Pathless was first released as a console exclusive for PlayStation in November 2020. Back then, I remember sitting down to try out this cool archery game and blowing through the entire six hours of the game in one fell swoop. But I don’t have to dream anymore, because Giant Squid’s eagle his petting, god-saving journey has finally made it to Switch. It’s nice to have a portable version, but perhaps it’s no surprise that it took the usual concessions to make it possible. How much does this affect the overall experience? Let’s dive into that.
In The Pathless you control a hunter. The hunter’s world is engulfed in looming darkness. It is said that the origin of the curse is an island where the barrier between the divine world and the human world is thin, but those who set foot there to find out the cause have yet to return. Upon her arrival, the Hunter finds that the god Mother Eagle has been stripped of her powers by a malevolent entity known as the Godslayer, who not only incapacitated Mother Eagle, but her girlfriend corrupted his four children, turning them into vicious beasts that obeyed his every command. With the help of her new eagle companions, the hunter ascends the island plateau to Mother free her eagle children from the Godslayer’s curse, then ascends to the floating island where the Godslayer himself awaits her. must be
Movement is the main focus of The Pathless, and it really shows. While moving around the island, you’ll see lots of floating targets all over the landscape. Shooting these targets with your hunter’s bow and arrow fills up the energy gauge needed to be able to sprint. Hitting a target while sprinting grants a small speed boost, and hitting a target while airborne gives a little extra airtime. Also, while airborne, hunters can glide with the help of eagles, who can also flap their wings to gain greater vertical height. All of this comes together in a very fluid and satisfying way. Moving as a hunter feels cool in a way that many other games haven’t.
Each plateau has three towers that must be activated to initiate boss battles, and these towers are activated by collecting emblems from across the area. Emblems are earned by solving puzzles. Whether it’s a creative use of arrows in a puzzle or directing an eagle friend to a button to place something very heavy. Some of the later puzzles can feel a little sluggish, and some even require very tight timing, but they all succeed in leading to a “haha!” Refreshing feeling of the moment when it is solved. At this stage, the highland beasts will also roam, and this is where the design seems to crumble a bit. If you’re caught by a beast represented by a giant whirling maelstrom, you’ll have to break away from the eagle and be forced to participate in a stealth sequence where the beast wanders in search of you, and reunited with the bird. Moving while inside the cone of vision will fail you instantly, minimizing the consequences of failing, but that helps make it more annoying. It’s easy to lose track of where you’re going, or worse, you’ll be forced into an encounter while trying to solve a puzzle, which can completely destroy your momentum. But it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll have to put up with it at least once per plateau.
After all three towers are activated, you can fight the boss. It feels even cooler than usual, starting with a chase sequence that takes full advantage of the pathless movement system. Once you’ve angered the Beast enough in pursuit, the fight moves to the Beast’s Temple, at which point a more traditional boss fight begins. , the consequences of failure are also pretty minor, but all the bosses still feel satisfying and fun. Especially in one boss fight.
Unfortunately, as expected, the move to Switch came with some caveats. In terms of the graphical downgrade when compared to the PS4 version of the game, there is less foliage on the ground and foliage that is present appears a few feet in front of you. Finally, I ran into a few frame issues here and there. Especially noticeable when entering a new plateau for the first time. However, we found these issues to be relatively minor, and the game was still incredibly fun to play, but if they’re a deal breaker for you, move on to other platforms for a passless experience. Overall, The Pathless is a game I highly recommend anyone looking for some action and exploration to try.
