Review: The Path [PC]
josh, 30-May-09 » The Path Review, by Josh
What if I told you there was a game out there that was only fun if you broke the rules? You’d probably tell me something along the lines of there are a lot of games like that. What if I told you the actual intent of the designers was for you to break those rules? Sounds a bit more interesting doesn’t it? We’re sitting squarely in the middle of the “Games as Art” debate with The Path, a game from independent developers Tale of Tales. They’re an indie developer from Belgium (yes the place with the good chocolate) and developed The Path as a foray into the horror genre of gaming. To be honest though, your definition of horror games and Tale of Tale’s definition are very different. The Path isn’t a “survival” horror game. It’s not going to force you to fight giant monsters ala Resident Evil, nor is it going to make things jump out at you like Silent Hill, but instead it’s going to chew away at your nerves with little things.
The Game's characters are full of detail and the screen is constantly filled with information, even if you can't see it yet.
The gameplay is pretty basic. The whole game is based off of the old versions of Little Red Riding Hood (think Brothers Grimm, not Disney) and as such puts you in control of six sisters. A clever nod to the Little Red Riding hood analogy is that every one of the sisters’ names is a type of red... Scarlet, Ruby, Ginger, etc. (I thought it was clever at least.) There are only two speeds that your character can move; walking, which is how the developers intended and will produce the most bang for your buck, or alternately you can run, which only works for a certain amount of time because the camera shifts to an overhead view when you start running, so you’ll end up spending a lot of time running, then stopping to look around, maybe walking in a direction to check something out, but ultimately you’ll be forced into doing a lot of back and forth between the two.
As for the actual playing, you must select one of the sisters to play as. Don’t worry; you’ll end up playing through all 6 if you want to see the proper ending. When you are first given control of the girl, you’ll be told to visit grandmother’s house and to stay on the path. Honestly? When have you ever followed the instructions the game has given you? Conceivably you could just go visit grandmother, all you would have to do is continue running forward on the path till you reach the house, at which point you will walk through grandmother’s house and then sit down on the bed next to her. However, despite being told that’s what you’re supposed to do, you will be greeted with a pleasant notice saying you lose. Wha?! I followed the instructions! I thought that’s what you were supposed to do?! Like I said... why would you follow the instructions when its so much more interesting not to.
You see, the real purpose of the game and the reason why it fits within the games as art argument is because this is a game that you experience. It’s an active painting that leaves you feeling a bit unsettled. You can stay on the path and complete the game, but to really complete the game you need to explore the dark of the woods and wander around the forbidden areas. Exploration off the path is what you’ll spend most of your time doing in “The Path” (ironically), and no matter how long you play, there will always be something new to find. Each of the girls has a set of memories you can unlock by finding certain objects, and this will change how you experience grandmother’s house at the end of each of the six experiences.
Each character has their own unique interaction with the environmental objects.
The Wood’s inhabitants are few and far between, with the only two you’ll come across being the mysterious girl in white and the deadly wolf (again... you can’t have a Little Red Riding Hood game without a wolf). The girl in white will help you out in little ways, but her main purpose is undisclosed. You’re never told why she’s there or why she’s running around (she’s constantly moving), but if you follow her around a bit she might lead you to items of interest or lend a helping hand getting back to the path (interestingly this is the only to actually get back to the path is with the help of the girl in white. The Wolf on the other hand is a stationary force of pure evil. He will only interact with you if you initiate the event. The interaction takes the form of a sort of quicktime event. You have to direct your girl to certain actions which aren’t always obvious, but fortunately the AI helps you out if you are at least in the proper area of the event. I’m not gonna tell you about the form the wolf takes, but I will say that it appears differently for each of the six girls.
