frankly she's no help. She never takes you to the locations you're after, and often brings you too the wolf too soon. Frankly, I feel the game is abit broken, as any game that forces the player to be in a constant state of confusion about where they even are in a clearly limited environment isn't doing its job properly.

Maybe its because of the 'training' most games force on you; that odd behaviour == a bug or flaw, that makes me not draw these connections, but to be honest I feel as if the confused wondering in an attempt to pad out the game. For example, after about the 5th girl I was told 'you've found the flower field', which deeply annoyed me as I'd found that location on the first girl, and hence felt like the game was rewarding me for grinding out exploration of the same stuff over and over, rather than just exploring.1

 

[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.

i think its time to get steam back >]

Well, its only £7, although I felt disappointed with the game myself.

 

[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 >]

Well, its only £7, although I felt disappointed with the game myself.

not your type of though

 

[Samurai Goomba]

I'm definitely interested. I loved the plot of Shadow of the Colossus, and I like the idea of horror that implies rather than chainsaws your face off (for the bazillionth time). Assuming I own the system this game is on, I'll probably get it.

Also, this game reminds me A LOT of Jin-Roh: Wolf Brigade. To this day, certain scenes in Jin-Roh affect me emotionally (scare, terrify, shock me) like very few movie moments do. Well, and there is the whole Little Red Riding Hood theme played up for horror in both that movie and this game, apparently. You know, the original version of that story was pretty scary and violent.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Most of the original fairy tales are hideously brutal. Snow White is about necrophilia, Sleeping Beauty is about rape, Cinderella is about mutilation; AFAICR, Red Riding Hood has all those and cannibalism.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Let's face it, it all depends on what is implied...

 

[Kirosilence]

It's games like this that make me love the indie game market so much..

It gave me a wicked case of the heebie jeebies, and as much as I wanted to at times, I couldn't put it down.

 

[Aptspire]

I think I might buy it

 

[Random Argument Man]

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

PC and with a port to Mac OS X coming shortly.

Cool beans. Kind of figured since there was the scene with the controls displayed in the video, but figured I'd ask since I thought I saw a Playstation-esque controller there, too.

Nice, I'll be able to play this baby.

 

[Ophiuchus]

I'm not usually a fan of horror games, but this really intrigues me and I'm not sure why. Considering the price tag, it'd be silly not to give it a go...

 

[The_Prophet]

Played it, loved it, got creeped out.

 

[Slug Nut]

When I got to the end of the video supplement review, I was just "..." and had my mouth gaping open. I don't know if I got the balls to play this, but at the same time I want to support this brand of gaming. ARG! So creepy, and yet so powerful to make me feel this way just from brief footage of the game!

 

[theSchlub]

I'm with you, slug nut. I've been wanting to get into horror games for a while. I had a good run with RE4, but at the same time this looks like it's something that might keep me up for a week straight with the heebie-jeebies. The game looks so spooky and creepy and the undertones are downright unsettling, but something inside of me keeps telling me to get this game, that I'll grow a little for it. I dunno... from what I understand, in this game "wolf" doesn't mean the creature with fangs and fur and claws, so much as a sexual predator. =(

...CREEPY!

 

[neoman10]

downloading from Steam, better be worth it

 

[sarahvait]

After playing and finishing the game, I don't know if I'd call it a horror game, more of a "unnerving" or "creepy" game. It certainly is interesting, if not incredibly SLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW experience, and those singing snippets are stuck in my head. I did manage to collect all the items and all the flowers, whoo! ARGH, but the ending is driving me crazy! I know all this "it's a blank slate game" and "You're supposed to take it as you will", but dang it, I feel like I need more to go on!

Spoiler

Like are the all girls maybe not real, but symbolic for something? Was the girl in white the wolf all along? What is Grandma's place in all this? I find it funny that the most literal version of Little Red Riding Hood (Robin, the youngest) had the wolf that freaked me out the longest. I'm just edging around that graveyard thinking, "Oh crap, it's looking at me. Don't come over here!"

So confusing... Can't say if I liked the game or not. I suppose I did, since I'm still intrigued by the whole premise. I must not be artsy or smart enough to get everything.

 

[xitel]

So, much as I hate to necro a thread, I figure it's not that long ago, and this is extremely relevant.

http://tale-of-tales.com/blog/2009/06/07/the-path-prologue-a-new-chapter-free/

Tale of Tales, the people that made The Path, have released a demo version that isn't just a snippet of the game. It's a separate chapter altogether, so that people who already own The Path can experience it as well. I know this sounds like advertising, but I really do support this game because of the contributions it's made to the idea of games as an art form, and now that they've made a demo version for people to try, I'm hoping to spread the awareness of it even more.

 

[Fearzone]

I bought the game based on this review.

The sound track is unbearable. Unless there is an option to turn of the music, I cannot play this game.

-$10.

 

[Keswick Gallagher]

I saw the video and Got INTENSELY interested it sounds like Every thing I think a Horror game should be and Reminds me of an old style game (I'm not some one who highly enjoys good graphics)

as soon as I have 10 dollars to spare I'm purchasing this game

 

[slaithe]

Got it as part of a Steam weekend deal package.

I enjoy THINKING about The Path.
I'm not so sure I enjoy actually PLAYING it.

My further thoughts in a Steam forums post.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=934267