Spirit vision does away with a traditional map and makes navigating an immersive experience that ties into exploration and happens directly in the world itself.īut as you explore, there is a threat to contend with: giant cursed spirits that are the source of the dark curse that plagues the world. This creates an interesting loop in gameplay where you cycle between elevations: When you are up high, you get more navigation information and can fly further when you are on the ground you can explore the detailed ruins and forests to discover secrets. Getting up higher above the trees lets you see further, and therefore see more landmarks with spirit vision as well. Since it is in the world, how much navigation information you can gather from it depends on your vantage point and how much you can see. It overlays a “heatmap” that illustrates where you have been directly on the terrain, and highlights distant points of interest like a sonar ping. The Hunter has a magical mask that lets her see into the spirit world. So how do we get away without a map? The answer- which took us years of design iteration to discover- is the spirit mask. The cursed island that you explore in The Pathless is large- many kilometers across- and covered in dense forests. Combine that with the archery dashing mechanics, and traveling even great distances is a rewarding, joyful experience. This means that fast travel is never really needed. This allows you to reach higher areas and glide further- as you increase the area of the world you can traverse, your ability to traverse it also increases.
The pathless gameplay upgrade#
As you discover secrets in the world, you will collect crystals- which let you upgrade the amount of times you can flap in the air. As you glide, the eagle slowly loses altitude- but you can use a flap to gain a quick burst of upward lift.
The eagle is also central to movement – its ability to carry you while flying is a key component of the way you get around. It’s a satisfying, moment to moment action that keeps you engaged with the space, and can even become meditative when you get in the rhythm. Chaining shots will let you keep your speed up, and each successful shot will give you a mini turbo boost, even in the air. Shooting talismans- ethereal, floating targets scattered across the landscape- will fill your dash meter. The Hunter moves fast, bounding through the forest at high speeds.
It launched us on a multi-year long journey to figure out new ways to address the issues those mechanics normally solve.įluid, dynamic movement is at the core of The Pathless. We made the choice early on to remove these elements to sharpen the sense of immersion and atmosphere. These common design elements work great in many games- but for ours, we didn’t like how they pull you out of the world and remind you that you are in a game. We wanted to encourage players to explore organically and develop an understanding of the space as they play, which led us to break convention with most open world games in a few key ways: There’s no fast travel, there’s no map, and there’s no game over. The Pathless is all about finding your own way forward, so an open world design fit the experience and themes perfectly.
The pathless gameplay full#
All I’ll say for now is that we found a different, simple solution that allows you to keep moving at full speed while shooting targets, pulling off cool chains of bullseyes as you navigate. In many games, it’s difficult to run while also lining up shots, so they often turn on slow-motion while you are moving quickly and aiming. We wanted to make cool trick shots effortless while you run, jump, and even glide with the help of your eagle. To let you truly feel the Hunter’s skill and agility, we took a unique approach to the design of our archery mechanics. The Hunter is graceful and moves smoothly through the forest with the eagle flying close beside her. The bond with your eagle and the fate of the world hang in the balance. Explore misty forests full of secrets, solve puzzles in ancient ruins, and test your skill in epic battles. If you aren’t careful, you may become the hunted yourself. But beware: dangerous spirits also lurk in the woods. As you bound acrobatically through dense forests, you will hunt prey, discover ancient ruins, and form a deep bond with your eagle. Your goal is to lift an unnatural shroud of darkness that plagues the world.
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