Once the basic forms of puzzles become clear, solving them becomes less about figuring out the answer and more about searching the area for familiar items and putting them in the right place.Ī similar issue emerges in boss fights. Players should get used to using their eagle to move boxes onto switches and line up targets to shoot arrows through, because most of the dozens of puzzles they'll solve by the end follow these same basic patterns. While they can be fun to solve, there’s nothing particularly novel about them, and it quickly becomes apparent that there are only a few main types. To actually claim them, though, the player will usually have to solve a short puzzle. The main character has a helpful ability that highlights the items that need to be collected to break each god’s seals, making them easy to find. It’s in these puzzles and boss battles that The Pathless starts to lose its way.Īside from running and flying with reckless abandon, most of players’ time in The Pathless is spent solving puzzles. Doing that involves solving puzzles to break the seals on towers scattered throughout the island before defeating each god to break their curse. The goal is to lift a curse that’s afflicting both humans and gods, and to do that, players will need to cleanse the godly inhabitants of the game’s world. However, The Pathless isn’t just about taking a high-speed tour of its island. Zooming around The Pathless’ beautiful island setting and timing arrow shots to keep the stamina bar filled feels incredible, especially after the game doles out its first few upgrades, which let players sprint and glide longer. Related: Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin Review - A Bountiful Harvest

Early in the game, the player also gains an eagle companion (who they’re free to pet at any time, for anyone wondering), which becomes an essential part of navigating its vast environments by letting the player glide through the air. Aside from providing an unconventional turbo boost, the bow is also used to solve puzzles and take down bosses. Floating talismans dot the game’s landscape, and shooting one with a bow will give the player a boost of speed and fill their stamina bar, letting them continue moving at high speed as long as they keep shooting talismans. At its core, The Pathless is all about moving deftly around the environment.

In The Pathless, the player character is equipped with nothing more than a bow, which is used more for traversal than fighting off enemies.

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