The Pathless Reviews
The Pathless focuses on style and fast-paced movement and does it well, but leaves a bit to be desired on the Nintendo Switch.
The Pathless is the next great indie adventure. Whether the joy you take from it is in its unique and super-slick traversal mechanics, or the arresting world and faultless artistry, there's no denying that Giant Squid has absolutely nailed it. If I could somehow travel back in time and get lost in this game all over again, I would. While I can't speak to the experience on Windows or Apple devices, I believe this is one for the PlayStation 5 players most of all. This world needs to be taken in at its most visually rich, and the unique properties of the DualSense heighten its gameplay even further. If you only pick one, non-AAA exclusive for your next-gen PlayStation, pick this one.
The Pathless is a wonderful balance between puzzles and boss battles contained in a giant landscape. The gameplay design, specifically the boss level design, demonstrates the possibilities this new generation of consoles might offer.
The Pathless is an open-world exploration title with unique puzzle-solving mechanics and one of the year's best soundtracks. The tense and enjoyable boss encounters were a delightful surprise. The free-form approach to the exploration and plethora of puzzles to solve, most being optional, give you the sensation of freedom while traversing. It's simply fun, aimlessly soaring through the air with my eagle, bouncing across rivers and down snow-covered mountaintops shooting at talismans. It's not a long experience, as I clocked my completion at roughly eight hours, but there are plenty of trophies to earn by collecting all of the relics, along with completing various other tasks.
For all of its grandiose stylings and ambitions of being a pure reduction of the open-world formula, The Pathless never feels greater than the sum of its parts. It feels like more of a small-scale time waster. It's fine for momentarily taking your mind off of things, but those wanting a consistently strong and engaging experience may want to follow a different path.
The Pathless’ story and movement mechanics are where it truly shines. Exploring the landscape at superhuman speed feels like absolute magic and makes the game’s large surface easy to explore. Full of colour, beautiful landscapes, and mysterious gods and puzzles, The Pathless is sure to keep you engaged from beginning to end.
The Pathless is still a fun game after all these years. It is driven by a deep story and simple gameplay mechanics. While I would have loved to see a bit more life in the world, the gameplay is still very much engaging and endearing.
The Pathless is an excellent game for the camper in me that wants to spend some time exploring outside.
The Pathless is a beautiful and epic adventure from the people behind Abzu. A must have for every indie lover.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Whether in a boss fight or out in the wild, one area where The Pathless does deliver consistently is in its score. The music by Journey composer Austin Wintory is somewhat sparse, but never fails to ramp up the game’s feeling of danger and adventure whenever it swells up. The Pathless may have a bit of an identity crisis, with its disconnected segments never really combining to their full potential, but its impressive presentation and exhilarating speed make it worth a try nonetheless.
It's the absence of stand-out creature encounters that weighs heavy on The Pathless as a whole. And there's a redundancy to said moments that never rears its head when freely exploring and solving puzzles. Undoubtedly, the exploration and puzzle-solving represent The Pathless at its best. Giant Squid's latest manages to perfectly capture the calm before the storm, along with the post-battle respite that few games master in equal measure. In that case, it would seem the disappointing creature confrontations do serve a greater purpose to some degree.
Somewhere between Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Shadow of the Colossus and Journey, The Pathless is a beautiful and very pleasant experience, that feels very clever, smooth and relaxing. If you feel the need to travel somewhere else in this complicated time, just give a chance to this game.
Review in French | Read full review
The Pathless ultimately buries anything it might have to say in a stupefying level of cliché.
The Pathless is as majestic as it is haunting. It's ruminative and captivating. Above all, it's one of the most incredible meditative adventures ever created.
The Pathless does one thing extremely well, which is to create a sense of racing – almost dancing – through its huge open world. The player's journey is mainly one of getting to know that sensation and learning to harness it to traverse epic environments. However, the protagonist's journey has little to do with that feeling, which is perhaps why the story doesn't land. The game sounds exceptional and looks great in this impressive port. However, the puzzles rarely stimulate the imagination and are fussy to play, while boss encounters are overlong and repetitive. Although it has its significant successes, The Pathless unfortunately doesn't manage to become more than the sum of its parts.
The Pathless is a great game. It’s beyond stunning, with a remarkable soundtrack and phenomenal sense of place. Refined traversal mechanics do a lot of the heavy lifting, while puzzles and boss battles could use an extra dose of variety. Though the formula gets tired by the end of the tale, The Pathless proudly stands among giants of the genre like Journey.
The Pathless is a remarkably well-designed game, guiding the player forward with intuitive design while providing plenty of opportunity to experiment and play. With a great locomotion system and an amazing soundtrack, The Pathless will easily see players losing hours while under its hypnotic spell. Fun and rewarding puzzles, a nice story line, and plenty to see and do make The Pathless a great game, regardless of which system you play it on.
In a world of icon-strewn maps and point to point gameplay, The Pathless encourages discovery through environmental clues and great design, setting you free of modern game shackles. It's beautiful, touching and the fast-paced gameplay is brilliant. There is nothing like The Pathless on the market at the minute and I think most people will find something about it to love. I certainly did
The Pathless makes a fantastic first impression, with its arresting visuals, fun mechanics, and fascinating dark world. The game's middle section does start to drift a bit, but it sticks the landing with a great final level and an electrifying and emotionally-satisfying climax. Like The Pathless' feathery co-star, Giant Squid has raised their game to lofty new heights.