Test – The Pathless: the indie hit arrives on Xbox and Switch

Released a few years ago now, The Pathless accompanied the arrival of the Playstation 5 in November 2020, even if it was also distributed on PC and PS4. On the occasion of its arrival on Xbox and Switch consoles, we take a look at the latest game from Giant Squid.

You may know the developers at Giant Squid for Abzû, their previous title which made waves when it was released in 2016. Their latest game offers something different and this time Annapurna Interactive has busy with editing. The Pathless is an adventure game set in an open world that was already released at the end of 2020 on PC, PS4 and PS5. The title has been available for a few days on Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series, a good opportunity to dive back into it.

The game stands out for its particularly fluid movements.

The Pathless is set on an island where a curse develops that befalls divine creatures. We then embody the Huntress, a young woman who has mastered archery and who will fight to eradicate this curse. This will very quickly come into contact with Mother Eagle who, with her help, asks her to save her children transformed into malevolent creatures. The Huntress will also have to take on the task of defeating the Deicide, a man who seems to be the cause of the curse and who resides on the island floating above this world. Very mysterious, this universe is detailed thanks to the tablets and spirits that can be found everywhere.

The goal of the game is then to fight the different creatures, but to have the opportunity, you must first weaken them. To do this, we must solve environmental puzzles arranged all over the world. These puzzles allow us to earn collectables which can then activate the towers that surround these creatures. Once the towers are activated, we can fight the malevolent spirits that roam this island. The game offers a simple and effective structure, but which takes place in open areas where it is sometimes difficult to find your way around. We don’t have maps, although the heroine can activate her “mask of spirits” which displays the direction of the various towers that serve to weaken the bosses.

Boss fights are particularly addictive moments.

Exploration is however very pleasant thanks to this original racing system. Indeed, our heroine has an endurance gauge that allows her to run, it fills up when you shoot at the very many targets placed all over the open world. Whether on land or in the air, hitting a target makes us accelerate, making journeys both fast and enjoyable. This movement mechanic is fluid, easy to use, and rewarding, but it’s unfortunate to see it isn’t often leveraged, especially in open-world findable trials. The Pathless instead offers a game very focused on thinking, with many puzzles arranged all over the place that we must solve using our archery skills as well as with the abilities of our eagle. These environmental puzzles sometimes require a lot of thinking, which makes the game quite slow paced.

Conversely, the boss fights are much more dynamic and very epic passages. Completely successful, each of them alternates between several action phases such as chases or direct confrontations. Despite these changes in tone, the title still has a little trouble renewing itself, especially during our exploration of the open areas, which offer rather repetitive content.

The eagle that accompanies us allows us to move through the air too.

The Pathless has a particularly successful artistic direction. Very colorful and detailed, the visual rendering is more than convincing and the animations bring a real feeling of fluidity to the action. The sets are vast and mysterious. It should be noted, however, that the Switch version is radically below in terms of its performance and visuals. The game is much less pretty to look at than on other platforms and this version runs around 30 frames per second, with some drops in fluidity from time to time. We can nevertheless salute the very nice soundtrack of the title, signed by Austin Wintory, the composer of Abzû, Journey and many others.

Giant Squid’s latest title is a pleasant adventure, but it suffers from a few problems that sometimes make it unexciting. It’s also a shame to see that its inventive game mechanics seem underused. The title is offered at a rather high price (around €40 on the various platforms) despite a fairly light content. Count at least five or six hours to see the end of it, even if taking the time to explore and solve all the puzzles doubles the lifespan.

Conclusion

Available for more than two years, The Pathless is the latest game from Giant Squid, a team that had already made a name for itself thanks to their first title: Abzû. Thought as a launch game for the Playstation 5, The Pathless finally arrived recently on all current consoles. The plot takes place on an island where a curse develops. We are the Huntress, a young woman who will quickly come into contact with Mother Eagle, a deity whose children must be purified. We evolve in an open world in which prowl said children transformed into ferocious creatures. It is necessary to solve several puzzles arranged everywhere to activate towers that weaken these monsters, before being able to face them. The formula is classic and the gameplay particularly effective. A game very focused on reflection, the boss fights are still moments of very sustained action. The title offers original ideas, but is also very repetitive. It is sometimes difficult to orient oneself, the game not offering a map. The adventure also turns out to be a bit short despite its high price. The title still offers a successful artistic direction, The Pathless is visually and musically very convincing. Be careful, the Switch version is much less beautiful and fluid than the versions on other platforms.

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The Pathless

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