I played for about 1,5h so far and managed to solve mission 1 in the second run - not more, not less.
I had no bugs, no crashes -
It looks good, it it plays well - I like the speed of the game and felt moderately entertained.
Nothing about the game felt new or special, but I also found nothing bad about it.
For a price of 14€ okay for me.
So if you think about buying the game - don't expect much depth. If you're okay with a kind of nice casual experience for some days (probably) than I would recommend to buy it =)
Turn based strategies is one of my all time favorite genres which is why I gave Pathway a go. I've played TBS' since Master of Magic, XCOM and Age of Wonders. What this game lacks that those other titles didn't, is depth. It starts to feel very repetitive after the first few campaigns. I really enjoyed the variety in characters, graphics, humor and all around theme. I do hope Robotality / Chucklefish put out a few expansions for this title as I see a lot of potential.
Young-Harrison Ford walking around the corner is something i expected every minute to happen.
This game oozes that weird-war occult theme we all grew to love from the Indiana-Jones movies or Uncharted Series. I usually dont dig Pixel-Look that much but the ammount of HD-Pixel-Polish this game has is ..... astonishing. It does not look pixely even on 1440p but has that oldschool feel to it still.
The game itself, for me as not a hardcore Rouglike-Player is fairly balanced. It gives you options to make the Campaigns easier or harder. The Characters all have interesting mixes in abilities and such - but also weaknesses. And never underestimate a gunslinger with a Pistol. It might seem weak, but it can save your bacon.
The game favours preplanning a lot - strategy in battle is important but if you didnt plan in a restock, no ammount of strategic skill will save you. I like that when someone is in open ground, the change to hit is nearly always 100%. You dont get much of those pesky 99% hit - misses.
The characters level up and keep their level even when they die, as well as their gear. So if you fail you will get stronger. Its one of the easier Rogue-Like concept ive seen but... it does not have to be dark souls level every time.
I would have wished for a bit more variety in oponents, there are basically two sets (Nazi Soldiers and Cultists) with a limited ammount of Soldiers. So if you look for a Roguelike you can dump 100+h into (aka you look for something to burn time) - this is probably not for you.
I managed to play trough all campaigns in one go, but i didnt took that many risks. I had a fun time with the game for the hours it lasted, and i dont regret my purchase. Yet for the next iteration or a DLC, i wish for more campaigns - The story in those is fun tho.
The game doesnt deserve the "bad" reviews it gets, it is solid and superbly polished. I am looking forward to DLC or Pathway 2 ! It just isnt designed to burn 100h+, thats nothing bad!
When someone doesn't have the time for long gaming sessions anymore, this game is wonderful.
I love playing in short bursts (not even a whole mission but just one map). The mixture of XCOM, Indiana Jones and procedural generated maps is great fun for me. And the soundtrack is just wonderful ♥
Some gripes I have are:
- Sometimes the overlay during the encounters stops being displayed. So I can't see the hitchances, the movement range etc. A game restart fixes this, but the battle restarts as well.
- Alt-Tabbing results in crashes/freezes. So I'm playing in windowed mode now.
- I would love to skip the non battle event animations. After I've seen those a couple of times they get a bit stale.
Please give me an XCOM in this pixelstyle. OpenXcom has aged a lot and Xenonauts is fun, but in this style this would be the perfect game for me.
"Pathway" feels a bit like older Jagged Alliance games: It is a turn-based combat game. But not against some weirdo island dictator, but against Nazis (and Zombies and so on, but mostly Nazis). Choose your characters, their skills, level up, choose your weapons and armour, and take cover behind walls.
There are some differences, however: Compared to the Jagged Alliance series, this game has fewer options. It is simpler, in a way, at least compared to the non-initial versions. The map is randomly built for each game, that is, not the map itself, but the "encounter points" on it.
Chance plays an overwhelmingly huge role in the game. Basically all action is thanks to pseudo-randomization, tactics are a bit neglected. Just by the random layout of even the initial map, you can be forced to fail with your first mission. And with the next try, you will (just due to chance) win with flying colors. The game is really unbalanced in that regard, even apart from its explicit "luck" events.
The most annoying thing about this game, though, is that in spite of its simplicity it has a lot of bugs. There are enemies who just prefer not to die, and of course with my Linux Mint systems the GOG version either will not start at all, or, even more annoying, it will crash, most notably when just winning battles. Hardware requirements do not reflect the simplicity of the game, it is mis-designed in this regard.
Apart from these downsides, the game is good, though. Its underlying story is flat, as are the characters, but it feels a bit like the Indiana Jones sequel I would have waited for feverishly fifteen years ago. It is entertaining. If eventually those bugs will be eliminated, it will be worth playing.
Overall, by its role-playing gameplay it provides a good low-budget game with standard "pixel-arts" graphics. Even though I would have wished it were a little less luck-based. And, of course, those bugs were not there.
