Pathless Woods
- April 2, 2024
- AniYa Games Studio
- 30h median play time
Get on Steam"Pathless Woods" is a crafting and survival game set in a mysterious ancient Chinese landscape. Build structures, explore with friends, and brave elements and threats while uncovering secrets and discovering treasures. Marvel at the detailed environments and NPC interactions as you forge your path in this immersive experience.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features a fun and cozy survival sim experience with charming graphics and a unique food and crafting system that encourages exploration and creativity.
- Building mechanics are highly praised, allowing for a great deal of customization and flexibility in creating structures, with the ability to move entire buildings easily.
- The game has a deep and engaging food system that requires players to balance nutrition and physique, adding a layer of strategy to survival gameplay.
- The game suffers from numerous bugs and performance issues, including glitches that can disrupt gameplay and a lack of optimization for certain hardware.
- Combat mechanics are criticized for being clunky and unresponsive, making it difficult to engage effectively with enemies.
- Many players find the game overly complex and demanding, with a steep learning curve and a lack of clear guidance on mechanics, leading to frustration.
- grinding26 mentions
- 12 % positive mentions
- -8 % neutral mentions
- 96 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game is generally viewed as manageable and engaging, with players appreciating the balance between farming, crafting, and combat. While some find the farming mechanics require clever planning and can be a bit overwhelming, many enjoy the streamlined systems that prevent the experience from becoming tedious. Overall, the game offers a cozy yet challenging environment that allows players to set their own pace, making it appealing for those who enjoy a mix of survival and farming elements.
“Not too grindy for single player.”
“The grinding feels rewarding and balanced, making progress satisfying.”
“I appreciate how the grind is integrated into the story, keeping it engaging.”
“You don't even need to try to survive; abundant food, auto-farming resources, the system is nicely designed, though it's just more of a cozy social game than a survival game.”
“Farming planning is also a mess.”
“I hope there will be a way to just repair armor, weapons, tools, etc. to make it less tedious.”
- gameplay25 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 68 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a unique blend of survival mechanics, including detailed hunger and nutrition systems, crafting, and building creativity, which provide a fresh experience in the sandbox genre. While players appreciate the depth and variety of mechanics, some have noted issues with endgame balancing, AI bugs, and a lack of clear objectives, suggesting that the game still requires polishing as it remains in early access. Overall, the game offers a fun and engaging experience, though it may take time for players to fully grasp its complexities.
“Love the hunger and physique mechanics.”
“Survival contains mechanics that encourage you to plan your meals for maximum nutritional benefit and bring clothing appropriate for the climate.”
“It's got a lot of smart new, unique mechanics to the genre.”
“I got about 35 hours of gameplay before the poor endgame balancing became annoying.”
“There are promising mechanics, but as it's in early access, there's a lot of polishing needed.”
“There's no end goal; the gear and gear crafting have excessive mechanics that feel meaningless, as if they're just there to add extra text without any real impact on the game.”
- graphics25 mentions
- 32 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their charming and cute art style, which enhances the overall experience despite being less detailed and realistic. While many players appreciate the aesthetic appeal and scenic environments, some have noted issues with graphics optimization that affect performance. Overall, the visuals contribute positively to the game's fun and creative atmosphere, though improvements in optimization could broaden its accessibility.
“A solid survival/farming game with nice base building options and charming graphics.”
“The graphics are nice and there's a lot to do in a day.”
“The cute art style is refreshing and reminds you that games are meant to be fun and not taken so seriously.”
“First, the graphics engine needs serious work.”
“I have a GTX 1060 6GB and an i5 8600K, and my game is at 30fps with 'normal' graphics enabled.”
“I'm not big into graphics, but I did want to be able to have somewhat nice visuals as I play too. Maybe if it gets better I will repurchase, but as of right now I think I'll wait and see.”