The music and ambiance of the game is the one that will really mess with you. Not only is it suitably haunting, which leaves you feeling a bit unsettled like something is out there watching you (guess what you’re right!), but the sound effects that are playing, while random, always seem to be happening right when your nerves are frayed from the music. A footstep can be heard from behind you, and yet when you turn around there wont be anything there, The audio cues for the girl in white as well as the wolf also help to keep you unsettled. When you start the interaction with the girl in white, there’s this sortof melancholic singing going on in the background, however when dealing with the wolf, the music changes just enough to give you a sense of dread. It’s very effective and is one of the most effective parts of the game to creep you out.
The Visuals also deserve a nod. The character models are all excellent (you’ll be seeing a lot of the back of these girls, so it might as well look good? I know... sexism... bad me...) and you’ll get a real sense of the person from their apparel and the way they interact with the objects you find. The entire game is viewed through a film grain type filter, creating the impression you’re viewing an old movie on a tv (the corners of the screen are rounded off so you’re looking at an old tv screen as opposed to the sharp corners of your monitor. The screen gives you subtle hints as to where to go next, you just have to be on the lookout for it (there is a map, but it shows up very rarely based on how far you’ve walked/ran and stays up only for a second or two before disappearing again.
The visual style of the game is dark and surreal, as seen from this image of the inside of grandmothers house after the wolf encounter.
The ultimate goal of this game is exploration, and as such doesn’t have a winning conditions in the traditional sense. There is a way to “complete” the game, but that ultimately comes secondary to the exploratory nature and the unique experience of playing through each of the six girls. I heartily recommend this game to anyone who thinks the games as art debate is overinflated, because after playing through this one I can tell you that certain games do in fact deserve the title of Art. If you’re looking for a good game less than $10 and you don’t mind spending time exploring (read: you’re not looking for a game you can beat, but rather a game you can experience) then it’s definitely worth it.
~Josh
You can purchase The Path through tale of tale’s website at: http://tale-of-tales.com/ThePath/index.html
Or if you have steam, you can purchase it through there at: http://store.steampowered.com/app/27000/
P.S. If you’ve got any suggestions for indie games or accessories you’d like to see reviewed, shoot me an email at Josh@netgameradio.com and I’ll see what I can do.
What if I told you there was a game out there that was only fun if you broke the rules? You’d probably tell me something along the lines of there are a lot of games like that. What if I told you the actual intent of the designers was for you to break those rules? Sounds a bit more interesting doesn’t it? We’re sitting squarely in the middle of the “Games as Art” debate with The Path, a game from independent developers Tale of Tales. They’re an indie developer from Belgium (yes the place with the good chocolate) and developed The Path as a foray into the horror genre of gaming. To be honest though, your definition of horror games and Tale of Tale’s definition are very different. The Path isn’t a “survival” horror game. It’s not going to force you to fight giant monsters ala Resident Evil, nor is it going to make things jump out at you like Silent Hill, but instead it’s going to chew away at your nerves with little things.
The Game's characters are full of detail and the screen is constantly filled with information, even if you can't see it yet.
The gameplay is pretty basic. The whole game is based off of the old versions of Little Red Riding Hood (think Brothers Grimm, not Disney) and as such puts you in control of six sisters. A clever nod to the Little Red Riding hood analogy is that every one of the sisters’ names is a type of red... Scarlet, Ruby, Ginger, etc. (I thought it was clever at least.) There are only two speeds that your character can move; walking, which is how the developers intended and will produce the most bang for your buck, or alternately you can run, which only works for a certain amount of time because the camera shifts to an overhead view when you start running, so you’ll end up spending a lot of time running, then stopping to look around, maybe walking in a direction to check something out, but ultimately you’ll be forced into doing a lot of back and forth between the two.
As for the actual playing, you must select one of the sisters to play as. Don’t worry; you’ll end up playing through all 6 if you want to see the proper ending. When you are first given control of the girl, you’ll be told to visit grandmother’s house and to stay on the path. Honestly? When have you ever followed the instructions the game has given you? Conceivably you could just go visit grandmother, all you would have to do is continue running forward on the path till you reach the house, at which point you will walk through grandmother’s house and then sit down on the bed next to her. However, despite being told that’s what you’re supposed to do, you will be greeted with a pleasant notice saying you lose. Wha?! I followed the instructions! I thought that’s what you were supposed to do?! Like I said... why would you follow the instructions when its so much more interesting not to.
