The Path is a “horror adventure” game by developer Tale of Tales that acts as a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in modern times. With absolutely no combat and a plethora of exploration this game definitely caries the indie torch. But while there’s a lot to be admired about The Path, it occasionally sink into old video game cliches.
I’ve been looking forward to this game’s release for a little while now, but I can’t whole-heartedly say that it’s completely met my expectations. This is mostly because The Path is trying harder than previous Tale of Tales entries to be like all the other games. Item collection and a grade at the end for “how well you did” are typical cliches in the video gaming world, and definitely two of my least favorite. While trying to gain a larger audience the developers of The Path have sunk to this level from their non-traditional origins.
I don’t use this lightly, because it’s a dirty word that should almost never be uttered, but The Path is (cover your children’s ears) pretentious. The first sign is the game’s main objective “Don’t wander from the path.” Well, you have to wander from the path or else you “fail.” Because of that dumb grading system the only way you can actually “succeed” is by frolicking off into the wilderness, meeting a stranger, letting your little girl get raped, and then shuffling to granny’s pad a dramatized wreck. The aforementioned pretension comes from The Path’s attempt to send out some sort of message about “forging your own path” or “making your own rules,” but I’m not sure that’s really what it’s about, because if I get raped in the end I’d be happier not wandering too far off. The letter grade at the end of a play through is a tell-tail sign of generic, unoriginal thinking. To put it another way, The Path tries hard to be smarter than it actually is.
A slow moving gameplay should alienate all but the most patient players, but there’s nothing wrong with patience. The incredibly slow pace of the little girls can be exchanged for running while the camera shifts to an awkward overhead view, so the game really does want player’s to take things slow. The environment is dark and mysterious, and fairly interesting to explore. Music is creepy, making one dread every step they take away from grandma’s house. So exploring the scary woods has just the right atmosphere to keep the player looking around nervously, while still intrigued.
The two biggest highlights of The Path are grandma’s house and the “wolves.” The wolves are the people you’ll run into out in the forest, and at least every time I’ve met one it ended badly. They’re intriguing, scary, and sometimes a little bit too creepy (i.e. don’t take cigarettes from that nice, handsome boy). That stupid grade at the end of the game asi
de, the fun really does come from frolicking off into the wilderness, meeting a stranger, letting your little girl get raped and then shuffling to granny’s pad a dramatized wreck. Then inside of grandma’s house the camera moves to first person and no matter what you press you’ll keep going forward. This gives a fantastic feeling of helplessness. And whatever fate you meet decides what grandma’s house will look like on the inside, and sometimes where you’ll go inside the house.
While The Path is an interesting concept and a unique play, it feels like Tale of Tales’ sell-out game. So hopefully their next release will be a first person shooter with bullet time (OH BOY!). But, even with all it’s weaknesses The Path is a lot more compelling than 90% of what’s out there.
Ten dollars on Steam is all it takes to get a copy of this game, and I think whether it’s worth buying is largely up to the kind of person you are. If you love video games as a potential art form and have a lot of patience, I’m going to most certainly recommend it. If you are the kind of person that just wants to have fun blasting the heads of baddies, please oh please do not buy.
A Final Thought: I would like to see more games trying to be daring and different, instead of seeing a company known for being daring and different trying to make something more like all the other games.
Oh, and Final Final Thought: You don’t always get raped. Just sometimes…
