1) This game is very slow paced
2) Depressing
3) Highly intriguing
4) Not very much action
5) Unconventional
When I first heard about this game coming out I was very excited. I thought that the Little Red Riding Hood story would be a great thing to expand upon. I really enjoyed what American Megee did with Alice and was hoping to see the same sort of treatment in The Path. What I got after the $9.99 purchase was very different than anything I expected.
The Path begins with the scene of a room with six girls doing various idle activities.
You select one of the girls to play through her story. The room fades out and the intro begins. There is the sound of a bus moving while presumably you are being taken to the edge of town. This takes quite a bit of time, setting the pace for the rest of the experience. Thankfully you have to option of skipping this section by hitting the escape button during this time.
After the intro, the girl you picked will be standing on a path and written instructions come up that tell you to go to Grandmother's house and to stay on the path. These are the only instructions that you are given and the rest is left for you to piece together. For those of you that haven't yet played this game, I don't want to give anything away. Lets just say that The Path begins messing with you right away. It defies preconceived notions of what a game is supposed to be. Many people have even stated that they don't consider The Path to be a game at all but rather an artistic form of expression. I am not about to get in an argument with random strangers over the Internet over such things. I believe that The Path means different things to different people. You'll get out of it, what you put into it.
The Path is very immersing to me. I quickly get lost when I go into the forest and I usually have a good sense of direction. You are forced to explore slowly. When you run, the camera fades back and up so you can't see where you are going or anything important that you may stumble across.
The music also changes into something frightening and odd shapes, whirls and splatters begin appearing on the screen giving a very disconcerting feeling.
The game is very slow paced and obviously designed to be so. This can be frustrating to people who demand instant satisfaction. Lets be honest though, the kind of people who would be interested in this game are the kind of people that probably will appreciate the fact that it's so very different from other games out there.
The Path is called "a short horror game" by Tale of Tales. The horror here is not achieved by having monsters jump out at you or running away for your life. The horror is psychological in that you are driving a little girl towards her fate. While it is your choice to do this, it is necessary in order to complete the experience.
I have attempted to explain this game without giving too much away. I believe it's important for individuals to experience for themselves this unorthodox approach taken by Tale of Tales. I absolutely feel that even though you may not consider The Path to be "fun-filled" or a "game" that people should give it a try. I think it's great that it makes you take a look at and think about yourself. So if you are not afraid of something different and do not cower when it comes time to think; than The Path is definitely worth $10.
As always I welcome your thoughts and opinions in the comment section. Please try to prevent spoilers for those that haven't given this a chance yet.
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