The Pathless Reviews
Ultimately The Pathless is a very good game, with exceptional art direction and an interesting (if a bit shallow) story. I loved the interactions between The Hunter and her eagle, and found the boss battles to be a high point. The game’s six hour runtime helps to keep the somewhat repetitive gameplay loop from becoming tedious, but it also means it’s more difficult to justify the game’s $40 price tag. I believe that with some expanded lore and a lot more variety in the puzzles on display, Giant Squid could have easily stretched the game out to 10-15 hours. Still, The Pathless is undeniably a great game and a worthy (and unique) addition to the PS5 launch lineup.
The Pathless offers players a beautifully heartbreaking way to revive a dead world by forging a bond between you and an eagle alone. Every so often, you come across the corpses of the fallen and you can see their final thoughts moments before death, which elevates the tragedy and sadness of the world around you. Even then, you never really feel lost, both literally and figuratively, mainly because you'll feel like as long as you have your eagle by your side, you're going to be just fine.
The Pathless has a slow start, but the journey is rewarding. The technical part, the soundtrack and the game world are incredible. It can be considered repetitive later on, but the gameplay and the boss battles make up for that. It's hard to say in words, but the "experience" of playing The Pathless is unique.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Pathless is yet another brilliant game from Giant Squid, one with great harmony between almost all of its elements that sends you on a short adventure in its unknown and strange world.
Review in Persian | Read full review
The pathless offers us a huge open world, full of nuances and beautiful landscapes through which we will move at full speed. With ideas taken slightly from Breath of the Wild, we will have a good amount of challenges and intense fights that we will love. Special mention to Austin Wintory's soundtrack and great voice performances. Highly recommended.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
An inspired & nuanced structure demonstrates where Giant Squid took the road less traveled, and it made all the difference.
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
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.
Its stylish visuals and slick gameplay make The Pathless stand out as a truly epic experience. If the concept of whipping around massive intricate environments at ridiculous speeds while solving puzzles and taking down bosses appeals to you then definitely check it out.
Mixing together exploration and puzzle-solving, while never really cranking up the challenge, The Pathless has a unique feel on Switch
The Pathless combines a simple but fun movement system and a world brimming with secrets to uncover.
The Pathless switches effortlessly between relaxing exploration and exhilarating story moments, and it's altogether incredible.
A hugely entertaining open world puzzler where simply getting from A to B is more entertaining than most games in their entirety.
Clocking in at roughly seven hours, don't be surprised if you complete it in one or two sessions. It's a hard game to put down
I hope it’s clear that I really enjoyed The Pathless, a game that prior to playing hadn’t really caught my eye. I hope it isn’t lost amongst the PS5’s bigger, noisier releases, as it’s something different and uplifting. It’s rare to find such tension and threat in a game that’s also so peaceful, but Giant Squid has managed it. In truth we could all do with a bit of light in our lives at the moment.
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.
The Pathless suffers from several things: repetitive puzzles, lack of depth in terms of abilities, complete absence of mini-map and fast-travel, some boring sections, and rather short length. But at the same time this game has a rather unique charm to it, which is a good enough reason to actually return to it again and again.
Review in Russian | Read full review
The Pathless is an excellent game for the camper in me that wants to spend some time exploring outside.
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