The Pathless

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Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 67

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The Pathless is a mesmerizing experience with an exhilarating story and a world brimming with secrets to uncover.

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Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 67

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 67

The Pathless is a mesmerizing experience with an exhilarating story and a world brimming with secrets to uncover.

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Critic Reviews for The Pathless

Reviews

High Score - 93/100

Low Score - 40/100

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46% of scored reviews fell within the range of 80 to 86 / 100

Austin Wood (GamesRadar+)

4/5 stars

“The Pathless switches effortlessly between relaxing exploration and exhilarating story moments, and it’s altogether incredible.”

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Unknown (Metro GameCentral)

8/10

“A hugely entertaining open world puzzler where simply getting from A to B is more entertaining than most games in their entirety.”

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Andrew Farrell (PC Invasion)

9/10

“The Pathless is a lovely game that just begs to be explored. The serenity it can provide and the satisfying feeling of locating rewards make it an experience that can be easily recommended.”

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**Read all 67 critic reviews on the desktop version of VSG.

Read the Reviews (67 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
33bits	Rubén Rionegro	85 / 100	12-04-2020	The pathless offers us a huge open world, full of nuances and beautiful landscapes through which we will move at full speed. With ideas taken slightly from Breath of the Wild, we will have a good amount of challenges and intense fights that we will love. Special mention to Austin Wintory’s soundtrack and great voice performances. Highly recommended.	Read review
Atomix	Alberto Desfassiaux	83 / 100	11-10-2020	The Pathless is a beautiful and epic adventure from the people behind Abzu. A must have for every indie lover.	Read review
BaziCenter	Mohammad Zamani	8.5 / 10	11-22-2020	The Pathless is yet another brilliant game from Giant Squid, one with great harmony between almost all of its elements that sends you on a short adventure in its unknown and strange world.	Read review
Cerealkillerz	Gabriel Bogdan	7.8 / 10	11-20-2020	The Pathless is surely the most ambitious project so far from Giant Squid and delivers thrilling gameplay elements that shine especially during boss fights. The often empty worlds and repetitive tasks are a bit of letdown but this game should still not be missing in everyones PS5 Library	Read review
Checkpoint Gaming	Lise Leitner	8 / 10	11-21-2020	The Pathless’ story and movement mechanics are where it truly shines. Exploring the landscape at superhuman speed feels like absolute magic and makes the game’s large surface easy to explore. Full of colour, beautiful landscapes, and mysterious gods and puzzles, The Pathless is sure to keep you engaged from beginning to end.	Read review
COGconnected	Paul Sullivan	81 / 100	11-12-2020	The Pathless is a great game. It’s beyond stunning, with a remarkable soundtrack and phenomenal sense of place. Refined traversal mechanics do a lot of the heavy lifting, while puzzles and boss battles could use an extra dose of variety. Though the formula gets tired by the end of the tale, The Pathless proudly stands among giants of the genre like Journey.	Read review
Cubed3	Luke Hemming	7 / 10	01-07-2021	The Pathless is a worthy addition to the minimal release list this early in the PlayStation 5 lifespan. It delivers engaging gameplay, as well as frankly beautiful visuals. The issue is that feeling of familiarity coughZeldacough coupled with a lack of activities to indulge in. Too often does this feel like a template of greater things to come, and it’s a massive hope that this will spawn a sequel. So many great ideas needing to be expanded upon, mainly the excellent movement, as no game this year has given a greater feeling of speed in its unique traversal system, and along with the excellent boss battles, this comes recommended. Here’s to The Pathless 2: Less Travelled.	Read review
Cultured Vultures	Ryan Stevens	9 / 10	11-16-2020	The Pathless is a fantastic game full of rewarding exploration and moment-to-moment gameplay that gets right at the heart of what makes open world games fun.	Read review
Destructoid	Chris Carter	7.5 / 10	11-12-2020	You’ve probably played a game like The Pathless before, but you haven’t played The Pathless. If you’re into these types of games (you know who you are), this is another one you can add to the pile. I say “pile” endearingly, as it’s short enough to justify playing right away without becoming backlog fodder.	Read review
