Beautiful, profound game

[ep23]

I just wanted to say that this is easily one of the best games I've ever played. And it's kind of spoiled me, because now I want other games to be like this. And there aren't very many that are. It's just a powerful experience that's really gotten into my head. I think I'm going to start a second time through it soon. Also, I don't know what engine this is on...but the art style is one of the most beautiful I've seen. It fits the game flawlessly. As does the soundtrack. It's amazing that a small team can produce something so cohesive where major studios frequently fail to do so.

The only thing I don't like is that, even with the map, finding all of the items can get frustrating. Most of the characters I got 2/3 rooms at best, and especially if you do a run with and without encountering the wolf (I find it interesting to see the house before and after), it can be a bit much. But that's completely minor, really it's a wonderful experience.

[MichaelSamyn]

Thank you for the compliment. Sorry about spoiling other games for you. But surely the different types of pleasures they offer can be appreciated in their own right too. In the mean time, we are encouraging other artists and designers to work in a more content-oriented fashion (as opposed to gameplay-oriented).

The engine we used for The Path is Quest3D. But what we've done can technically be done in pretty much any contemporary engine. It's more a matter of artistic decisions than technical ability.

We designed The Path as an environment to have an experience in. We have tried to make it accessible for different sorts of playing. But it's certainly not optimized for "completionist" play. We felt that putting too much focus on such "meta-level" activities would take away from the direct emotional experience. So it wasn't designed to enable you to "beat the game".

[TrippleD]

really it's a wonderful experience.

I agree.

[lonewolfdon]

Hi guys. Just thought I'd post a few thoughts about this game.

I like to support "indie" games, I like to try something a bit different sometimes and I'm also a fan of the Adventure Game style genre. So browsing through the games list on Steam, this title caught my attention.

I checked out the website, seen the video trailers, the art work, tried out the "demo" (which I understand is more of a tech demo, but it still gave me an idea of the art style, ambiance and atmosphere of the game) and even read through various threads here on the forums.

From everything I seen, I thought "why not give it a try?". So, I'm glad I did go ahead and get it. Here's a few of the things I like about it:

* The girls are beautifully modeled and nicely animated.
* The ambient type music throughout the game as one explores (or gets lost exploring) sets the mood nicely for what your character is doing or where they are.
* The artistically drawn graphics, the use of the color schemes, "film grain" effect that flashes up sometimes, the visual focus (sometimes in-focus, sometimes a bit out-of-focus), the forest, various structures you find (and can sometimes interact with), the dancing forest girl (which I even managed to get a playful kiss from), the camera views... the sometimes "creepy" effect and feeling of exploring some areas (inside the house was especially like almost a bit like being in a waking nightmare, nice effects though).

Some cons:
* A bit confusing as to where I am (I felt I was "lost" most times) or as what I'm supposed to be doing. I never quite understood the "map" that flashed up on screen at seemingly random times. But from what what I gather, a part of the game experience is to perhaps actually "get lost" sometimes?

* Not sure if any items I gather are of any use to my character or if I can actually do anything with them. Seems I can only get descriptions of the items I collect.

* Controls can be a bit awkward to get used to, and sometimes it feels I have no interaction or control at all, but then again perhaps this was intentional part of the game from the developers? As to make one feel they were not always in control of their surroundings or events that unfold.
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In conclusion:

It's one of the more unique Adventure type games I've played, and I applaud and thank the developers for trying something a bit "different" and that is also quite artistically done.

Despite some of the confusion and "being lost" feelings I had at times playing this game, overall I'd say this game for me was quite enjoyable to experience, and it sometimes felt like I was floating through some strange dream or watching an artistic "movie" and story unfold.

To the developers: Keep up the great work guys! BTW, I also picked up your "Fatale" title at the same time I got this "Path" game, but not yet had a chance to try it out.

[MichaelSamyn]

Thank you for sharing your experience.

To clarify, the things you collect in the forest each affect something in Grandmother's House. In general, new things appear in the house when you collect things in the forest. Some things even change multiple times if you collect them multiple times. And for each girl, there's three things that open up a special room that only this girl can visit.