You see, the real purpose of the game and the reason why it fits within the games as art argument is because this is a game that you experience. It’s an active painting that leaves you feeling a bit unsettled. You can stay on the path and complete the game, but to really complete the game you need to explore the dark of the woods and wander around the forbidden areas. Exploration off the path is what you’ll spend most of your time doing in “The Path” (ironically), and no matter how long you play, there will always be something new to find. Each of the girls has a set of memories you can unlock by finding certain objects, and this will change how you experience grandmother’s house at the end of each of the six experiences.
Each character has their own unique interaction with the environmental objects.
The Wood’s inhabitants are few and far between, with the only two you’ll come across being the mysterious girl in white and the deadly wolf (again... you can’t have a Little Red Riding Hood game without a wolf). The girl in white will help you out in little ways, but her main purpose is undisclosed. You’re never told why she’s there or why she’s running around (she’s constantly moving), but if you follow her around a bit she might lead you to items of interest or lend a helping hand getting back to the path (interestingly this is the only to actually get back to the path is with the help of the girl in white. The Wolf on the other hand is a stationary force of pure evil. He will only interact with you if you initiate the event. The interaction takes the form of a sort of quicktime event. You have to direct your girl to certain actions which aren’t always obvious, but fortunately the AI helps you out if you are at least in the proper area of the event. I’m not gonna tell you about the form the wolf takes, but I will say that it appears differently for each of the six girls.
The music and ambiance of the game is the one that will really mess with you. Not only is it suitably haunting, which leaves you feeling a bit unsettled like something is out there watching you (guess what you’re right!), but the sound effects that are playing, while random, always seem to be happening right when your nerves are frayed from the music. A footstep can be heard from behind you, and yet when you turn around there wont be anything there, The audio cues for the girl in white as well as the wolf also help to keep you unsettled. When you start the interaction with the girl in white, there’s this sortof melancholic singing going on in the background, however when dealing with the wolf, the music changes just enough to give you a sense of dread. It’s very effective and is one of the most effective parts of the game to creep you out.
The Visuals also deserve a nod. The character models are all excellent (you’ll be seeing a lot of the back of these girls, so it might as well look good? I know... sexism... bad me...) and you’ll get a real sense of the person from their apparel and the way they interact with the objects you find. The entire game is viewed through a film grain type filter, creating the impression you’re viewing an old movie on a tv (the corners of the screen are rounded off so you’re looking at an old tv screen as opposed to the sharp corners of your monitor. The screen gives you subtle hints as to where to go next, you just have to be on the lookout for it (there is a map, but it shows up very rarely based on how far you’ve walked/ran and stays up only for a second or two before disappearing again.
The visual style of the game is dark and surreal, as seen from this image of the inside of grandmothers house after the wolf encounter.
The ultimate goal of this game is exploration, and as such doesn’t have a winning conditions in the traditional sense. There is a way to “complete” the game, but that ultimately comes secondary to the exploratory nature and the unique experience of playing through each of the six girls. I heartily recommend this game to anyone who thinks the games as art debate is overinflated, because after playing through this one I can tell you that certain games do in fact deserve the title of Art. If you’re looking for a good game less than $10 and you don’t mind spending time exploring (read: you’re not looking for a game you can beat, but rather a game you can experience) then it’s definitely worth it.
~Josh
You can purchase The Path through tale of tale’s website at: http://tale-of-tales.com/ThePath/index.html
Or if you have steam, you can purchase it through there at: http://store.steampowered.com/app/27000/
P.S. If you’ve got any suggestions for indie games or accessories you’d like to see reviewed, shoot me an email at Josh@netgameradio.com and I’ll see what I can do.
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| Category: | Game Reviews |
| Posted: | 30-May-09 11:13:52 pm |
| Author: | josh |