The Path

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The Path is a short horror game inspired by older versions of Little Red Riding hood, set in modern day.
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About The Path

About this game

There is one rule in the game. And it needs to be broken.

There is one goal. And when you attain it, you die.


Six sisters live in an apartment in the city. One by one their mother sends them on an errand to their grandmother, who is sick and bedridden. The teenagers are instructed to go to grandmother's house deep in the forest and, by all means, to stay on the path! Wolves are hiding in the woods, just waiting for little girls to stray.

But young women are not exactly known for their obedience, are they? Will they be able to resist the temptations of the forest? Will they stay clear of danger? Can they prevent the ancient tale from being retold?
The Path is a game about growing, about changing, about making choices, about accepting the consequences of these choices. A game about playing, and failing, about embracing life, perhaps by accepting death.

Key Features:
The Path is a short horror game inspired by older versions of Little Red Riding hood, set in modern day.

The Path offers an atmospheric experience of exploration, discovery and introspection through a unique form of gameplay, designed to immerse you deeply into its dark themes.

Every interaction in the game expresses an aspect of the narrative.

The six protagonists each have their own age and personality and allow the player to live through the tale in different ways. Most of the story, however, relies on your active imagination.

he Path is designed with accessibility in mind. There are no ticking clocks or monsters to defeat. No hard puzzles will ever halt your progress. Most activities in the game are entirely optional and voluntary.

The player has all the freedom in the world to explore and experience.

While The Path does not contain any graphic violence or sexuality, it does allude to these themes. The overall melancholy mood of the game and the potentially unsettling course of events, make The Path unsuitable for children. Despite its origins in fairy tales, The Path is decidedly a game for the mature mind.

The game features a complete realtime 3D environment that can be explored through third person navigation. The characters in this virtual world, including the player's avatars, are governed by a form of artificial intelligence that gives them some autonomy. As a result, nobody knows exactly what you will encounter on your journeys.

Next to the multi-layered stylized graphics, The Path features a continuous soundtrack composed by goth rock diva Jarboe (ex-Swans). In fact, there are hardly any sound effects in the game. Instead the music is continuously changing according to what is happening in the game. Like the behaviours of the characters, the music too is never exactly the same twice.

For a satisfying experience, it takes about 6 hours to complete the game.

Game Details

Platform:
steam
Release Date:
March 18, 2009
Developer:
Tale of Tales
Publisher:
Tale of Tales
Supported Languages:
English
Link:

Product Requirements

  • Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP/Vista
  • Processor: 2 Ghz
  • Memory: 1 GB RAM
  • Hard Disk Space: 500 MB
  • Video Card: Recent Geforce® or Radeon® x6xxx 256 MB (no integrated graphics)
  • Sound Card: Any Sound Card
  • DirectX® Version: DirectX® 9.0c

Product Requirements

  • Operating System: Mac OS X 10.8
  • Processor: 2 Ghz
  • Memory: 1 GB RAM
  • Hard Disk Space: 500 MB
  • Video Card: Recent Geforce® or Radeon® x6xxx 256 MB (no integrated graphics)
  • Sound Card: Any Sound Card

Critic Reviews

79

VideoGamer

100 / 100
"It will be years before a game made by the big budget software houses like Ubisoft or EA is brave enough to attempt anything remotely similar, but The Path shows promising...

Gamer.nl

80 / 100
"The Path is not a game, it's art. And damn good art too. If you're open to it, try it and draw your own conclusion."

IGN

77 / 100
"One thing's for sure, regardless of whether you love or hate The Path, you won't forget it."
Reviews provided by MetaCritic

The Path Statistics

Statistics Powered By

Play Time Statistics

0%
10%
20%
30%
40%

Time Played

< 1 Hour
0%
~1 Hour
2.63%
~2 Hours
23.68%
~4 Hours
18.42%
~8 Hours
36.84%
~12 Hours
10.53%
~20 Hours
5.26%
~40 Hours
0%
~60 Hours
0%
>= 80 Hours
2.63%
Achievement Hunter?
2.63% of players played this game for >= 80 Hours!

Difficulty Statistics

Difficulty Rating

Simple
14.29%
Easy
19.05%
Just Right
61.9%
Tough
2.38%
Unforgiving
2.38%
Relax & enjoy! 61.9%  of players consider this game to be Just Right

Completion Statistics

0%
10%
20%
30%
40%

Play Behaviour

Tried It
26.6%
Played It
17.02%
Halfway
1.06%
Beat It
35.11%
Conquered It
20.21%
Completionist! 20.21%  of players have Conquered It
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Help other users by describing what you love about The Path

Frequently Asked Questions

Somewhere in the middle. 33% of GameFAQs users said The Path is Simple or Easy. 62% of GameFAQs users said the difficulty is Just Right.
Yes, The Path is not fully Steam Deck Verified but the publisher says it is "Playable" on Steam Deck. Valve’s testing indicates that The Path is Playable on Steam Deck. This game is functional on Steam Deck, but might require extra effort to interact with or configure.
  • All functionality is accessible when using the default controller configuration
  • This game shows Steam Deck controller icons
  • This game's default graphics configuration performs well on Steam Deck
  • Some in-game text is small and may be difficult to read
  • This game has minor graphics/display issues on Steam Deck
  • Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP/Vista
  • Processor: 2 Ghz
  • Memory: 1 GB RAM
  • Hard Disk Space: 500 MB
  • Video Card: Recent Geforce® or Radeon® x6xxx 256 MB (no integrated graphics)
  • Sound Card: Any Sound Card
  • DirectX® Version: DirectX® 9.0c
  • Operating System: Mac OS X 10.8
  • Processor: 2 Ghz
  • Memory: 1 GB RAM
  • Hard Disk Space: 500 MB
  • Video Card: Recent Geforce® or Radeon® x6xxx 256 MB (no integrated graphics)
  • Sound Card: Any Sound Card
The average playtime for GameFAQs users is 9 hours.
70% of critics on Metacritic recommend The Path. The Metascore is 79 out of 100.
The Path was released on March 18, 2009
Yes, The Path supports MacOS.
The Path is published by Tale of Tales
The Path was developed by Tale of Tales
Fanatical users tagged The Path as Walking Simulator, Exploration, Adventure, and Story Rich
Fanatical users tagged The Path as Horror, Female Protagonist, Surreal, and Atmospheric
Yes, Fanatical users tagged The Path as Walking Simulator
Yes, Fanatical users tagged The Path as Exploration
Yes, Fanatical users tagged The Path as Adventure

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© 2009 Tale of Tales BVBA Developed with the support of Creative Capital, The Flemish Authorities, Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Design Flanders, CultuurInvest, Villanella

Less than 1% of orders are flagged for manual authorization. This process can take up to one working day, but orders are normally reviewed within a few hours.