The Path

About

The Path is a horror game based on Little Red Riding Hood, where six sisters must journey through a forest to their sick grandmother's house while staying on the path. However, the game encourages players to break rules and explore, resulting in different outcomes and experiences. It's a game about making choices, accepting consequences, and embracing life, even if it means accepting death.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

+13

80%

Audience ScoreBased on 630 reviews

story31 positive mentions

gameplay12 negative mentions

The game offers a unique and haunting atmosphere, drawing players into a surreal experience.
Each character has a distinct personality and story, allowing for deep emotional engagement.
The art style and soundtrack are beautifully crafted, enhancing the overall experience.

The gameplay is slow and can feel tedious, with a lack of clear objectives.
Controls can be clunky and frustrating, making navigation difficult.
The story is vague and open to interpretation, which may leave some players feeling confused or unsatisfied.

story
233 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
82%
5%
The game's story is highly interpretive and fragmented, relying on players to piece together the narratives of six girls as they navigate a dark, atmospheric forest inspired by the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. While some players appreciate the artistic and abstract storytelling, others find it lacking coherence and depth, leading to mixed feelings about its effectiveness as a narrative experience. Overall, it appeals to those who enjoy exploration and symbolism over traditional storytelling, but may frustrate players seeking a clear plot or action-oriented gameplay.
- “If you like creepy ambiance and a carefully crafted art style, along with a story that you can analyze in different ways, then this game is a must-recommend.”
- “The uniqueness of each girl's wolf and storyline adds depth to the experience, making it a game where you discover the characters along the way.”
- “The story is very approachable, though a little too mature for most casual players; it's dark and moody, exploring uncomfortable themes that are never explicitly stated, merely implied.”
- “The story is really bad.”
- “This is not a game so much as a picture book of tragedies, and if you just want to see the story unfold, find it on YouTube and save your money.”
- “The story is hidden in such a way that you have to complete the game 100%, meaning collecting every memory, to get the full thing; otherwise, the game can honestly be quite confusing.”
gameplay
105 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
79%
11%
The gameplay is primarily a slow-paced walking simulator focused on exploration and interaction with the environment, where players navigate through a forest to trigger memories and dialogues. While some players appreciate the atmospheric and artistic elements, many criticize the lack of traditional gameplay mechanics, repetitive tasks, and clunky controls, leading to a feeling of aimlessness. Overall, the experience is polarizing, appealing more to those who value narrative and ambiance over action and complex gameplay.
- “The core gameplay consists of walking around the woods as each of the sisters and running into objects/areas that (hopefully) trigger a memory/dialogue.”
- “The path is really quite a trip and an experience as long as you are good with slow pacing, not obvious clues, and exploration as the main gameplay.”
- “The gameplay is simple, but it allows you to enjoy the game all the more.”
- “The gameplay is ultimately pretty mediocre, with it being mostly a walking simulator where you travel through the woods and encounter various locations like a lake, fields of flowers, or an old theatre.”
- “There's no actual gameplay outside of exploration--it's essentially a very beautiful, creepy walking simulator.”
- “The gameplay is aimless-feeling, and has lots of collecting.”
music
105 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
59%
9%
The music in the game is a polarizing aspect, with many players praising its haunting and atmospheric qualities that enhance the eerie experience, while others find it repetitive and annoying over time. The soundtrack, composed by notable artists, effectively sets a surreal and unsettling tone, contributing significantly to the game's overall ambiance. Despite some criticisms regarding its repetitiveness, the music is often described as memorable and integral to the game's emotional impact.
- “The music is beautifully sinister, a creeping nail in the back of your brain.”
- “The music, the graphics, plus the work on the shading, blended with the subtle characterization of the girls, bring into being a wonderful game.”
- “The atmosphere is hauntingly beautiful and to no small credit to the music that plays you through your exploration through the seemingly endless, dark wood.”
- “The music is kinda annoying, and the horror aspect goes away quite fast, as soon as you realize you're not really in danger.”
- “The empty landscape and uneventful gameplay negates any of the atmosphere the game is trying to create with the soundtrack.”
- “Add on top of that a soundtrack that aims to be unsettling but just proves annoying, and you've got a cacophony of ideas that - put simply - combine together in a way that made me want to cry out in physical pain.”
atmosphere
99 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
45%
5%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its haunting beauty and surreal, psychological horror elements, creating an eerie and immersive experience that captivates players. While some find the gameplay minimalistic and slow-paced, the art style, sound design, and visual storytelling effectively contribute to a deeply unsettling yet thought-provoking ambiance. Overall, it appeals to fans of atmospheric and unconventional horror, though it may not resonate with everyone due to its abstract nature and lack of traditional gameplay mechanics.
- “This game's atmosphere is unmatched when it comes to surreal, psychological horror.”
- “The atmosphere is amazing; even though the graphics are dated, the art style shines through.”
- “It's an atmospheric game, and the developers create the atmosphere perfectly.”
- “The empty landscape and uneventful gameplay negate any of the atmosphere the game is trying to create with the soundtrack.”
- “I'm really not feeling the atmosphere in this one; it feels pretentious and forced.”
- “The awkward controls and non-sequitur surrealism created a constant frustration that undermined what looked like a sincere attempt at unsettling atmosphere and imagery.”
graphics
97 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
55%
8%
The graphics of the game are a polarizing aspect, with many players appreciating its unique and haunting art style that complements the eerie atmosphere, despite acknowledging that the visuals are dated and occasionally marred by graphical glitches. While some find the aesthetic compelling and fitting for the game's themes, others criticize the low-resolution graphics and overuse of filters, suggesting that a graphical update could enhance the experience. Overall, the visuals are often described as beautiful and creative, contributing significantly to the game's storytelling and emotional impact, even if they lack modern polish.
- “This game is gorgeous and very aesthetically pleasing.”
