The Path

WARNING: THIS GAME IS EXTREMELY CREEPY AND CONTAINS IMPLIED MATERIAL THAT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR MINORS.

The Path is a very... strange game.

It's not really a game, I suppose. There's no puzzles to complete, no monsters to fight, no missions or companions or inventories. The Path is more of an interactive fable.

I downloaded the prologue from Steam, but it can also be downloaded from their website.

The Path follows six different girls as they journey to their grandmother's house and (as you could probably guess) it's an indie version of Little Red Riding Hood. Each girl is a different variation of Red (Goth Red, Shy Red, Little Red, etc) and the mission is simple: walk down the path to Grandmother's house at the end. Don't go into the woods.

Easy. Walking straight forward, grandmother's house isn't more than a minute's walk. As you get closer, the forest glows eerie colors and shadows move across the screen. Still, you carry on and reach Grandmother. But what's this? "Wolf encountered: No"? "FAILURE"? But you followed the rules!

The only hint it gives you is, "You know what you will do."

Oddly enough, the only way to win is to break the rules and venture into the forest. Scattered across the woods are items that draws a different response from each character (a wheelchair, a fort, etc), building their diverse characters.

Each character has a "wolf site" where, upon your character reaching that place, she encounters her own personal wolf and "dies". To win, your character has to die.

After your characters "death" they make their way to grandma's house again, where the items and places you experienced in the forest can unlock rooms and turn others nightmarish creepy. Each character's trip through the fully unlocked house is different and relates to their own personal "story."

Each person who plays interprets the events and stories differently. Is it exactly how it looks? Is it symbolic for death? Is it symbolic for maturity? Who knows.

Rating:
Plot/Characters- 10/10
Gameplay- 7/10
Playability- 4/10 (really, really EASY)
Aesthetics- 7/10
Fun Level- 4/10
Style- 9/10

Total- 7/10, Very good.

Would recommend if you like: Silent Hill, horror movies, psychological horror and exploration.

NOTES:

-The creators, Tale of Tales, has only made one other game. The Graveyard is an extremely short game where your elderly character walks into a graveyard, sits on a bench, and listens to a song. Seriously. That's it.

-Tale of Tales created a livejournal for each of the six girls. They actually post, in character, and have the livejournal accounts for the other girls comment and hold conversations in character. (Hint: Look at the usernames kidred, sternred, gothred, sexyred, tomboyred, etc.)

-Once you venture into the forest, the only way to get back on the path is to have the mysterious Girl in White lead you back (whom you play as in the free demo).

-In the demo, the items all the girls can interact with (baby carriage, wheelchair, etc) are gone, but the wolf sites are still there. The sites, however, are missing certain items and shooting giant clouds of smoke.

What will be here when I stop being lazy:

So I decided to ditch the old blog where I said nothing of importance and do a blog of useful stuff.

Since I play almost every free (or semi-free) game I come accross, I'll review them here so people can tell which to bother with and which to just avoid.

Everything from World of Warcraft to Toontown to Portal to The Path I hope to cover. If you like a review, leave a comment. If you have a game that's free (or atleast has a free trial) and you want me to review it, leave a comment.

Peace out losers,
Hal-E