Stories: The Path of Destinies Reviews
Overall this is really good game that just doesn’t quite hit the lofty heights it could do but there is a lot of entertainment to be had and it very well crafted, especially for the asking price.
Bringing the game to Xbox comes with no real upgrades. Sure it supports 4K resolution, but it would have benefitted from HDR for sure. The colors in the world are so vibrant and varied. There is no additional content, but at least Xbox gamers can now discover this incredible title. Do not pass it up, do not sleep on this one, Stories is one of the best games I have played this generation, indie or not.
I can’t speak highly enough of Stories: The Path of Destinies. All I wanted to do after I finished each story was start another one to see what different choices I could make and different worlds they would take me to.
Stories: The Path of Destinies is a unique adventure game where we control a fox that owns a book. A book tells a story. What story you might ask... It depends, because you choose it and that's a lot of fun!
Review in Polish | Read full review
Stories: Path of Destiny has a lot of good ideas and tries to implement them as best it can. Ultimately, most of the best ideas fall a little short of the mark. The combat is ambitious but ends up being sloppy. The story is large but ends up being repetitive. The RPG elements are fun, but most of it is maxed out very early in the game making it sort of pointless. Everything that this game does, starts out well, but always falls short. In most cases, these drawbacks are enough to ruin the experience. The end result is a game that tries to do a lot, but doesn't try hard enough.
Stories sets a very high bar for writing and story in a video game. Similarly, while many games tout that player decisions matter, Stories truly delivers. Visual design would rate well alone, and audio/narration is nearly perfect. The price of admission is a good deal, with gameplay developing new wrinkles through about a dozen stories to keep it fresh, which would land you about 6-10 hours of gameplay. Some players will get tired of combat sooner, some will persist for the stories. Completionists looking for platinum will likely get tired of killing ravens. Replayability's only blemish is that the game is so fast to "complete" that you pretty much need to go through a few times just to start grasping the true nature of the game. This is a small nitpick to be sure, and players will likely stick with this game for a bit to see what Reynardo will do next.
Spearhead Games' Stories: The Path of Destinies is a fascinating jaunt through a more mature fairy tale setting that blends serviceable gameplay with remarkable wit.
Every new run sees the narrator bring up more amusing anecdotes and the pop culture references to other games and movies are so bountiful and well placed that they made me crack a smile again and again.
Review in German | Read full review
Stories is the perfect game for a story explorer, but the inherent repetition of levels will be offputting to gamers less keen on replaying games.
There's a couple of ways of playing Stories: The Path of Destinies. One way is to enjoy an 8-hour, narrative focused action RPG with some really cool art, sound, and game mechanics. You'll see maybe a half dozen of the stories and have a good time. The other is to go for broke and spend dozens of hours trying to get all 24 endings. Down this path lies a lot of grinding and repetition, but a heck of a lot of replay value. As with most aspects of Stories: The Path of Destinies, the choice is yours.
Stories: The Path of Destinies is a really intriguing title, and, as far as I'm concerned (and despite it's flaws), is a worthy investment, but its choice making narrative needed to offer a bit more to really make an impact. As it stands, the game feels a bit shallow.
If the RPG mechanics are your main attraction, you'll probably be disappointed, but as an experiment in choice-driven narratives, Stories is clever, impressive, and well worth a look.
It would be so easy to praise Stories: The Path of Destinies far more. So much of it is actually done right and is competent, from the great voice work and decent visuals to solid story and plethora of endings. The problem is that these multiple endings also offer little to no variation in regards to level variation, which quickly causes what would have been a fun and enjoyable story romp to, instead, having to start over in a "choose your own adventure" book from Page 1 every time an ending was reached. Even a bit more level variation would have easily driven this up the ranks, but, as it is, it just becomes a chore to play through. It is worth the play regardless, though. Just be ready to play through the same things a lot.
An action RPG for all ages to enjoy that unfortunately gets muddled down by a mediocre soundtrack and lack of enemy variety.
Despite some repetition and a handful of weird glitches, it'd be hard for me not to recommend Stories: The Path of Destinies. The "Goosebumps" kid in me was just too excited to have branching narratives from a developer that had fun with the concept instead of using it as another box to check in its marketing plans. I'd gladly return to this wonderfully weird world, but if there is a next chapter, I hope that there's more to see.
A different take on the choose-your-own-adventure genre, Stories is fantastic breath of fresh air. Though environments will soon become repetitive alongside the general gameplay, there's no reason why this can't become a series of it's own.
It was my mistake; I followed a path that I was sure would help the rebellion's cause by abandoning my friend Lapino and, instead, going on a quest to find the ultimate weapon to defeat the Empire. Things didn't go as planned, and I accidentally destroyed the entire world. But then I was alive again.
By relying on countering it creates an almost rhythmic display as you jump from one enemy to another and rack up a hell of a combo score. It's like watching a very satisfying, very aggressive ballet… with swords
Stories: The Path Of Destinies is a charming and colourful game that is well presented with good narration. The number of paths that can be taken allow for a lot of replayability, and there's some well crafted combat. However, there comes a point where the game does become repetitive, which can make drumming up motivation to unlock all the stories tough. Even so, Stories: The Path Of Destinies is worth going through a few times, even if you don't want to go through all 25 paths.
There is a lot to love about Stories: The Path of Destinies; clever craftsmanship of the branching narrative; vertically intricate level design; and being able to see events unfold differently as characters relationships shift is a compelling and original experience. Unfortunately it is let down by, while not uninteresting, monotonous gameplay with no real substance or relation to the broader story.