3 years 6 months ago
The Pathless, the second game from Abzu developer Giant Squid, is an ambitious step forward for the studio — alongside being a PS5 launch game, it’s the first open-world game for Giant Squid, one that’s both inspired by the genre’s best while also hoping to subvert some open-world norms to better immerse the player in its beautiful, mysterious island setting.
And while its open-world trappings are certainly worth diving into, one of its most interesting choices is in its main gameplay hook — it’s a game in which a bow and arrow is your main weapon, but you don’t have to worry about aiming all that much. It’s a strange idea in concept, but one that works from my time watching Giant Squid’s Matt Nava demo the game and my own hands-on time with it.
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May Your Aim Be True
Taking on the role of the Hunter, players navigate The Pathless’ open-world on foot, or by gliding through the air with a newly met eagle companion. And sure, you could plod along at your basic running speed, but all throughout the island are these red, diamond-shaped markers floating in the air. Hit them and your boost meter – present at the bottom of the screen – will start to fill up.
You can drain this meter to launch yourself into a smooth, speedy sprint, shooting down other markers as you go to keep your bar from totally depleting and, more importantly, keep your momentum up.
Rather than aiming it’s all about timing — hit a marker as you’re running to continue your boost, then jump, shoot another marker, and use the momentum from that shot to glide further than if you had just initiated it from standing still. Timing is the main concern — you can see a meter fill up around the marker as you hold the right trigger down to shoot.