Digital Chumps	Nathaniel Stevens	9 / 10	11-29-2018	The Pathless is a wonderful balance between puzzles and boss battles contained in a giant landscape. The gameplay design, specifically the boss level design, demonstrates the possibilities this new generation of consoles might offer.	Read review
DualShockers	Peter Szpytek	8 / 10	11-10-2020	The Pathless is an excellent game for the camper in me that wants to spend some time exploring outside.	Read review
Easy Allies	Brandon Jones	3.75 / 5 stars	11-21-2020	The Pathless features a gorgeous, massive environment and lets you explore it in whatever direction you desire, but the emotional highs are achieved more frequently from traveling through its world than taking in its story.	Read review
Echo Boomer	David Fialho	Recommended	11-29-2020	The Pathless shows how simplicity can make a a fun, vibrant and beautifull open world game.	Read review
Eurogamer	Christian Donlan	Recommended	11-10-2020	Vast maps bring out the best in this sparse yet memorable adventure.	Read review
Explosion Network	Dylan Blight	8 / 10	12-02-2020	Such a beautiful game just to spend time with, especially with the superb original score by Austin Wintory.	Read review
Flickering Myth	Shaun Munro	7.5 / 10	11-21-2020	If made from familiar parts, The Pathless nevertheless delivers the goods as a fast-paced action-adventure romp and a mostly unspoken depiction of the bond between human and animal.	Read review
Game Informer	Andrew Reiner	8 / 10	11-10-2020	Clocking in at roughly seven hours, don’t be surprised if you complete it in one or two sessions. It’s a hard game to put down	Read review
Game Rant	Dalton Cooper	3.5 / 5 stars	11-29-2020	The Pathless is clearly one of the better early PlayStation 5 games, though it has some issues with repetitive content and padding.	Read review
Game Revolution	Jason Faulkner	3 / 5 stars	11-21-2020	I’m fully prepared to see the entirety of gaming journalism as a whole take the opposite opinion of The Pathless as the years go by. There’s a giant list of titles that my peers absolutely love, then I play them, and I swear we’ve experienced two different games. That being said, I can see how someone could absolutely love The Pathless, even if it didn’t do anything for me.	Read review
Gameblog	Gianni Molinaro	8 / 10	11-20-2020	Somewhere between Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Shadow of the Colossus and Journey, The Pathless is a beautiful and very pleasant experience, that feels very clever, smooth and relaxing. If you feel the need to travel somewhere else in this complicated time, just give a chance to this game.	Read review
GameCrate	David Sanchez	9.3 / 10	11-20-2020	The Pathless is as majestic as it is haunting. It’s ruminative and captivating. Above all, it’s one of the most incredible meditative adventures ever created.	Read review
Gamefa	Mehdi Reazaei	8 / 10	11-23-2020	The Pathless is a unique and good way to start your journey in The new generation of consoles. Creators of Abzu have made a great game once more and invited you to an amazing and of course, challenging experience. Platforming and combat are very well combined and Austin Wintory made a beautiful soundtrack again. Finally i must say, If you play it, The Pathless will be one of the most enjoyable and unique journeys in your gaming life.	Read review
GameMAG	Unknown	8 / 10	11-30-2020	The Pathless suffers from several things: repetitive puzzles, lack of depth in terms of abilities, complete absence of mini-map and fast-travel, some boring sections, and rather short length. But at the same time this game has a rather unique charm to it, which is a good enough reason to actually return to it again and again.	Read review
Gamersky	棘皮动物的野望	7 / 10	11-13-2020	The pathless is a beautiful game, running around and fighting with every BOSS is enjoyable. But the world is so empty and lack of interaction that might make you feel bored soon.	Read review
GameSpew	Kim Snaith	7 / 10	11-17-2020	Ultimately, The Pathless is somewhat an uneven experience. Its epic boss battles are thrilling, and the majority of its puzzles are enjoyable to solve. It’s just a shame that there’s so much aimless running around between all the fun. Even dashing around at full speed grows tiresome after a while. Providing some sense of direction may go against what The Pathless strives to be, but it would help make your time with the game feel less wasted, and more fulfilling.	Read review
GameSpot	Mike Epstein	7 / 10	11-10-2020	Open-world exploration is the central idea and purpose of The Pathless, and its beautiful world rewards embracing your wanderlust.	Read review
GamesRadar+	Austin Wood	4 / 5 stars	11-10-2020	The Pathless switches effortlessly between relaxing exploration and exhilarating story moments, and it’s altogether incredible.	Read review
