The Path
Rating: 68.9
Mac PC

The Path

Released: Mar 18, 2009
Themes:
Horror Non-fiction
Perspectives:
Third person
Game Modes:
Single player
Description from Steam STEAM

There is one rule in the game. And it needs to be broken. There is one goal. And when you attain it, you die. Six sisters live in an apartment in the city. One by one their mother sends them on an errand to their grandmother, who is sick and bedridden. The teenagers are instructed to go to grandmother's house deep in the forest and, by all means, to stay on the path! Wolves are hiding in the woods, just waiting for little girls to stray. But young women are not exactly known for their obedience, are they? Will they be able to resist the temptations of the forest? Will they stay clear of danger? Can they prevent the ancient tale from being retold? The Path is a game about growing, about changing, about making choices, about accepting the consequences of these choices. A game about playing, and failing, about embracing life, perhaps by accepting death. Key Features: The Path is a short horror game inspired by older versions of Little Red Riding hood , set in modern day. The Path offers an atmospheric experience of exploration, discovery and introspection through a unique form of gameplay, designed to immerse you deeply into its dark themes. Every interaction in the game expresses an aspect of the narrative. The six protagonists each have their own age and personality and allow the player to live through the tale in different ways. Most of the story, however, relies on your active imagination. The Path is designed with accessibility in mind. There are no ticking clocks or monsters to defeat. No hard puzzles will ever halt your progress. Most activities in the game are entirely optional and voluntary. The player has all the freedom in the world to explore and experience. While The Path does not contain any graphic violence or sexuality, it does allude to these themes. The overall melancholy mood of the game and the potentially unsettling course of events, make The Path unsuitable for children . Despite of its origins in fairy tales, The Path is decidedly a game for the mature mind. The game features a complete realtime 3D environment that can be explored through third person navigation. The characters in this virtual world, including the player's avatars, are governed by a form of artificial intelligence that gives them some autonomy. As a result, nobody knows exactly what you will encounter on your journeys. Next to the multi-layered stylized graphics, The Path features a continuous soundtrack composed by goth rock diva Jarboe (ex-Swans). In fact, there are hardly any sound effects in the game. Instead the music is continuously changing according to what is happening in the game. Like the behaviours of the characters, the music too is never exactly the same twice. For a satisfying experience, it takes about 6 hours to complete the game.

Description from IGDB IGDB

The Path is a psychological horror art game developed by Tale of Tales originally released for the Microsoft Windows operating system on March 18, 2009 in English and Dutch, and later ported to Mac OS X by TransGaming Technologies. It is inspired by several versions of the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, and by folklore tropes and conventions in general, but set in contemporary times. The player can choose to control one of six different sisters, who are sent one-by-one on errands by their mother to see their sick grandmother. The player can choose whether to stay on the path or to wander, where wolves are lying in wait.

Storyline IGDB

The game begins in an apartment. The player is shown six sisters to choose from and is given no information about them other than a name. When the player selects a girl, the journey begins. The player is given control of the girl, and is instructed: "Go to Grandmother's house and stay on the path." As the player explores, they find various items scattered around. For a girl to pick up or examine an object, the player needs to either click on the interaction button or move her close enough for a superimposed image of the object to appear on the screen, then let go of the controls. The character will interact and an image will appear on the screen, indicating what has been unlocked; every item a girl encounters in the forest shows in some shape or form in Grandmother's house, and some objects open up whole new rooms. Small text will also appear, a thought from the current character. Some items can only be picked up once and do not appear in subsequent runs. However, each character will say something different about an object, so the player has the option to access a "basket" to see what they have collected. It is not required to find the Wolf. In this game, there are no requirements but the ending at Grandmother's house does change dramatically after the wolf encounter. The girl encounters the Wolf, there is a brief cut scene, and the screen goes black. Afterward, the girl is lying on the path in front of Grandmother's house. When the player enters Grandmother's house, the style of gameplay changes. It is now in first person, and the character moves forward along a pre-determined path. If the player got there without interacting with the Wolf, they arrive safely, cozy up next to Grandmother and are sent back to the apartment. The girl the player guided will still be there, and can be played again. If the player did go to the Wolf, then everything in the house is darker, and if the player remains still for too long, darkness clouds the screen, and something growls. Depending on the girl, doors are scratched, or furniture tipped over and broken, or strange black threads are draped across everything. Instead of ending with Grandmother, the music crescendos as the player enters a final surreal room before falling down, and things black out again. Images flash on the screen, featuring the girl being attacked by her Wolf, before the player is relocated back in the apartment. The girl played is not there, and will remain absent. When all of the girls have encountered their wolves, a girl in a white dress, who could be previously encountered by the sisters, becomes playable and visits Grandmother's house. The girl will then travel through the house, now a combination of all of the end rooms of the previous girls ending with the no-wolf room. Upon reaching the grandmother, the girl appears in the apartment covered in blood, but alive. The sisters all return through the door and the game starts over.

