The Pathless

The Pathless is an action-adventure video game played from a third-person perspective. In the game, the player controls the Hunter, who must find a way to lift the curse on an island. The Hunter is a master archer. She must use her bows and arrows to shoot talismans scattered throughout the world, which will fill the Hunter's dash meter and allow her to swiftly navigate the game's world.

She is also accompanied by an eagle companion, which can carry the player while flying. The eagle loses altitude while carrying the Hunter, though it can gain altitude through flapping its wings.

A dark curse threatens the world, stemming from an ancient island at the end of the sea where the god-spirits, the Tall Ones, reside. The Hunter (Laura Bailey), a master archer, travels to the island to attempt to end the curse. There, the Hunter finds a Spirit Mask that allows her to see the world’s secrets, and takes it for her own, before meeting the creator spirit, Eagle Mother. After the Hunter cleanses Eagle Mother of the curse that is slowly killing her, the Godslayer (Troy Baker), a powerful entity responsible for the curse shrouding the world and corrupting the Tall Ones, attacks and seemingly kills the spirit.

He then leaves for the Floating Isle, a massive landmass floating in the sky. The Eagle Mother speaks to the Hunter and bids her to cleanse her four children, the other Tall Ones who have also been cursed by the Godslayer, in order to stop his plan to destroy the world. Eagle Mother then reincarnates into the form of a regular Eagle, who joins the Hunter on her quest.

The Pathless was developed by Giant Squid, the creator of Abzû (2016). According to creative director Matt Nava, The Pathless "is about finding your own way forward". Therefore, the team decided to remove the mini-map feature typically seen in open world maps in order to facilitate exploration. The team put heavy emphasis on creating a movement system that is fast and fluid so as to remove the need of incorporating fast travel points.

Unlike other games in which the player will respawn at checkpoints when they lose all their health, The Pathless adopts a system in which the players will lose the crystals they have collected instead. According to Nava, this system helps create tension and stake without breaking the player's immersion, which may be the result of respawning the player character.

According to review aggregator Metacritic, The Pathless received "generally favorable reviews" upon release. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received strong approval, being recommended by 78% of critics.

Chris Carter of Destructoid praised the dashing mechanic of The Pathless, in which the player would shoot at targets to keep their momentum, writing "It not only looks amazing in practice, but it's fun to keep running and jumping". Carter criticized some parts of the gameplay, feeling that the world and some puzzles were simplistic. He also thought the game could be repetitive at points, "While The Pathless looks great, in some sections I felt like I was going through the motions".