Author: Michael

Audiences constantly demand video games fight familiar boundaries. We’re sick of the same old, same old. We want creativity, artistic integrity, elegance and depth–or do we? Do players know what they’re asking for when they look for “more” from games? And if this is really what we want, then what’s with the mixed reception–both cultural and economic–when we get it?

Leigh Alexander asks the question on Kotaku. And she elaborates further while illustrating her points with our little baby The Path. It’s an interesting question and one that we have certainly pondered as well. Ever since we made contact with the games industry we have been wondering about the odd contrast between a strong desire for exploring the medium’s potential and the incredibly small number of fresh games. This is not just about the “dreaded” A word. This is simply about doing something new, something fresh, something that moves people, that touches them. It’s so rare.

More press about The Path. Bring the Universal Translator online!

Wonderful things have been written about our game. In some beautiful and strange languages. And in English. Makes us glow with pride! Someone called The Path the “Un Chien Andalou” of computer games. Citizen Kane, move over! 😉 And we’ve heard somewhere that Tale of Tales is to indie games what indie games are to mainstream games. But I forgot where I read that. If you know, please let us know. It’s a great quote.

Alright. Let the spectacle commence!

Czech:

Ve hře najdeme spoustu jednoduše geniálních nápadů, které nenásilným způsobem uvádí hráče do role spolutvůrce vlastního zážitku bez toho, aby musel na něco klikat, nebo cokoliv používat.

Michal Bayerl on Doupe

Swedish:

Det är deras sårbarhet som gör spelet så starkt. Det är här sex flickor, på väg genom barndomen och tonåren, som man möter under en kort stund. På väg genom livet.

Oskar Skog on Loading

Norwegian:

The Path er ingen hyggelig opplevelse. Snarere tvert i mot. Det tar for seg noen av de verste temaene du kan tenke deg, og det gjør det på en måte som kan få deg til å føle deg skyldig og skitten.

Joachim Froholt on Gamer.no

German:

The Path ist ein viel subtileres Horrorspiel, ohne Schockmomente, ohne gewalttätige Monster – es geht euch stattdessen viel lieber direkt vom Computerbildschirm unter die Haut.

Benedikt Wager on Gamers Plus

Polish:

Nie mam co do tego żadnych wątpliwości. „The Path” (ang. ścieżka), autorskie dzieło Auriee Harvey i Michaëla Samyna ze studia Tale of Tales, będzie kiedyś postrzegane przez historyków interaktywnego wideo jako milowy krok w rozwoju tego medium. To, przy zachowaniu proporcji, „Pies andaluzyjski” gier komputerowych – utwór głęboko symboliczny, ekspresyjny, osadzony w poetyce sennych wizji, wykorzystujący nowatorskie techniki narracji.

Olaf Szewczyk in Dziennik

Singaporian:

The Path is probably the best independent game ever made. And it’s one of the best adventure games, period, even when compared against the big boys. But it’s also an outstanding piece of non-linearinteractive narrative, which proves again that entertainment can legitimately doubleas art. Playing The Path is as rewarding as reading a literary novel.

Christopher Lim in The Business Times
(bolded by us, hey it’s our blog! ;p )

And English:

The artwork in The Path is exquisite and an example of how subtlety can be more effective than state-of-the-art-graphics.

Daniel Allen in Thirteen 1

Tale of Tales reminds us that we can encounter meaning even when we stray from the path of convention and explore the medium that is more expansive than we often recognize.

Jorge Albor on Experience Points

An interview for those who need to Know:

We never ever set out to make obscure or confusing work. We want our work to be pleasant, to make you feel good. It makes us feel good to play The Path and we know that many people feel the same. But other people are confused and weirded out by the game, sometimes even depressed. We’re a bit disappointed by that.

Interview with Dan Liebman on Dark Zero

And we’re continuing our monthly subscription to Games TM:

Some more reviews, ponderings, daydreams and an interview about The Path.

This is one of the most interesting things you’ll see on a PC this year. […] More artists, and more game developers, should be this brave.

Jim Rossignol in PC Gamer UK

[As] a piece of interactive art – it’s a piece of software truly worth celebrating – and those that play it to the end will find something truly memorable, unlike so many games that are forgotten as soon as the end credits roll.

Alan Martin on AceGamez

Do not even try to fight against the pace, just surrender. If you’d never call a game “beautiful” or “touching”, probably it is too late for you to play The Path. Or maybe you are not ready yet.

Tetelo on Femina Ludens

The joy of it comes not from the way in which the journey ends but rather in the full immersion that one experiences on the way.

Joshua on Mouseandcat

The effort put into The Path is equal to the enjoyment received. Look at the game like a difficult piece of literature that needs to be sampled over and over again. This isn’t John Grisham, it’s Leo Tolstoy.

Aaron Thayer on The Silicon Sasquatch

The Path’s ideas aren’t built around gameplay; its gameplay is built around ideas.

Games TM #81

Blind nach den Grenzen tasten, als Spielfigur erwachsen werden: Keine sehr angenehme Erfahrung, aber eine, wie man sie nur in ganz wenigen Computerspielen macht.

Achim Fehrenbach on Lords of Zock

Mimo prostej z pozoru historii The Path jest bardzo wielowymiarowa i metaforyczna. Na dodatek bardziej babska, niż jakakolwiek inna gra w którą miałam okazję grać. To opowieść o dorastaniu i utracie niewinności. To również historia poznawania świata od jego złej strony.

Kaja Szafrańska on Game Corner

And an interview with Joe Martin on Bit-Tech Net:

Observing art is a playful activity. But its rules are a lot looser than those of most games because art is about the viewer. And video games tend to be a bit too forceful, too insistent on their own meaning and story. There’s not enough room for play in games to allow them to become art.

