The Pathless (PC/PS4, 2019)

[Ganepark32]

Another of last night's announcements from the Game Awards. It's by Giant Squid, who made the brilliant Abzu and who were founded by the original art director from thatgamecompany who worked on Journey. It's coming to PS4 and PC, through the Epic Game Store, next year. No word on an Xbox One release but given that Abzu made the jump, it'll probably happen somewhere down the way.

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The Pathless is the mythic adventure of an archer and an eagle in a vast forest. Become the Hunter, a master of archery who travels to a mystical island to dispel a curse of darkness that grips the world. Forge a connection with your eagle companion as you hunt corrupted spirits, but be careful to not become the hunted yourself. Explore misty forests full of secrets, solve puzzles in ancient ruins, and test your skill in epic battles. The bond with your eagle and the fate of the world hang in the balance.

The game looks beautiful. They've really made that art style they brought with Abzu pop that bit more. Looks as though it'll be slightly Zelda-esque in its gameplay, or at least that's the vibes that it's giving off to me.

I really enjoyed Abzu and this looks like they're taking a big step for their next game so I'm looking forward to seeing more next year.

[Map]

This got lost in the announcements but is coming to PS5 as well now with enhancements.

https://blog.playstation.com/2020/06/11/the-pathless-is-coming-to-ps5/

 

[Ganepark32]

Reviews are starting to hit for this, plenty of 8s which is where I'dhoped this would fall. Sounds like its turned out well so for those looking for something cheaper at launch that has quality, this might be worth a look.

I'm very excited to play it next week when my PS5 comes. This and AC Valhalla are currently my two launch games (Astro's Playroom too but that's pre-loaded) and I'm chomping at the bit to dig into both. This next week is going to be agony waiting for the console to get here, even with new Destiny content and a bunch of other stuff I have to play courtesy of Gamepass on my Xbox One.

[Ganepark32]

So I finished this up yesterday and I absolutely loved it. Its probably the game I've enjoyed the most on the PS5 so far.

I loved the movement mechanics in the game and how once they click, movement around the island and the different regions becomes fun and exhilarating. I never quite got the timing down for the half pull shots on talismans but that never stopped me racing through regions at speed, outrunning the storms and, even in lighter moments, running with deer and rabbits and wolves running along side.

The game itself plays so well beyond the movement. The premise of going around the regions, using your Eagle vision to spot cursed areas on the map and collect talismans to cleanse towers before a showdown with the regions cursed god was simple on paper but I found it a joy to play and explore in a way that I grew tired of with BotW. The freedom to just go anywhere,  aided by your Eagle for flying and to reach new areas alongside the archery mechanics for movement made exploring so much fun.

While the game is light on story up front, the world is full of lore to find that adds so much backstory to who the Godslayer is, who the Tall Ones/God's are and what happened to the people of the land. A lot of this is found naturally through exploration through stone tablets or from spirits of the dead and it really does enrich the world.

There's puzzles everywhere in the game, from simple things like following a path of stones, shooting arrows at bells to follow a tune, movement challenges of slingshotting across gaps without touching the floor using only your arrow to more complex puzzles requiring you to shot through hooped targets to unlock talismans, lighting braziers with your arrows using reflective shots on mirrors to having to use your Eagle to manipulate targets themselves and line them up for quick shots.

Nothing is ever taxing in complexity but the simple ways that the archery mechanics are baked into the majority of puzzles on top of more simple ideas outside of cursed areas makes exploring for progression a lot of fun.

The boss battles are fantastic set pieces that really stand out. They all start in the same way with a chase sequence through the regions, chasing down the fleeing cursed god and shooting eyes on their sides before ending up in an arena style battle that wouldn't be out if place in a Zelda game. The whole sequence for each feels very cinematic and even some of the boss battles pull away from having you dodge attacks to shoot weak points to being stealth sections through ruins while the boss is literally breathing fire down your neck. Genuinely great moments the 5 boss battles that are here.

Of course the game is both visually beautiful and the soundtrack is incredible, with the latter really taking some cues from The Witcher on terms of instrumentation and vocal usage throughout. Giant Squid already showed they could do an aesthetically pleasing game with Abzu but this trumps that game on that front by a long way.

It all really came together as just a fantastic experience that doesn't outstay its welcome and just feels like a genuinely great game. There isn't much use of the Dualsense (there's some slight tension in the trigger for some arrow shots but not all) but even the omission of major usage of those features, the game is still fantastic.

Besides Astro's Playroom, this is the hidden gem of the PS5 launch and so deserves to do well for both Giant Squid and Annapurna (the latter has had a fantastic slate of titles this year publishing wise and looks to continue that next year). I hope more people give the game a chance because its fantastic and its only £29.99 so a good sized mid range title (took me somewhere between 10 and 11 hours to finish) and its shot up there as one of my favourite games of the year.

Got 3 trophies left for the platinum so will have to jump back in to grab them but I'll genuinely be sad to see an end to this game and its world.

Tl;dr: The Pathless is fantastic, everyone should play it, birb is cute.