PATHOS

About

PATHOS is a single player casual puzzle game. It was developed by The Brofessionals and was released on December 5, 2017. It received positive reviews from players.

In PATHOS, a resilient mind is strangled by tragedy and loses its order. Through 150+ deviously-designed sokoban-style puzzles, follow Ego as it works desperately to put back together a brain that’s losing the will to fight.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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88%

Audience ScoreBased on 32 reviews

story4 positive mentions

grinding1 negative mentions

PATHOS offers deeply challenging and well-designed Sokoban-style puzzles that require significant strategic thinking and provide a rewarding mental workout.
The atmospheric soundtrack and minimalist, nostalgic pixel art style create a calming yet immersive environment that complements the cerebral gameplay.
The intriguing narrative and thematic elements woven through the puzzles add emotional depth and motivation to progress, distinguishing it from typical puzzle games.

Some design choices, such as the lack of an undo feature, mandatory move limits, and controls that do not allow holding movement keys, can make the gameplay tedious and frustrating.
Technical issues and broken content, including inaccessible final levels, missing story text, and reliance on external resources for audio clues, detract from the overall experience.
The extreme difficulty and time investment required may be overwhelming or off-putting for casual players, and certain UI/UX aspects (like missing re-readable story logs and visible cursors during gameplay) reduce polish.

story
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
53%
20%
The game's story is intriguingly woven into the puzzle experience, adding meaningful depth and motivation for players, though some find it occasionally pretentious and minimalist in presentation. Reviewers appreciate the thematic connection between levels and story, but note the lack of features like an in-game story archive or voice acting. Overall, the story is seen as a valuable and distinguishing element that enhances engagement beyond standard puzzle gameplay.
- “In Pathos you are a little yellow cube completing an incredible amount of well-crafted levels which takes a lot of brain power and time to figure out. Along the way, you indirectly follow the story of someone's ego, humor, and other personal aspects which makes it a lot more meaningful.”
- “It is this story that makes you carry on through these difficult puzzles and what I think makes this game stand apart from all the other difficult puzzle games.”
- “The use of an interesting storyline in a puzzle game, and it being done well to me is a remarkable thing, and I think that that is one of the reasons that Pathos is different and better than your average puzzle game.”
- “There should be an in-game place to re-read all the story bits without launching every level separately, especially for such a story-heavy game.”
- “The story seemed a bit pretentious from what I've read, but it can be turned off if you only want to concentrate on puzzling.”
- “Please add some voice acting for the story.”
gameplay
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
46%
23%
Gameplay offers a blend of strategic combat, challenging puzzles, and gradual learning through intuitive design, providing dozens of hours of rewarding content. While some critique the lack of bespoke levels and narrative depth, others praise the tension from permadeath mechanics and the game's ability to test player skills without frustrating controls. Overall, it is a rich and engaging experience, especially for fans of challenging puzzle and strategy games.
- “The combat mechanics are satisfyingly strategic, requiring careful positioning, resource management, and quick reflexes to emerge victorious.”
- “The permadeath mechanic adds a layer of tension to each run, compelling players to hone their skills and adapt to the ever-changing challenges of the dungeon.”
- “While the initial learning curve may be steep for some, the game gradually introduces mechanics and strategies through intuitive gameplay and subtle tutorialization.”
- “The developer chose not to do the job of a real game developer and create meaningful bespoke levels, narrative-based gameplay progression, and so on.”
- “For gameplay purposes, because the user interface for this game is mostly just 2D static text/images, it might as well be a web page.”
- “I only wish the dev would fix a few remaining bugs that prevent reaching the final set of levels, but don't let that scare you away: you have dozens of hours of gameplay before you'll even confront that issue.”
music
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
33%
25%
The music in the game features haunting, ambient melodies that perfectly enhance the eerie atmosphere while providing a calming and relaxing backdrop for players facing challenging puzzles. Though the soundtrack has a limited variety, its occasional new tracks and soothing tone help maintain focus without distraction, contributing to an immersive and balanced gameplay experience.
- “The soundtrack, composed of haunting melodies and ambient soundscapes, sets the mood perfectly, immersing players in the eerie atmosphere of the underworld.”
- “The soundtrack of Pathos, while on its own not phenomenal, is almost perfect for the game. It calms the player who at times will want to breathe heavily and mumble swears, but instead feels at ease with the calming visuals and peaceful music in the background, encouraging a moment to take a breath.”
- “I think for a game with difficult puzzles, this was probably the best choice for a soundtrack— not distracting the player from their primary objective but providing relaxation and the realization that it’s just a game to keep the player sane and going.”
- “Right now there's not a ton of different music selections, but one thing I do like about it is that every once in a while a new music track will slip into the game's playlist at a random stage of progress.”
- “The soundtrack of Pathos, while on its own not phenomenal, is almost perfect for the game. It calms the player who at times will want to breathe heavily and mumble swears; instead of that happening, I felt at ease with the calming visuals and peaceful music in the background.”
- “Right now there's not a ton of different music selections, but one thing I do like about it is that every once in a while a new music track will slip into the game's playlist at a random stage of progress.”
graphics
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
46%
27%
The graphics of "Pathos" are minimalist and simplistic, lacking modern polish but offering a nostalgic, pixel art style that appeals to fans of classic RPGs. While some users criticize it as lackluster or worse than older games, others find the visuals charming and well-suited to the puzzle gameplay, complementing the calming atmosphere of the game.
- “While Pathos' pixel art visuals may not dazzle with cutting-edge graphics, they possess a nostalgic charm that harkens back to the golden age of classic RPGs.”
- “The graphics are simplistic but polished, which is just right for a puzzle game of this difficulty.”
- “While not the focus of the game, graphics are slick, and the soundtrack is pleasant.”
- “Pathos is a ripoff of Sokoban (at least the developers admit it) that somehow has even worse graphics than the old 1990s flash game, which almost requires effort to do a job that badly.”
- “This game features very lackluster minimalist 'art' for graphics instead of anything remotely contemporary.”
- “Yes, contemporary 3D graphics take a lot of time and effort to create.”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor is subtle and tied to the introspective, personal themes conveyed through puzzle-related text, offering a meaningful and thoughtful experience rather than overt comedy. However, some players find the humor unclear or lacking in traditional funniness.
- “In Pathos you are a little yellow cube completing an incredible amount of well-crafted levels which takes a lot of brain power and time to figure out; along the way, you indirectly follow the story of someone’s ego, humor, and other personal aspects, which makes it a lot more meaningful.”
- “Each puzzle has a certain amount of text reflecting aspects of a person’s thoughts, including their humor and ego, which are personified in the game.”
- “Isn’t it funny?”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere is highly immersive, featuring intricately detailed environments enhanced by atmospheric lighting and particle effects, complemented by a haunting soundtrack that perfectly sets the eerie mood of the underworld.
- “The environments are intricately detailed, with atmospheric lighting and particle effects adding depth to the dungeon-crawling experience.”
- “The soundtrack, composed of haunting melodies and ambient soundscapes, sets the mood perfectly, immersing players in the eerie atmosphere of the underworld.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Users highlight "Pathos" for its exceptional replayability, consistently rating it highly and emphasizing its strong value in encouraging multiple playthroughs.
- “Where Pathos truly shines is in its replay value.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users find the grinding in the game unnecessarily tedious and cumbersome, adding little to the challenge but significantly increasing the monotony.
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game effectively combines challenging gameplay with poignant emotional scenes, exploring memories from a person's mind to create a deep and clever narrative experience.
- “It gets really clever and difficult later, while presenting emotional scenes from a memory of a person's mind.”