There’s a new indie game out at the moment called The Path (by Tale of Tales). They call it “a short horror game” but in essence it’s much, much more than that. For starters, the game has a terrific style that is highly atmospheric and utterly creepy and earned the team an Independent Games Festival nomination for Excellence in Visual Arts. And what’s more is that it’s music has been composed by none other than Jarboe and Kris Force. Yes, I’m not lying. When I started playing this game yesterday my expectations were thus very high and so far the game has not caused me any disappointment.
The gameplay is nothing short of amazing. It starts off in an apartment and lets players choose the character they want to play as. Then you are given a very simple task (appropriated from Little Red Riding Hood): “Go to Grandmother’s house, and stay on the path.” And so I that’s exactly what I did with ease in 5 minutes. Apart from being creeped out a little bit I made it to the grandmother’s house and was subsequently given my score, which was “D”. Feeling a bit taken aback and not understanding what had just happened, I decided to play the game again. I chose a different character, started it up and I was yet again presented with the simple task of going to the girl’s grandmother’s house and (this is emphasised) not veering off the path.
Intuitively, I then felt that the key to the game must be to subvert the the task and to go off the path. So I did, and what I experienced was nothing short of breathtaking: entire worlds of narratives and areas to explore unrestrained by contrived and cliched gaming tasks (such as “defeat this monster, progress to the next level” etc).
As I began to explore the brooding world The Path is set in, it dawned on me that it would take AGES to fully explore everything, especially with the 8 different characters who apparently interact with the world, people and objects differently. Tale of Tales describe the game as a “slow game”. In such a technologically-driven medium there seems to be an emphasis on action, and as a result a majority of the games that are coming out are frantic and hectic (which doesn’t have to be a bad thing, as the brilliant new Pop Cap game Plants versus Zombies proves quite well).
I’m yet to fully explore the game and give it the attention it deserves, but according to Wikipedia apparently your level and depth of interaction changes the final scene of the game in the girls’ grandmother’s house. This brings me to another point, which is that even if you are not interesting in gaming, this is a perfect example of an interactive, digital narrative, marked by non-linear chronology and subjectivity. For any of you interested in narrative and stories that are pushing boundaries, I’ve just talked about one of the best examples I’ve seen out today.
The Path is available for a measley US$9.99 from this location.
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