Pathless Woods

About

"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.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

+11

88%

Audience ScoreBased on 326 reviews

graphics24 positive mentions

grinding60 negative mentions

The game features a highly engaging base building system that allows for creativity and manipulation of terrain.
It has a charming visual style and a cozy atmosphere, making it enjoyable for casual play.
The food and nutrition mechanics add depth to gameplay, encouraging players to explore and experiment with cooking.

There is no controller support, which limits accessibility for some players.
The character movement is slow and can feel cumbersome, detracting from the overall flow of the game.
The game suffers from various bugs and performance issues, particularly with teleportation and combat mechanics.

graphics
62 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
56%
5%
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their cute and charming aesthetic, which enhances the cozy farming and survival experience. However, some players have noted performance issues, such as low frame rates and object loading problems, that detract from the overall enjoyment. While the art style is considered refreshing and visually appealing, there are calls for better optimization to improve accessibility and performance.
- “I really recommend the game for lovers of the genre, the graphics are pleasant.”
- “A solid survival/farming game with nice base building options and charming graphics.”
- “The cute art style is refreshing and reminds you 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.”
grinding
62 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
2%
2%
97%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be enjoyable and well-integrated, particularly praising the farming, crafting, and building mechanics. While some note a learning curve due to the game's complexity, many appreciate the streamlined inventory management and the ability to set their own pace, making it feel less tedious. Overall, the game strikes a balance between cozy gameplay and engaging survival elements, appealing to fans of both genres.
- “Not too grindy for single player.”
- “Farming planning is also a mess.”
- “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.”
- “I hope there will be a way to just repair armor, weapons, tools, etc. to make it less tedious.”
gameplay
58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
72%
7%
The gameplay is praised for its depth and variety, featuring unique mechanics such as crafting, building, and a nutrition system that encourages strategic meal planning. While the game offers a fun exploration experience and creative freedom, some players noted issues with endgame balancing and AI bugs, indicating that further polishing is needed. Overall, the game is seen as a promising addition to the survival genre, with regular updates enhancing the experience.
- “I love the freedom to build my own structures and craft a variety of clothing items and weapons, which adds so much depth to the gameplay.”
- “The game has good potential and has interesting mechanics, even gathering has a minigame that can keep you interested without it feeling forced. The nutrition and building system is definitely interesting.”
- “Survival contains mechanics that encourage you to plan your meals for maximum nutritional benefit and bring clothing appropriate for the climate.”
- “At first blush, I wasn't a fan of the gameplay.”
- “I got about 35 hours of gameplay before the poor endgame balancing became annoying.”
- “There's no end goal; the gear (and gear crafting) have excessive mechanics that feel meaningless, as in, they're in the game just to have a bunch of extra text to read without having any real impact on the game, and it doesn't feel very survival-y.”
story
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
79%
9%
The game's story is described as somewhat disjointed, with early quests being too easy followed by a sudden spike in difficulty, leading to frustration. While there is a main storyline and various side quests that allow for exploration and community building, many players find the quests to be boring and lacking depth. Overall, the narrative has potential for expansion, but currently feels underdeveloped and disconnected from gameplay mechanics.
- “It has a story to follow with several side quests.”
- “You can farm or hunt to secure your food, build a whole community if you want, attack enemy camps to find treasure, or run the main quest line to unlock the map and find allies along the way!”
- “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 have a connection to why players have to do it in order to increase their health/stamina or finish the quests.”
- “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.”
- “First few quests were too easy, and then there was a big jump where one quest made you die too many times.”
optimization
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
71%
14%
The optimization of the game has received significant criticism, particularly regarding performance issues and control schemes, especially on the Steam Deck. Many players report frequent frame rate drops, limited view distances, and various bugs, indicating that the game is not fully optimized for a smooth experience. While the vibrant visuals are appreciated, the current performance problems detract from overall enjoyment, suggesting that further optimization is essential for broader accessibility and player satisfaction.
- “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.”
- “The aesthetic is pleasant with vibrant visuals, but performance issues impede enjoyment of this as grass and other objects load mere meters in front of the player as they explore.”
- “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).”
- “Can't recommend based on terrible Steam Deck optimizations and controls.”
- “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).”
- “- Still not completely optimized and playing the game where I can see the grass/foliage just gives me less than 20 FPS.”
stability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is frequently criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs affecting AI mechanics, audio, and controls, leading to a frustrating experience. Issues such as unintuitive UI, lack of sound effects for various actions, and problems with the lock-on system contribute to an overall sense of instability. While players appreciate the game's unique theme and creative elements, the technical shortcomings significantly detract from the enjoyment.
- “The UI is unintuitive, the controls weren't great, and overall the experience felt a bit buggy.”
- “AI mechanics are buggy; some will do nothing even with items on hand, and teleporting with following NPCs caused them to get stuck on top of a signboard and do nothing, even if you build a platform for them to walk down.”
- “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. There are no sounds for actions like watering plants, scooping water, drinking, walking, or cutting plants, and audio matters a lot to me.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
50%
The music in the game is praised for its beauty and suitability, enhancing the relaxing atmosphere of the gameplay. Players appreciate the fitting soundtrack and express a desire for more musical content to enrich their experience.
- “Beautiful landscapes and music, great for a relaxing downtime gameplay!”
- “Music is nice and fits well.”
- “The combination of beautiful landscapes and music creates a perfect atmosphere for relaxation.”
- “The game desperately needs more music variety.”
- “The soundtrack is repetitive and lacks depth.”
- “I found the music to be uninspiring and forgettable.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Players highlight the game's strong replayability due to its potential for future expansions, including new playable characters, regions, and systems. The existing framework suggests a wealth of content that could be added, making the game's replay value seem virtually limitless.
- “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.”
- “The game has a solid foundation with the promise of future updates, which makes me excited to replay it and explore new content.”
- “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, new resource usages, etc. It's such a good start that the potential here seems limitless.”
- “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.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users find humor in the absurdity of casually deciding to flatten a field, highlighting a playful and whimsical approach to the game's mechanics. This lightheartedness adds an enjoyable layer to the overall experience.
- “Being able to look at a field and say 'yeah, let's flatten this' is kind of funny.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the emotional impact of the game particularly poignant, noting that it is heartbreaking to confront and kill the adults that charge at them, highlighting a deep sense of conflict and sorrow in their actions.
- “It's heartbreaking to kill the adults that run at you.”