- story16 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The game's story is perceived as disjointed and lacking coherence, with early quests being too easy followed by a sudden spike in difficulty. While players appreciate the potential for character development and world interaction, many find the quests boring and the overall narrative underwhelming, expressing hope for future expansions and improvements as the game is still in early access. The crafting and survival elements are seen as engaging, but the quest design and pacing need refinement to enhance player immersion.
“I hope that the storyline can be extended and there's lots more quests along with the gameplay.”
“The character interaction with the story is coming along nicely, I think.”
“The way the world moves is beautiful, the fighting is great, the story is great, how the world affects you and the crafting... overall this game is great and should be a standard, in some areas, for survivals.”
“The game just seems so random, and whatever the producers did to gain health/stamina and complete quests doesn't really connect to why players have to do it.”
“The quests are boring and disengaging; there's a lot to explore but it feels like there's minimal to discover, and there are still bugs where you won't get key blueprints at the beginning of the game.”
“It's still in early access, so I'm not sure how deep these systems and the main quest go, and there are some balance issues, especially with combat and nutrition management.”
- optimization13 mentions
- 15 % positive mentions
- 62 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The optimization of the game has received significant criticism, with many users reporting performance issues, bugs, and poor controls, particularly on the Steam Deck. While some players have experienced smooth gameplay, others face severe frame rate drops and limited view distances, indicating that further optimization is necessary to enhance accessibility and overall performance. Overall, the game is seen as needing substantial improvements in graphics optimization and control mechanics to reach its full potential.
“If these two aspects—graphics optimization and control simplification—are addressed, Pathless Woods could have a bright future, as it would be more accessible to a wider audience.”
“So far so good, played it for a few hours and no performance issues at all.”
“Can't recommend based on terrible Steam Deck optimizations and controls.”
“Tons of bugs, bad optimization.”
“I'm loving the game so far but I'm experiencing lots of performance issues at times (even having a decent device - RTX 4070 8GB with 32GB of RAM).”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is currently hindered by various bugs, particularly in AI mechanics and audio, with issues such as NPCs getting stuck and inconsistent sound effects for character actions. While players appreciate the game's unique theme and creative elements, the technical glitches detract from the overall experience.
“The AI mechanics are buggy; some NPCs do nothing even when they have the necessary items. Teleporting with a following NPC caused it to get stuck on top of a signboard and remain unresponsive, even when I built a platform for it to walk down.”
“Currently, the lock-on system is a bit buggy, but I'm sure that will get sorted out soon enough.”
“The audio is very buggy. If you play as the first female character option, she doesn't have any footstep sound effects, while the male character does. Actions like watering plants, scooping water, drinking, walking, and cutting plants have no sound at all, and audio matters a lot to me.”
- music3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- -67 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The music in the game is praised for its beauty and suitability, enhancing the relaxing atmosphere of the gameplay. Players appreciate how well the soundtrack complements the stunning landscapes, contributing to an overall enjoyable experience.
“Beautiful landscapes and music, great for a relaxing downtime gameplay!”
“The music is nice and fits well.”
“There needs to be more variety in the music tracks.”
“The soundtrack feels repetitive and lacks depth.”
“I wish there were more music options to choose from.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Reviewers highlight the game's strong replayability due to its potential for future expansions, including additional playable characters, new systems, and regions. The anticipation of new content and features suggests a limitless capacity for replay value, making it an exciting prospect for players.
“I believe this is because they have slots in the game for a variety of future playable characters, and those characters will have skins as well.”
“It's pretty obvious where the game will add more content, like more playable characters, a livestock system, additional tiers including iron, more regions, possibly new follower types, and new resource usages. It's such a good start that the potential here seems limitless.”
“It's pretty obvious where the game will add more content, like more playable characters, a livestock system, more tiers including iron, more regions, maybe more follower types, and new resource usages. It's such a good start that the potential here seems limitless.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the emotional impact of the game to be significant, particularly feeling heartbreak when forced to harm adult characters that approach them, highlighting the game's ability to evoke strong feelings of empathy and conflict.
“It's heartbreaking to kill the adults that run at you.”
