Website: http://tale-of-tales.com/ThePath
I have a problem with this game, being that I don't know if it is one at all. Much like with Noby Noby Boy, most times I start talking or writing about it, I end questioning the nature of games, their purpose and means. Where does the game end and the art begin? Is it even a game? It is only fitting that The Path is the first review I upload, as the questions it raises regarding the whole industry are the reason why this blog is called GameNotGame.
What is The Path?
The Path is not funny, but intriguing, not pretty, while attractive, nor familiar, yet easy to relate to. It has a message, but not a speech, a challenge, but no difficulty.
The Path, as a product, is defined by how few of the definitions of videogame it matches, yet it could still be one. It is labelled an "art game", and done with, or a non game, by its very creators, and thrown in a completely different basket. In my opinion, it is simply the wording that is wrong. Twilight and A Widow for one Year are both novels, but their artistic merits are separated by eons.
Sincerely, I don't care that much if it is a game or not. I loved the time I spent with the girls and their lifes, trying to figure out what the designers were telling me through them, reflecting on what I could learn from their fragmented tales.
The Path, as a game, is defined by its shortcomings. The controls are not the best possible, the mechanics fuzzy at times, the objective misguiding. However, Tale of Tales has built the game on these issues, making them a part of the experience, part of the metaphore. Life as a teenager is not clear, the faster you run through it, the less you know where you'll end, the slower, the less you'll achieve.
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