Red is the colour of blood, and therefore signifies both life and death. We never see the mother at the beginning of the story, but in a sense she is there nevertheless, because the red room from which all the girls start their journey can be interpreted as a womb-symbol.
British writer Edward Picot, well known to us for his wonderful exploration of computer games as art, has published an in-depth review of The Path both on Furtherfield and The Hyperliterature Exchange.
It’s a remarkable article because it goes a lot further in analyzing the content of the game than most reviews have so far. There’s quite a bit of fair criticism as well, which only contributes to the article’s much appreciated sincerity.
I just play (sometimes) The Path and read sometimes about The Path… And more and more I just feel the wind, which is blowing from the direction of it’s shady woods, and I am happy ’cause I feel that the change will come and strange, new worlds will open for those who loves arts and loves to play and even for who wants to create games…
And I’m sure that a lot of people feel this wind too…
But wait, if the red room is the womb, how comes that they are of different ages when leaving it?
“But wait, if the red room is the womb, how comes that they are of different ages when leaving it?”
Perhaps, as each girl seems to be an archetype, we see them at the time of life when the aspects of that archetype would be most prominent?
This has just made my ‘Finest Articles’ [about games] list. It’s a fair appraisal, though does miss out some of the more predominant theories and interpretations (namely that the girls are representative of different ages of a single individual/grandma/humans in general).
@britt – Excellently put