The Path

It has been a while since I’ve played The Path, but there are a couple of things on my mind about the game. Though I found the game to be very innovative I had trouble with some of the mechanisms that were involved in the game play. I have a tendency to ramble so please bear with me.
One of the things I found very strange, but still quite intriguing was the fact that actually taking the path straight to grandmother’s house with causes you to lose the game. It is as if they set up this structure for the game and then expect the gamer to challenge it. It seems to give a completely separate meaning to the path because the Path is not something created by the person not the game. In the same way though it does control your path because while you are in the woods there are certain “path” that each character can take. Certain activities or objects are designated for every character. There seems to be a paradox between playing the play that the game controls and having the power to choose the path. Interestingly enough, you can make the decision to do all or some of things designated for your character. Personally, I was more confused than anything with this aspect. The game creates an allusion for the player and the player does not know whether they are playing the game or the game is playing them.
One thing that I learned to like about the game was how dark the game is. During the running sequence it gets a lot darker to the point where it becomes hard to see where you are going. The game takes over and the player is forced into a situation where they have no control over where they go. The map they give is momentary and it feel as if there is nothing stationary in the woods. It as is if every character that you play goes into a different setting every time. This featured darkness makes the entire game more believable within the horror genre.
The game has a certain feature of the game that was a distinct feature of the game play was that when you encounter a part of the path designated for you character you have to stop controlling the character in order for them take action. This differs from the normal game play where it is up to the controller to interact with game. Therefore, the Path is more of a narrative game. It unfold the story of each girl little by little as you play and in the end you reach grandmother’s house.
I have only played one character, waiting for the end of the game to unfold was like waiting for paint to dry. It took FOREVER for the girl to reach her grandmother’s house and then when she got in there I had not idea what was going on. I think this part of the game makes the game different from anything I have experienced in this class. Everything happened so fact and the exploration to the ones death is very ominous. Its like you wonder if you could have chosen a different path that would lead to a happier ending.
I feel as though the game was more eerie than horrifying, but there is not really a genre for that. I didn’t really come away horrified. I came away more pensive than afraid. I feel like most horror anything wants you to be afraid in the moment of action. The fear in this game comes from the ambiguity. The action is not really in your face, but rather something that makes you feel weird.