- “The atmosphere is amazing; even though the graphics are dated, the art style shines through.”
- “Beautiful visuals that I don't think the dated models take away from at all; in fact, I think it adds to it at times.”
- “Graphics options are limited when it comes to post-processing effects; some of these effects are annoying, while others plainly hurt my eyes. Being able to enable and disable effects would be pretty cool.”
- “The graphics are jagged and low-res, which has been adjusted for with the art style, but better graphics and resolution would have helped bring out more in this title.”
- “Basically, you walk through a boring, endless forest with a disgusting color palette, terrible graphical filters, and scratched words with an illegible annoying font going across the screen for no reason.”
emotional
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its ability to evoke deep feelings and personal connections, with players describing it as a touching and haunting experience that can lead to tears and introspection. While some find its artistic pretentiousness detracts from its emotional impact, many appreciate the unique interactive storytelling that allows for profound emotional resonance. Overall, it is recognized as a deeply emotional journey that requires personal investment and can leave a lasting impression on players.
- “It is touching, on multiple levels.”
- “Fantastic, deeply emotional experience.”
- “Video games are a unique artistic medium because they allow the player to interact with the story and characters in ways that no other medium can easily do, and that allows them to give unique, involving, and emotional experiences that you can't get in other mediums.”
replayability
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
54%
23%
The game's replayability is a mixed bag; while some players find it infinitely replayable due to its secrets and randomly generated environments, others feel it lacks depth and only offers minimal replay value after the initial experience. Suggestions for improvements, such as mod support or an achievement system, indicate a desire for more engaging content to enhance replayability. Overall, it seems to provide a unique experience that may entice players to revisit, but not everyone finds it compelling enough for multiple playthroughs.
- “Not only that, but the game is full to the brim with secrets, so this game has a lot of replay value if you're patient enough to find all the secrets.”
- “Interactive enough to be a game, pretentious enough to be called artistic, with a good amount of replayability and easter eggs if you go looking for trouble in the woods.”
- “I would really love to see maybe a part 2 or just some sort of mod support, workshop, or achievement system get added to the game to make it more replayable and rewarding to progress through.”
- “Excessive unlockables that just hope to extend the replayability of a game with no gameplay in the first place.”
- “Minimal replay value, but a unique one-time experience.”
grinding
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, often detracting from the initial charm and atmosphere. Many reviewers note that the lack of a map, poor interface, and repetitive soundtrack contribute to a mind-numbing experience, making exploration and gameplay feel laborious. While some appreciate the artistic elements, the overwhelming sentiment is that the game requires excessive grinding that can lead to a loss of enjoyment.
- “The game quickly becomes so tedious that it loses what charm it originally had going for it.”
- “The weakness of the interface makes the basic act of playing through the work tedious and unpleasant.”
- “There's no map system, your character blacks out if you run for too long (making the exploration even more tedious), and you better hope to god you have a damn good memory of where all the memory items are with the lack of landmarks (other than other memory items, that is).”
stability
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
89%
The game's stability is marked by frequent glitches and buggy controls, which can hinder gameplay, especially in critical moments. While some players find these issues manageable given the game's age, others report significant lag and movement problems that detract from the overall experience. Despite these shortcomings, most agree that the game remains playable.
- “The game runs smoothly without any crashes.”
- “I haven't experienced any bugs or glitches during my playthrough.”
- “The performance is consistent, making for a seamless gaming experience.”
- “It is, like, super slow - because, you know, it's a walking sim... and they sure do walk... and if you run you kind of can't see where you're going because it tries to cement that you're panicking, all lost in the woods, with the camera angles and music... it's also full of glitches.”
- “Edit: also the controls are buggy and bad, don't expect even the game's only mechanic to work well.”
- “One direction seems to work (knowing a thing or two about game glitches, I hazard a guess that it's the direction of the house) but after a few steps this fails too, and I am totally unable to move.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers praise the character designs for their uniqueness and attention to detail, highlighting how these elements enhance the overall visual experience of the game. The graphics, while described as serviceable, effectively support the distinctiveness of the characters and their environments.
- “I absolutely love the character designs!”
- “The graphics are serviceable, with unique character designs and attention to minor details; a good example is the receding cityscape in the opening, or how the path disappears once you delve deeper into the forest.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
150%
The game suffers from significant optimization issues, running only in windowed mode without support for modern display resolutions, leading to poor performance on Windows 10. Users report it as unplayable on contemporary gaming PCs, with no indication that the developer plans to address these problems.
- “Totally unplayable on Windows 10 due to performance issues, and it seems these will not be resolved by the developer.”
- “The game suffers from severe optimization problems, leading to frequent crashes and lag.”
- “Even on high-end hardware, the game struggles to maintain a stable frame rate, making it frustrating to play.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is described as unexpectedly strong, with some players finding it more amusing than scary, while others note that it may not be consistently funny but still has its charm.
- “This was supposed to be scary, but it was absolutely hilarious, if I remember correctly.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The monetization aspect of the game is criticized for its apparent focus on advertising, as the narrative suggests a darker theme of the girls being sent off to die, which is ultimately framed as a transition into adulthood. This raises concerns about the ethical implications of the game's marketing strategies.
- “The monetization strategy feels exploitative, prioritizing profit over player experience.”
- “It's frustrating to see so many features locked behind paywalls, making it hard to enjoy the game fully without spending extra money.”
- “The constant push for in-game purchases detracts from the overall enjoyment and immersion of the game.”