Gaming Nexus	Eric Hauter	9 / 10	11-13-2020	The Pathless is a remarkably well-designed game, guiding the player forward with intuitive design while providing plenty of opportunity to experiment and play. With a great locomotion system and an amazing soundtrack, The Pathless will easily see players losing hours while under its hypnotic spell. Fun and rewarding puzzles, a nice story line, and plenty to see and do make The Pathless a great game, regardless of which system you play it on.	Read review
GamingBolt	Shubhankar Parijat	9 / 10	11-14-2020	The Pathless knows where its biggest strengths lie, and it constantly leverages those strengths to craft a hypnotic, rhythmic, beautiful, and captivating adventure.	Read review
GamingTrend	Ron Burke	90 / 100	11-10-2020	Like previous effort ABZÛ before it, The Pathless leans heavily into the gorgeous cell-shaded world, and it does so with gameplay and story that keeps you locked and engaged for the entirety of its 10 hour story run. Comparisons to games like Shadow of the Colossus and Journey are apt, but seeing the world rush by at 4K and 60fps is a thing of beauty. Come for the frenetic gameplay, stay for the art.	Read review
God is a Geek	Mick Fraser	8.5 / 10	11-19-2020	In The Pathless, Giant Squid have created a beautiful world worth getting lost in, a cause worth fighting for, and a hero worth following.	Read review
GotGame	Kieran Toovey	7.5 / 10	11-26-2020	Overall, The Pathless is good, but not great. The game is really hindered by its repetitive gameplay and visuals, taking away from what is initially a very fun experience. A solid voice cast and great music definitely serve it well, but it only takes it so far. It’s more than serviceable for a launch title, but it never soars to the heights that the player hopes for.	Read review
Guardian	Malindy Hetfeld	2 / 5 stars	11-11-2020	In trying to apply the formula behind games such as Journey and Abzû to an open world, The Pathless ends up overstaying its welcome	Read review
Hardcore Gamer	Sam Spyrison	4 / 5 stars	11-12-2020	The Pathless is an enjoyable adventure to a serene island filled with satisfying puzzles, mesmeric traversal and gripping boss showdowns. Some small frustrations, including unnecessary stealth sequences and little reason to deviate from the main objective, hold the game back, but the polished moment-to-moment gameplay combined with the inspired soundtrack make for a pleasing and fun experience that’s easy to recommend to fans of open world and puzzle games.	Read review
Hobby Consolas	Alberto Lloret	87 / 100	11-10-2020	The Pathless picks ideas from some of the greatest adventures and adapts them to create something new, with its own identity. Maybe it’s no the longest, but its one of those titles that you will remember for long time, for its wonderful aesthetic, sound, bosses or the way you move by its world (a mechanic that is highly enjoyable).	Read review
IGN	Jonathon Dornbush	8 / 10	11-10-2020	The Pathless combines a simple but fun movement system and a world brimming with secrets to uncover.	Read review
Jump Dash Roll	Jon Peltz	5 / 10	11-20-2020	For all of its grandiose stylings and ambitions of being a pure reduction of the open-world formula, The Pathless never feels greater than the sum of its parts. It feels like more of a small-scale time waster. It’s fine for momentarily taking your mind off of things, but those wanting a consistently strong and engaging experience may want to follow a different path.	Read review
KeenGamer	Christian Pacoski	7.5 / 10	12-15-2020	Is The Pathless worth picking up alongside your PlayStation 5? From the creators of Abzu, The Pathless is a captivating open-world exploration game with unique movement mechanics, but don’t expect a Zelda killer. Oh, and I hope you like puzzles, because The Pathless is filled with them.	Read review
Metro GameCentral	GameCentral	8 / 10	11-12-2020	A hugely entertaining open world puzzler where simply getting from A to B is more entertaining than most games in their entirety.	Read review
MonsterVine	Nick Mangiaracina	3.5 / 5 stars	11-20-2020	The Pathless may not be my favorite game, I found quite a bit wrong with it, but the messaging was clear and resonated with me.	Read review
New Game Network	Dylan Blereau	78 / 100	11-26-2020	The Pathless is a charming indie adventure with a strong atmosphere, engaging exploration and a myriad of fun puzzles that is too good to be forgotten amongst the next generation hype.	Read review
NoesPaisparaFrikis	Impozible Julin	9.3 / 10	12-23-2020	It is The Pathless, I said it at the beginning, a game that makes its simplicity a strength. He makes some committed decisions that are always according to the playable and narrative intentions and ultimately, he leaves a second Giant Squid Games title that, after Abzû, is consolidated as one of the most solid and stimulating indie alternatives, and one of the best games open world this year.	Read review
