The path is a short horror game from Tale of Tales. Although I wouldn’t categorize it as “short” as the path never ends. The game gives the player one instruction; go to your grandmother’s house…and try and stay on the path.
The player can choose one of 6 girls to play, differing in age and style. Each girl has a different experience in the forest, and can interact with a set amount of items.
The player has complete freedom to go wherever they wish, but they quickly learn that if you go into the forest to explore, you will get lost. When out in the forest the player can find items/occurrences that trigger memories, they can also find flowers that are scattered all over the forest.
After finding a couple of items in the forest, the player is given a hint to where the wolf is. The wolf is some form of outside influence on the girl, which differs depending on which girl was chosen. A very nice cut scene is played once the player interacts with the wolf, and brings the player back to the path right in front of the grandmother’s house, left to walk home in the rain.
The main influence in making this game is the story of red riding hood. The story of a little girl making the decision whether or not to stay on the path on the way to her grandmother’s house, and the wolf she encounters.
This game has a lot of suspense, and it is meant to scare you. When playing through the game (in the dark, on my own, late at night) the sound effects will shock you, the strange images that come up on the screen confuse you. And overall you end up feeling like something is watching or following you throughout the entire game.
The game did its job well, they wanted to scare people, while also showing the players the stories they wanted to convey. They did this perfectly (if you play all the way through) with the progression of the girls in their age and the different “wolves” that they come in contact with. The best example of this is the first wolf. The player at a point in the game encounters a massive wolf that’s flying through the forest and the player must “catch a ride” so to speak. But the main thing was how sudden and unsuspected the wolf’s arrival is, it causes so much surprise in the player.
The controls are even worked into how the story is told. Specifically when you try to run, or move faster than just a slow walk, the screen will pull up and away from the character, sometimes even blocking your entire view of what’s below. This has two effects; first it forces the player to stop and smell the roses, and take their time when going through the forest, and second it causes the player to run in circles and get lost, as they can never see what’s in front of them.
Overall the path is an amazing game that makes you feel fear, makes you want to explore, and sometimes scares the crap out of you. From the very well done sound effects and music, to the cut scenes in the grandmother’s house and with the wolves, this game tells a very old story on a level that most would have never thought of.
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