The Path

Background

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 tempations 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.

Game Play

The Path is a short horror game inspired by older versions of Little Red Ridinghood, 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.

The 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.

The Path is a Slow Game. 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 of its origins in fairy tales, The Path is decidedly a game for the mature mind.

Features

The Path is an independently created videogame. It was developed with digital distribution in mind. But despite the small file size of the installer, 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. In fact, there are hardly any sound effects in the game. Instead the music is continuously changing according to what’s 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 8 hours to complete the game.

Hardware Info

The Path requires a recent Mac suitable for realtime 3D gaming with Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later installed. At least 2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 1 GB of RAM and a recent Radeon or Geforce video card of at least x6xx type with 256MB VRAM or better. Integrated videocards are not supported. Mac Pro, iMac or MacBook Pro recommended.
The file size of the download is 290 MB.