Couple Gaming

After Ymiris posted his anticipation of a new horror game called “The Path”, we were positively flabbergasted to be contacted by the developers.  US! Couple Gaming, actually being seen!  After we got over the shock & Ymiris could hear again (I’m a screamer), we downloaded our Review Copy (Squeee!) of The Path, and after an incident that resulted in needing a new laptop (Note to couple gamers: Clean out your fans), I finally got my hand on a girl.

And I have been wandering ever since.

First, I’ll let you in on a little secret: This game is not your typical game.  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?!?!?!!” Remember the first time you played Shadowman?  Fatal Frame?  Hell, the first Silent Hill?  You’re going to get those shivers here.  I promise.

Let me give you a quick summary, just to give your mind somewhere to go:  This game is based loosely on Little Red Riding Hood.  You go through 7 sisters, ranging in age from 8 to 18.   Each one of these girls is dropped off at the end of a street, and you are always given the same instructions:  Go to Grandmothers House.  Do Not Leave The Path.

Like any real girl, one cannot follow directions & still live her life.  Sure, fine, follow instructions if you need to.. but it won’t get you where you really need to go.  No, you are going to need to go into those woods, find what is hidden, make your own Path.

As you play each of the girls, you slowly uncover who they really are.  Each girl has her personality, her ideas, her hopes, her dreams, her cynicisms, her fears, her own demon, her own hell.  And each girl is doomed.

I cannot tell you more than that, but as you wander as each girl, you realize you’ve been dropped in a Lynchian dream.  Every object you come upon isn’t just an object, it is going to mean something to someone, and you are not always going to be told the only answer.   I’m not sure there really is a “right” answer for this game, and walkthroughs are going to be a bitch.

I will give you 3 hints:

1. Take your time.  You should not run in this game, ever, and the camera changing is one of your biggest hints, not an actual hindrance.
2. Find everything you can.  There is no silly Achievement in this game, so the things you are finding are there for a reason.
3. Enjoy the Horror.  Darken the room, get a GOOD set of headphones (with bass and reverberations) and Enjoy it.

Which brings me to my last points.  I’ve told you the storyline is excellent, the originality is off the charts, and the character immersion is unbeleivable, but one of the best parts of this game is the sights and sounds.   The musical score, the miscellaneous sounds, the breaths, the creepy creaking and wolf growls, they are the icing on the cake.

Don’t think it’s all good, there is definitely an adjustment period for this type of game, and it is not going to be as polished as you’re used to.   The visuals are disrupting at first, and the pathing & slow-moving girls leaves a lot of  room for improvement (in hopefully coming releases).  The moving through Grandmothers House when “successfully” completing a girl felt almost like the developers cheated us out of an interactive ending; it was a good, creative ending, but I know it could have been better.  I found that  if you just let go, maybe look for some of those hidden meanings that Lynch fans love, you’ll enjoy it quite a bit more.

As for being a “Couple Game”, both Ymiris & I give it HUGE thumbs up.  With 7 girls, it’s easy to trade off running characters, especially if you need a break  from the forest, and it’s fun to share accomplishments and highlights with each other.  In addition, the game is developed by Gaming- and Designing- Couple Auriea Harvey & Michaël Samyn, whom we are hoping will guest-write for CoupleGaming on how they came up with this concept, and how they work with each other to create something like this.

Thank you to Tale of Tales, not just for the review copy of  the game, but for creating something so outside the point-click-shoot-levelup that has become the standard.  Thank you for creating something beautiful, and chock-full of horror!

You can get the game Here