The Pathless is an open world puzzle RPG game developed by Giant Squid and published by Annapurna Interactive. It sees you playing as a master huntress trying to save the world and its gods from the evil Godslayer.

In many ways, The Pathless strikes a similar note to Giant Squid’s previous title, Abzu. Just like in Abzu, Giant Squid has crafted a game that heavily emphasizes exploration and non-verbal storytelling by providing players with breathtaking vistas and animations that are stylistically similar to titles like 2012’s Journey. The Pathless is largely set in sprawling fields dotted with ancient temples and towers to explore. While most of your surroundings are beautiful and bright, some of the towers are shrouded in a dark orange light, indicating the Godslayer’s evil influence. Playing as a huntress with superb archery skills, it’s up to you to explore these temples and restore the temple’s natural light in the process.

Practically, you can restore towers by collecting golden fragments that allow you to dispel the orange light on top of a corrupted tower. These golden fragments are hidden in different areas in The Pathless’ world. To find them you’ll have to solve object puzzles in the game’s environment or save corrupted gods captured in a similar orange glow.

The game sees you taking on the world alongside a trusty pet eagle sidekick, who can help you move objects or open locked doors. I found the addition of the eagle a great way to make the puzzles feel layered and complex without becoming overly complicated. To me, the puzzles were just engaging enough; you have to use your brain to solve them, but it won’t take you hours to find hidden buttons or switches. In this sense, the puzzles in The Pathless are well balanced and relaxing for both casual and dedicated puzzle fans.

Whether it’s interacting with puzzle clues, gods, or your pet eagle, any story dialogue is minimal in The Pathless. Instead, the game’s story is mostly told through non-verbal story beats and visuals. It feels like The Pathless’ environment actively nudges you to explore every possible inch of the game’s world in order to learn more about the main storyline.

As you progress through the game’s story, you’ll also acquire more and more powers, including the ability to fly with the help of your pet eagle. This, in combination with the spirit meter mechanics in the game, makes for some truly stunning gameplay that sees you soaring through the world at superhuman speed. In my eyes, Giant Squid has successfully struck an incredibly fine balance where the controls are easy to learn, yet the results you see on screen make you feel positively invincible. Exploring the world’s surroundings at great heights and great speed is incredibly thrilling and running along the game’s sprawling fields with a beautiful Austin Wintory soundtrack in the background truly feels like magic.

However, for players who don’t enjoy similar open-world titles, you might find the gameplay aimless at times. There’s no world map to orient yourself and, like the game’s the title suggests, no set path to follow either. Instead, you’re free to roam as much as you please and solve puzzles in a non-linear fashion. In some respects, this aimlessness can be further exacerbated by the fact that the world of The Pathless seems a lot emptier once you stop running at one hundred and fifty miles an hour. There were moments where I felt like fields and towers started blending into one another and I had to take some time to re-orient myself.

That said though, to me, the aim of The Pathless isn’t to offer up a highly detailed world for players to inspect at their leisure. Instead, the game offers a captivating narrative experience at a high pace with one stunning visual after another. The Pathless’ movement and running mechanics are beautifully executed and, when it all lines up, The Pathless’ story is like a strong, colourful current. The best thing you can do is to let go and allow yourself to be swept along by this captivating game.