Basic Info
Release Date: March 18, 2009
IGDB Rating: 68.9/100 (28)
Rating Count: 28
IGDB ID: 10199
Additional Information
IGDB Rating: 68.9/100 (28 votes)
Release Date: March 18, 2009
IGDB ID: 10199
Платформы 2
Mac
PC
Themes 2
Horror Non-fiction
Player Perspectives 1
Third person
Game Modes 1
Single player
Developers
Tale of Tales

No description available

Publishers
Tale of Tales

No description available

Keywords
game 38048 be 24685 world 21802 play 21097 player 17513 develop 17064 new 16891 character 16396 feature 15873 release 15455 story 14536 make 14384 take 14371 time 14243 find 12717 explore 12690 set 12525 unique 11942 own 11404 out 10969 system 10915 experience 10848 way 10761 different 10679 include 10330 become 9243 know 8866 life 8747 choose 8556 control 8462 item 8079 go 7710 monster 7516 journey 7086 style 6795 attack 6701 defeat 6547 unlock 6510 need 6461 live 6448 collect 6447 various 6407 change 6378 start 6004 open 5990 begin 5973 complete 5898 choice 5875 end 5784 allow 5778 window 5708 dark 5689 name 5584 run 5583 back 5559 give 5523 person 5466 day 5439 design 5376 long 5276 art 5167 city 5126 hide 5103 event 5044 see 4996 version 4816 move 4755 late 4742 deep 4732 puzzle 4717 key 4635 encounter 4611 path 4283 offer 4231 environment 4205 grow 4154 ancient 4009 travel 3992 inspire 3957 progress 3887 form 3853 return 3757 effect 3604 small 3459 fall 3450 death 3432 old 3418 let 3371 everything 3369 young 3362 exploration 3323 horror 3313 option 3294 able 3231 happen 3229 thing 3191 graphic 3143 break 3132 girl 3090 several 3090 next 3085 music 3079 access 3054 enter 3040 reach 2990 hour 2849 mean 2833 show 2829 shape 2801 appear 2797 require 2775 goal 2685 contain 2660 strange 2608 die 2593 port 2591 rule 2569 soundtrack 2550 narrative 2503 close 2481 protagonist 2447 theme 2429 hard 2363 originally 2347 final 2346 enough 2329 again 2312 wait 2288 think 2286 danger 2258 tale 2254 combination 2248 interact 2247 short 2217 playable 2204 depend 2190 house 2153 pick 2153 forest 2151 darkness 2147 send 2134 determine 2125 age 2098 technology 2030 course 2015 select 2004 remain 2001 modern 1957 mind 1946 room 1946 scene 1940 previous 1932 guide 1869 stay 1854 sound 1829 screen 1823 immerse 1771 visit 1752 object 1716 say 1687 lie 1645 result 1599 clear 1557 interaction 1555 personality 1553 black 1539 blood 1536 march 1528 english 1527 freedom 1491 whole 1488 click 1482 instead 1461 cut 1456 child 1448 alive 1349 information 1343 entirely 1253 woman 1226 safe 1220 cover 1198 activity 1189 darknes 1185 current 1126 arrive 1055 active 1054 button 1050 consequence 1043 scatter 1001 door 996 fail 961 discovery 943 text 941 origin 935 rock 933 aspect 932 forward 928 prevent 926 optional 921 general 905 ride 895 accord 850 white 848 previously 832 satisfy 809 wander 797 operate 791 sister 770 mac 761 imagination 748 compose 740 image 740 perhaps 727 front 722 stylize 716 layer 694 mother 673 cloud 671 accept 659 wood 647 atmospheric 631 wolf 627 fairy 622 despite 603 embrace 598 overall 594 rely 581 avatar 573 artificial 526 cozy 513 psychological 500 violence 486 deeply 457 exactly 430 surreal 418 fact 413 moth 412 flash 398 furniture 393 resist 364 express 359 tip 358 wand 353 dramatic 338 clock 332 scratch 321 artificial intelligence 315 mood 315 folklore 312 dress 308 continuously 305 subsequent 305 stray 294 mature 286 govern 281 requirement 266 nobody 257 potentially 257 psychological horror 247 apartment 244 safely 241 navigation 228 continuous 225 thread 203 convention 197 indicate 197 brief 196 teenager 187 virtual world 171 contemporary 169 modern day 166 unsettle 165 accessibility 159 sick 159 examine 158 tick 140 behaviour 136 temptation 133 halt 123 attain 116 dramatically 113 dutch 95 grandmother 85 retell 83 trope 79 errand 72 instruct 70 hardly 61 absent 55 afterward 40 melancholy 34 relocate 30 sexuality 29 basket 27 obedience 27 little red riding hood 25 goth 23 diva 22 autonomy 21 growl 18 unsuitable 16 introspection 15 swan 15 decidedly 14 allude 10 drape 10 crescendo 9 superimpose 8 realtime 3d 5 bedridden 4 like 0 voluntary 0