Here’s some video reviews of The Path. Video is kind of a frustrating medium because Google doesn’t have a translation machine for it. So I recommend you just press play on all of these simultaneously to get the overall effect.

The Escapist (English):

Game Corner (Polish)

PC Guru (Hungarian):

NoobToob (English):

The Path is a strange, unusual, progressive and unique game, which may even be important for the industry and the development of the form in a handful of ways. It’s also so arty that it makes Braid look like 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.

Kieron Gillen on Eurogamer

Non ci sono buoni o cattivi, ma c’è soltanto l’esperienza in quanto tale e la crescita, di cui fanno parte il sesso, il sogno e tutti gli altri elementi che caratterizzano la vita umana. Inoltre c’è lo smarrirsi, ovvero la necessità di perdersi per ritrovare – e accettare – il proprio io.

Simone Tagliaferri on Multiplayer.it

First I thought the moral might be “Shit happens,” but then I rethought my stance and it seemed more like, “Life sucks, then you die.” I rethought that one too, thinking more on the “this is a game about growing up” angle.

Voodoo Girl on Zombie Girls Online

Opera matura, di transizione tra il videogioco come puro e semplice intrattenimento di serie B e la vera dimensione artistica, poetica e autoriale che questo strumento espressivo ormai merita a pieno titolo.

Sebastiano Pupillo on NextGame.it

Local enthusiasm:

The Path is een vooruitstrevende game die België op de kaart zet en brandhout maakt van de vele gerecycleerde concepten die de winkelrekken vullen. We kunnen fier zijn.

Stijn Bolle in Chief

And two interviews:

Si le rectangle de l’écran de cinéma est une fenêtre à travers laquelle nous entrevoyons une partie du monde, peut-être alors que l’écran de jeu vidéo occupe une fonction de porte à travers laquelle nous pouvons entrer dans ce monde.

Interview with Louis Filiatrault on Panorama

For us, a game is good when it allows us to play, when it makes us think and feel something, when it makes us discover something about life, when we feel the pure joy of immersion, etc.

Interview with Mark Newheiser on Adventure Classic Gaming

Meanwhile guerilla-marketing hits De Balie in Amsterdam.

We definitely cannot complain about the attention our little game is getting. Nor about the appreciation for it. We’re quite proud of our little Red Girls. And frankly, of the games press and blogs as well. Makes us feel a lot more comfortable, far away from museums and galleries.

Tale of Tales set out to make a horror game and this they have pulled off spectacularly.

Michael Rose on IndieGames.com

What I do know is that for as indefinable as The Path may be, I find myself thinking about it long after I stop playing. The Path is an odd, but beautiful experience that gives me hope for what games can be.

Susan Arendt in The Escapist

The fog and lighting serve to generate an ethereal sense of surrealism, while the stylized characters reinforce the unique quality of being in a sort of fable.

Dan Liebman on Dark Zero

The Path represents a prime paradox in the world of games. It is simple to play, but incredibly deep in its execution. It’s mystical, often perplexing, and more disturbing than pleasant.

Dan Liebman on Game Zone

I sing in praise of The Path, a game that realizes – if only in fleeting brilliant flashes – the personal, expressive interactive storytelling experience video games have long aspired to communicate.

Michael Abbott in The Brainy Gamer

Mysterious, brutal and beautiful, this game tells a childhood story so dark it truly delivers the original spirit of the fairy tales, in all its grisly glory.

Allen Cook on Gamers with Jobs

This game succeeds at appealing to an audience segment that does not usually play games, and in a baroque and crafted way that many hardcore gamers relish about their chosen genres, not in some watered-down, Wii Fit kind of a way. It is, in other words, an important benchmark for the high’s evolution into the true mainstream, beyond this indie-games-versus-blockbuster-games false dichotomy, I’m talking about those extra billions who could really be succored by interactivity, but have been ignored.

Patrick Dugan (+ girlfriend) on Play this Thing

This is the game that real gamers scream for at the top of their lungs. This is something new. This is what needs to be heralded from rooftops, shown to every new developer; when you bought FEAR or Doom, you didn’t know it, but that disgust on your face was you screaming “WHY CAN’T YOU BE THE PATH?!?!?!!”

Ophilye on Couple Gaming

The Path is almost certainly the most significant videogame that will be released this year, in terms of evolving the form of what videogames are capable of.

Iain McCafferty on his personal blog

And all of this happens in other languages as well.

“The Path” ist selbstverständlich ein Spiel, und als solches ein faszinierender Beweis dafür, dass das junge Medium noch zahllose unerforschte Erfahrungen und Ausdrucksmöglichkeiten anzubieten hat.

Rainer Sigl on Telepolis

Alliant une bande-son extraordinaire et un design gothique à souhait, The Path ne pourra certainement pas vous laisser insensible, il n’y a pas de juste milieu avec un titre de cette trempe : soit vous détestez dès les premiers instants, soit vous accrochez et vous vous laissez emporter par cette expérience hors du commun.

Miniblob on Jeux Video

The Path is op geen enkele manier te vergelijken met andere games, maar biedt een uniek ervaring die je de kans geeft om na te denken over woorden en gebeurtenissen.

Erik Buckinx on 9 Lives

Het vergt soms wat geduld, maar ik merkte zelf dat deze trage loopstukjes vaak ook een mooi moment voor overdenking zijn. Momenten waarop je de beelden die je juist gezien hebt, probeert te duiden.

Erwin Bergervoet on Gamer.nl