In 2016, indie studio Giant Squid released Abzu, a gorgeous game about a diver exploring the ocean. Abzu became somewhat of an indie darling at the time of its release, with particular praise given to its art style. Giant Squid’s most recent game, The Pathless, is similar to Abzu in that it, too, has eye-catching visuals, but this new game is much more ambitious, especially from a gameplay standpoint.
The Pathless sees players take on the role of the Hunter, a mysterious warrior who is trying to restore order to a land ravaged by a demonic curse. The Hunter is armed with nothing but her bow and before too long, an eagle companion that helps her better explore the game world. The Pathless‘ bow is key to the gameplay, as players not only use it to shoot switches and the game’s few enemies, but it also plays a big role in movement.
The Pathless uses a stamina meter that players can constantly refill by shooting talismans dotted around the map. If players are able to send their arrows flying at the right times, they can chain together a ton of shots that will let them build up maximum speed and practically (or in some cases, literally) fly to their destination. Some open-world games struggle with keeping the inevitable travel between point A and point B interesting, but The Pathless‘ unique movement system makes these usually-dull sections of gameplay pretty fun.
While its movement system is unique, The Pathless is otherwise clearly inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, with players exploring a large, mostly-destroyed open world, dotted with dilapidated buildings that are similar to BOTW‘s Shrines. These buildings contain puzzles that players can complete in exchange for helpful items, like XP to boost the number of times they can flap the eagle’s wins or collectibles they need to cleanse the towers and face the area’s boss.
The Pathless‘ puzzles never get too complicated, but many of them are still fun and rewarding to complete. Some puzzles require players to utilize the eagle’s ability to carry objects, whereas other puzzles are about pulling off creative trick shots to light torches. The Pathless‘ puzzles aren’t overwhelming and players don’t have to even complete all of them to reach the end of the game. The only downside is that there’s only a handful of puzzle types for players to encounter, which can get repetitive by the end.
Unfortunately, there’s a lot about The Pathless that’s repetitive, with some of the content or design choices coming across as padding to artificially extend the game’s playtime. One of the biggest examples of this is the stealth sequences, where periodically players are sucked into the boss’s red vortex and have to retrieve the Hunter’s eagle, all the while trying to avoid being caught. While the way the bosses move changes and some of the terrain is different, these sections more or less play out exactly the same each time, so they become an inconvenience keeping players from enjoying the better parts of the game rather than a fun challenge.
Hunting down the bosses is also the same each time. After players have successfully cleansed the three towers in an area, they have to head to the red vortex and chase down the boss. Each boss has eyes on the sides of its body that players need to hit with arrows, all the while avoiding fireballs and other hazards. There are slight variations depending on the boss, but it’s more the same than it is different, and like with the stealth sections, becomes a chore by the end of the game.
After players successfully hunt down a boss in The Pathless, the next step is to have a proper boss fight. Luckily, each boss fight in The Pathless is different from the rest, and they are genuinely fun. There’s no real “dying” in The Pathless and not much consequence to getting hit, but the boss battles are still intense and exciting thanks to how action-packed they are, especially when compared to the somewhat relaxing mood the rest of the game has. The Pathless‘ boss battles are a real highlight of the experience, so it’s a shame there’s only a handful of them to complete.
The Pathless is a short game, with most players able to complete it in about five hours if they only do what’s necessary to cleanse each tower and nothing else. However, those that play through The Pathless that way will miss out on a lot of content, as the game has plenty of optional puzzles to complete, upgrades to find, and even an extra ending for those that put in the effort. For completionists, The Pathless will provide more like 15 or so hours of playtime.
Unfortunately, The Pathless‘ open-world structure sometimes works against its endgame, making it less appealing to players who are trying to find everything and complete all of the puzzles. The Pathless doesn’t have a map or any kind of fast-travel options, and so players have to rely on their Spirit Vision to find points of interest. Equivalent to Batman: Arkham Asylum‘s Detective Vision, Spirit Vision washes out the gorgeous game world and restricts the Hunter’s speed, keeping them from enjoying two of the game’s greatest assets: its visuals and its fast movement system. The developers clearly did not want The Pathless to have a traditional map, but it seems like it would have been the better option.
While Spirit Vision is hard on the eyes, The Pathless otherwise looks fantastic. It’s not chasing the hyper-detailed textures of other PS5 launch titles like Demon’s Souls or Godfall, but it runs incredibly smooth, with a gorgeous art style that looks like a cross between cel-shaded graphics and a Disney animated movie. The player character zipping across the map at top speed without any kind of pop-in or draw distance problems is super impressive, and shows how games that aren’t necessarily trying to reach new graphical benchmarks can still leverage the power of next-generation technology with great results.
Besides looking great, The Pathless takes advantage of the PlayStation 5’s unique capabilities in other ways as well. The Pathless utilizes the DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers to replicate the feeling of pulling on a bowstring, and while it may not seem like a big deal, those that have experienced the PS5 controller know things like haptic feedback and adaptive triggers can make a world of difference. Playing The Pathless on PC or PS4 will still get players a decent open-world gaming experience, but anyone interested in the game would honestly be doing themselves a disservice if they play anything other than the PS5 version.
While it’s not without its flaws, The Pathless is still more fun than it is not, with impressive visuals, fun boss fights, relaxing puzzles, and an interesting movement system. It’s one of the better PS5 launch games, and it’s easy to see how a sequel could elevate the concept to the next level and become something special.
The Pathless is out now for PC, PS4, and PS5. Game Rant reviewed the game on PS5.
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