Noisy Pixel	Ian Goudelock	8 / 10	11-18-2020	The Pathless is a gorgeous adventure with an entertaining traversal mechanic and a subtle but effective narrative. Running, jumping, and gliding around with your eagle friend while solving enigmatic puzzles is a real joy. While some lackluster stealth sections and difficulty maneuvering during some boss sections are present, it doesn’t take away from the overall experience. Whatever direction you decide to travel, The Pathless leads you to some special gaming moments.	Read review
PC Gamer	Luke Kemp	85 / 100	11-23-2020	A smooth and mesmerising experience that includes nothing it doesn’t need.	Read review
PC Invasion	Andrew Farrell	8.5 / 10	11-13-2020	The Pathless is a lovely game that just begs to be explored. The serenity it can provide and the satisfying feeling of locating rewards make it an experience that can be easily recommended.	Read review
PlayStation LifeStyle	Brianna Reeves	8 / 10	11-17-2020	It’s the absence of stand-out creature encounters that weighs heavy on The Pathless as a whole. And there’s a redundancy to said moments that never rears its head when freely exploring and solving puzzles. Undoubtedly, the exploration and puzzle-solving represent The Pathless at its best. Giant Squid’s latest manages to perfectly capture the calm before the storm, along with the post-battle respite that few games master in equal measure. In that case, it would seem the disappointing creature confrontations do serve a greater purpose to some degree.	Read review
PlayStation Universe	Sebastian Hawden	9 / 10	11-15-2020	In a world of icon-strewn maps and point to point gameplay, The Pathless encourages discovery through environmental clues and great design, setting you free of modern game shackles. It’s beautiful, touching and the fast-paced gameplay is brilliant. There is nothing like The Pathless on the market at the minute and I think most people will find something about it to love. I certainly did	Read review
Press Start	Kieron Verbrugge	9 / 10	11-11-2020	The Pathless is the next great indie adventure. Whether the joy you take from it is in its unique and super-slick traversal mechanics, or the arresting world and faultless artistry, there’s no denying that Giant Squid has absolutely nailed it. If I could somehow travel back in time and get lost in this game all over again, I would. While I can’t speak to the experience on Windows or Apple devices, I believe this is one for the PlayStation 5 players most of all. This world needs to be taken in at its most visually rich, and the unique properties of the DualSense heighten its gameplay even further. If you only pick one, non-AAA exclusive for your next-gen PlayStation, pick this one.	Read review
PSX Brasil	Ivan Nikolai Barkow Castilho	85 / 100	11-10-2020	The Pathless has a slow start, but the journey is rewarding. The technical part, the soundtrack and the game world are incredible. It can be considered repetitive later on, but the gameplay and the boss battles make up for that. It’s hard to say in words, but the “experience” of playing The Pathless is unique.	Read review
Push Square	Graham Banas	9 / 10	11-22-2020	The Pathless is an incredible experience, and easily one of the best launch titles available on the PS5 in what is already an excellent selection. A wondrous, beautiful open world with innumerable locations and secrets to uncover is placed alongside a moving narrative further heightened by an unexpectedly tender relationship between player and bird. And that’s to say nothing of the game’s exquisite use of colour, or the beautiful and wickedly unique soundtrack. The Pathless excels on all fronts.	Read review
Screen Rant	Bryan Lawver	3 / 5 stars	11-11-2020	Whether in a boss fight or out in the wild, one area where The Pathless does deliver consistently is in its score. The music by Journey composer Austin Wintory is somewhat sparse, but never fails to ramp up the game’s feeling of danger and adventure whenever it swells up. The Pathless may have a bit of an identity crisis, with its disconnected segments never really combining to their full potential, but its impressive presentation and exhilarating speed make it worth a try nonetheless.	Read review
SECTOR.sk	Branislav Kohút	8 / 10	11-19-2020	There is so much beauty and feelings in this game. Creators of ABZ& 219; made another masterpiece.	Read review
SelectButton	Kevin Mitchell	8 / 10	11-18-2020	The Pathless is an open-world exploration title with unique puzzle-solving mechanics and one of the year’s best soundtracks. The tense and enjoyable boss encounters were a delightful surprise. The free-form approach to the exploration and plethora of puzzles to solve, most being optional, give you the sensation of freedom while traversing. It’s simply fun, aimlessly soaring through the air with my eagle, bouncing across rivers and down snow-covered mountaintops shooting at talismans. It’s not a long experience, as I clocked my completion at roughly eight hours, but there are plenty of trophies to earn by collecting all of the relics, along with completing various other tasks.	Read review
