It’s a tense encounter, but one that can be avoided by hiding inside one of the structures scattered about and waiting for it to blow over.īosses, once summoned, require you to take them down by dashing through a converted landscape tinged red and covered in fire and slamming arrows into their clearly marked weak points on their bodies. If you happen to be caught in their powerful gaze, it will cause you to lose the yellow crystals that you were collecting to increase your eagle’s flight power.

Your eagle is also cast-off in the encounter, and your goal here is to avoid the guardian’s gaze and get to your eagle and heal it by petting it. Represented by a huge red cloud, if you are caught in it, you’ll have to face off against the guardian of that area temporarily, where it will stalk around and look for you. Each aura is found much easier by travelling up to the top of Obelisks - towers that must be cleansed of corruption with the power of the Lightstones, which then summons the beast of that region.Īs you’re solving puzzles and locating these stones, there will be an ever-growing threat that pushes out to eventually encompass the area you’re in. It is here that you’ll find Lightstones, the required currency to progress in the game. With no map to speak of, you must don your spirit mask and dive into the spirit world to locate your next objective, which, in this blue-tinted representation of the land you’re exploring, will shine bright with a red aura representing the point of interest. Solving puzzles will provide you with additional flaps to lift you even higher, so if you are looking for other things to do in-between wrecking bosses, you have the option to explore the nooks and crannies and find upgrades. Otherwise, you float down to the ground in a glide, and once you’ve landed, you can use your eagle to lift you up again. You can then continue to shoot the talismans with your bow and give you additional air-dash boosts to keep yourself in the air. If you’re looking for a pick-me-up, your eagle can thrust its wings with great vigour and lift you skywards. It never gets old, and it is a relaxing experience to run freely in such a calming environment, with no enemies or obstacles to impact you. The speed, once achieved, makes a huge world seem scalable and manageable, and with the breathtaking views and impressive expanses of foliage and wildlife, there’s plenty to look at as you’re racing through it. One of the most inspired game mechanics I’ve seen in years is the way that you use the timed release of your arrows to hit the floating talismans scattered around to propel your character forward faster.

It’s a fine balance between exploration and action that makes it great for ‘pick up and play’ sessions. Together, they speed through the huge open expanse, fighting against these tremendously powerful and jaw-droppingly large bosses, but there are periods of slow down spent solving intricate puzzles by having the bird lift and push objects such as mirrors that redirect light or trigger weight-based switches. You play as The Hunter, a character who uses her eagle companion to help her solve puzzles, explore further by lifting her into the air and puts the hurt on bosses to help finish them off in a magnificent display. Created by the amazing studio that brought us Abzû and worked on the award-winning Journey, this new title manages to feel both unique and familiar. The Pathless is an engrossing adventure that takes you through a huge open-world environment to fight hulking beasts that threaten a mysterious, cursed world you are tasked to protect.

How long is the pathless