When we were honoured
enough to get the world's
first review of The Path last month, we never
expected it to generate such intense discussion.
This looked to be a reasonably low-key release from an
oddball Belgian developer, unlikely to make its way too
far into the mainstream eyeline. How unpredictable
this business is.
Even before the game was out, people were pricking
their ears up. Whispers emerged on forums of an
endgame involving the brutal sexual assaults of young
girls, events that you had caused to happen, and that
the game rewarded with high marks. Could it be the
new RapeLay, even? One reviewer in
particular was so aghast at The Path's content
that he declared it to be "the worst game
ever." What on Earth was this horror, about
to be unleashed on an unsuspecting public?
Of course, when it was released on March 18th,
players noticed a distinct lack of anything graphic
whatsoever. Instead, they found an unnerving,
often disturbing but never gratuitous title, full of
metaphor and creepy symbolism. Still, the seed had
been planted. Just what was this game about?
What was it trying to say? Were its developers
really trying to suggest the player should go out and
get six little girls brutally and disgustingly
"ravaged"?
The Path
certainly alludes to some horrible things. Does
that
make it tasteless or obscene, or is it acceptable in
art?
The thing
is, Tale of Tales have always said it's a game about the
player's interpretation of events; that there is no
fixed story, and that one should infer whatever they
like from the events of the game. And it makes
sense. When you meet a wolf character in The
Path, time skips forward to after the events.
We see flashes of images, but nothing concrete.
There's never any physical signs of violence when
inspecting the girls afterwards. Some of the
wolves are inherently unthreatening - a little girl, for
example - while one actually is a wolf. Do
little girls and wolves rape people? Very
unlikely.
We do see a man dragging a something wrapped in
carpet into the woods. We do see another chap look
one of our girls up and down suspiciously. These
things are disturbing, perhaps moreso than anything in
most games that spring to mind, but the details are
still left to your imagination. Whatever horrific
things you conjure up are solely in your own mind.
Perhaps this saga says more about the way we're
programmed to be fearful of such matters. Little
Red Riding Hood itself was a cautionary tale about the
danger of strangers, and the mass media is all over
these sorts of issues at the moment. If The
Path does point to rape as one of its issues, it's
very brave matter for a videogame to include. And
yes, we did find The Path quite horrible to play
at times - but that's the point. It's an
emotionally affecting experience, something that so few
of its peers manage to be, and for that it can only be
lavishly praised. One thing's for sure, it's been
great publicity for an important developer that could
otherwise have been stuck in the darkest depths of the
gaming universe.
Have you played The
Path? What do you think of its content?
Let us know on the forum...
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