The Pathless Review (Aosaginohi)
First and foremost, this game is absolutely gorgeous. Giant Squid has stepped up their environment creation and design while still holding onto their signature look, with several nods to ABZU throughout. The story is nothing super innovative but it is done well, and it can easily be pieced together with a bit of exploring. You can pet the eagle, so really that makes up for everything.
The music is by Austin Wintory, and so it is phenomenal. Need I say more?
Yes, the main gameplay loop is rather repetitive. If it's your cup of tea, there are collectibles that reward you with upgrades should you find them all. Otherwise, it's a "collect seal, break barrier, defeat boss, rinse, repeat" sort of deal. However, in my opinion this isn't a terrible thing for this game. Had GS tried to shoehorn in a bunch of other mechanics to try and fluff it out, there would be half-dangling strings of ideas left everywhere with no conclusion. The way the game is, is concise with a main mechanic that it does really well. The bosses are what really shines. Each has a common theme between them, but they are all still unique in ways that keeps each section engaging and force you to pay attention lest you be caught unawares.
The auto-targeting system is very intuitive and quick to allow for that build-up of speed. The only issues I seemed to run across was my character not wanting to fire her bow from time to time. If I was in a rhythm it didn't seem to crop up, but if I was knocked out of it sometimes the Hunter would simply refuse to fire for a few seconds. Nothing major, but it did get irritating in those little in-between moments.
I did manage to sequence break this game, despite it being "open-world". I had traveled up the side of the mountain (in a way I apparently was very much not supposed to do), and accidentally came back down onto the wrong plateau. I was summarily accosted by a boss I had not triggered any cutscenes for, nor ever encountered before. I then had to reload a previous save, losing about 15 minutes of progress, to be able to return to the correct plateau that I had not been able to find in my panic. So do be aware that it can be quite easy to make the game go squirrel-y if you explore a bit to well.
Overall, the game seems to be optimized really well and that's with the highest visual settings on. The only lag I ever noticed was during the transitions into cutscenes, never during the gameplay which is a plus given how much speed you can gather and how fast-paced the boss fights can become.
It took a little under 12 hours to 100% the game, so it's a nice little adventure. Is it $40 grade? Not so much. However, if you can catch it in a sale I would definitely recommend you pick up this game.