![]() Dashing across fields like this is immensely satisfying. ![]() This gameplay mechanic is made even better by the fact that the Hunter is joined in the journey by an eagle which grants the ability to jump higher and further and even to glide. Paired with the DualSense’s haptic feedback, nothing else that The Pathless throws at you ever feels as good as dashing across lush fields of grass at high speeds: traversal in general is truly the game at its best. This combination of shooting targets and sprinting about makes for an exhilarating gameplay mechanic that is more reminiscent of rhythm games than anything else because the Hunter’s speed and momentum is greatly dependant by how and when you shoot talismans. You see, the world is littered with targets called ‘talismans’ which, when shot with the Hunter’s bow and arrow, slowly build up a sprint meter. I mentioned earlier that one of the penchants of Journey and ABZÛ is the fluid gameplay and The Pathless takes that idea and, well…runs with it. Instead, I was more impressed by how good it felt to be playing The Pathless. For example, it was a mere inconvenience that the enemies had me chart a different path rather than being something to make me play the game in a drastically different way. Functionally, nothing else about how I usually play open-world games is different here – it is just more inconvenient like this. This is disappointing because it means that the only changes to the open-world formula that The Pathless comes up with are aesthetic. Furthermore, the open-world towers made infamous by Ubisoft games are also present here. For example, the Hunter has access to what is basically Witcher Vision – and is as such able to see points of interest from a distance. This is partly because other elements of the game undermine the freedom that the designers are trying to grant players. And yes, on paper this sounds ingenious, but…the result is far from revolutionary. In addition, enemies would often track me down along the map, which often forced me to change directions. Speaking of carving your own path, The Pathless’s main gimmick is that it is an open-world game with no map and no HUD elements that show you the way. ![]() This all being said, I appreciate the overall themes that the story is concerned with: the connection that we all have to nature and the importance of individuals carving “their own path to truth or salvation”. The result of all of this is that the world of The Pathless feels incredibly empty. The worldbuilding, too, fails on a fundamental level: the parchments and the various notes spread across the vast landscapes are never interesting to seek out and then read. And whereas it is fine that the premise is rather simple and familiar (the game is choke-full of unfavourable Breath of the Wild comparisons ) the problem is that the story never gets any interesting – it is precisely what you would expect from a world torn by a conflict between good and evil. The main quest of the game, as such, is to track all of the beasts through the areas of the map that they respectively control, restore them to their usual selves and have them support you in preventing the Godslayer from bringing an end to the world. ![]() Meet the Hunter.Īs for the story, The Pathless has you play as the Hunter, an archer tasked with cleansing the corruption that has desecrated a gorgeous natural world ruled by The Tall Ones – creatures which were once gods of these lands but which have now been subjugated and cursed by the malevolent Godslayer. Austin Wintory’s rather subdued soundtrack accompanies the visuals to create a fairy-tale world which is both serene and menacing. It is truly a visual spectacle to traverse the game’s different plateaus and to notice how the trees shake, the rivers whirl and the snow crunches as you pass them by. The game boasts a gorgeous minimalist acrylic art design which is astonishing even in motion. The first thing that struck me about playing The Pathless was the presentation.
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