Skill Up	Ralph Panebianco	Recommended	11-16-2020	Video Review	Read review
Slant Magazine	Steven Scaife	3 / 5 stars	11-20-2020	The Pathless ultimately buries anything it might have to say in a stupefying level of cliché.	Read review
SpazioGames	Paolo Sirio	7.8 / 10	11-25-2020	The Pathless suffers a way too linear narrative and game structure, but has an inspired art direction, more game features than Abzu, a great work and a great way to tell the players more about it.	Read review
TechRaptor	Unknown	8.5 / 10	11-17-2020	The Pathless offers players a beautifully heartbreaking way to revive a dead world by forging a bond between you and an eagle alone. Every so often, you come across the corpses of the fallen and you can see their final thoughts moments before death, which elevates the tragedy and sadness of the world around you. Even then, you never really feel lost, both literally and figuratively, mainly because you’ll feel like as long as you have your eagle by your side, you’re going to be just fine.	Read review
TheSixthAxis	Alan Wen	9 / 10	11-10-2020	A larger more ambitious game from Giant Squid that shares influences with Breath of the Wild only to subvert it in clever ways: retooling a bow as an ingenious mode of traversal and puzzle solving, an open world with no map, and a shooter where you don’t have to aim. It’s an accessible and streamlined approach making for an unmissable adventure to lose yourself in.	Read review
TrueGaming	خالد العيسى	8 / 10	12-08-2020	The Pathless is simple in principle, skillful in application and mesmerizing in looks, it’s a gift you reward yourself with.	Read review
VG247	Tom Orry	Recommended	11-10-2020	I hope it’s clear that I really enjoyed The Pathless, a game that prior to playing hadn’t really caught my eye. I hope it isn’t lost amongst the PS5’s bigger, noisier releases, as it’s something different and uplifting. It’s rare to find such tension and threat in a game that’s also so peaceful, but Giant Squid has managed it. In truth we could all do with a bit of light in our lives at the moment.	Read review
VGChartz	Lee Mehr	8.5 / 10	12-13-2020	An inspired & nuanced structure demonstrates where Giant Squid took the road less traveled, and it made all the difference.	Read review
Video Chums	A.J. Maciejewski	8.1 / 10	11-17-2020	Its stylish visuals and slick gameplay make The Pathless stand out as a truly epic experience. If the concept of whipping around massive intricate environments at ridiculous speeds while solving puzzles and taking down bosses appeals to you then definitely check it out.	Read review
VideoGamer	Josh Wise	7 / 10	12-03-2020	I would prescribe The Pathless to anyone feeling numbed and locked by our days of inanition; it’s perfect if you feel your home becoming an isle on the edge of the world.	Read review
WayTooManyGames	Heidi Hawes	8 / 10	12-16-2020	It’s an ambitious game, but one that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Without a doubt, this is one path worth traveling.	Read review
Wccftech	Nathan Birch	8 / 10	11-17-2020	The Pathless makes a fantastic first impression, with its arresting visuals, fun mechanics, and fascinating dark world. The game’s middle section does start to drift a bit, but it sticks the landing with a great final level and an electrifying and emotionally-satisfying climax. Like The Pathless’ feathery co-star, Giant Squid has raised their game to lofty new heights.	Read review
ZTGD	Ryan	8.5 / 10	12-03-2020	Ultimately The Pathless is a very good game, with exceptional art direction and an interesting (if a bit shallow) story. I loved the interactions between The Hunter and her eagle, and found the boss battles to be a high point. The game’s six hour runtime helps to keep the somewhat repetitive gameplay loop from becoming tedious, but it also means it’s more difficult to justify the game’s $40 price tag. I believe that with some expanded lore and a lot more variety in the puzzles on display, Giant Squid could have easily stretched the game out to 10-15 hours. Still, The Pathless is undeniably a great game and a worthy (and unique) addition to the PS5 launch lineup.	Read review

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About The Pathless

Game Description / Storyline:

The Pathless is a mythic adventure where you play as the Hunter, a skilled archer who explores a mysterious cursed island with an eagle companion. Your goal is to lift an unnatural shroud of darkness that plagues the world. As you bound acrobatically through dense forests, you will hunt prey, discover ancient ruins, and form a deep bond with your eagle. But beware: dangerous spirits also lurk in the woods. If you aren’t careful, you may become the hunted yourself.

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