Stories: The Path of Destinies has one of the more interesting concepts for a game that I’ve seen in quite a while. It takes the ideas of choose your own adventure and multiple choices and runs with it as the foundations of narrative and gameplay. Sound a little confusing or unusual? Well it is, I suppose, but it’s also brilliant.
We play as Reynardo, an anthropomorphic fox and member of the rebellion in a war against a mad emperor. Reynardo happens upon a book and soon discovers its power to take him back in time. You’ll be hearing the sentence “it was time to choose” a fair bit, as upon each conclusion (read: failure of your quest) you will be brought back to the beginning, fresh with new intelligence and the ability to make a different, hopefully more successful decision on how to progress.
How does this work exactly? Taking the first key decision we have to make as an example, we can choose to rescue an old friend who has been kidnapped by the emperor’s forces and has a cunning plan, or we can travel to collect an ancient artefact which may have the power to defeat the emperor. Either choice will branch out into other choices, and spread across five chapters you will see these pan out and come to a conclusion. After this conclusion you will unlock a ‘truth’, which reveals important information about your task. For example, maybe the artefact is unstable and requires something else to make it work. Therefore on your next play-though you can choose different paths to take, some new levels open up, and other choices will become apparent. The more you unlock, the more things start to fit together and a proper plan of action forms. It’s one of the most interesting gameplay/narrative dynamics that I’ve experience, and the game is so much more engaging for it.
Your choices and journey are narrated Bastion style, in a duly quirky fashion. Imagine someone reading you a bed time story, imitating voices of characters, etc. It’s a little silly, but very charming nonetheless. There’s also an impressive amount of work put into this side of the game, with the narrator commented on your play style, whether you break objects, the choices you’ve made, the mistakes and so on. The whole concept of this unfolding story book narrative is deftly conceived.
But the game’s not just about choosing your own adventure, it’s also an action RPG. With a top-down view, you will guide Reynardo through the various levels fighting crows (the emperor’s forces) to achieve whatever objective you’ve chosen to go after. Equipped with a sword and a handful of abilities, combat is a fast paced affair, yet not as simplistic as it initially seems. It is mainly a case of spamming attack until foes die, but there are intricacies such as blocking, dashing, throwing, etc, and a fair variety of enemies.
Throughout the game you will be able to unlock three other swords in addition to your starting one. Each has a unique power and can be upgraded to be more effective. Your starting sword has the ability to heal, then there’s a fire sword which sets alight enemies (dealing gradual damage), a frost sword that freezes them, and a ‘void’ sword which increases your attack speed. All the powers use up mana points, which are a finite resource, but the powers can be very helpful if you learn to use them effectively. It’s a bit of a shame that these are the only differences in abilities, however, as it would have been nice for each sword to have different stats. Unfortunately using the swords for their original intended purpose (hitting stuff) sees no variation.
In addition to multiple sword types, you also have a handful of abilities. A grappling hook allows you to reach difficult areas, as well as pull enemies towards you. This is a good method of separating large groups of enemies, or picking out tougher enemies to deal with first (there are magic enemies that deal damage from afar, and even one that buffs regular enemies, so these are often best dealt with quickly). There is also a dash ability which allows you to quickly jump out of combat and even, once upgraded, deals damage to enemies themselves, and as already mentioned you can also grab foes and throw them. None of it is particularly complicated, but in combination with the fast paced hack and slash gameplay, combat actually becomes quite a fluid and creative affair. When you string together a cool set of moves and defeat a group of crows without taking damage, it really is quite satisfying. Not to mention the fact you are rewarded for stylish encounters.
Depending on how well you dealt with a group of enemies you will be rewarded with a bunch of experience points. These can be spent on upgrading your abilities, for example, making your grapple ability do damage to enemies, and on increasing your health, slowing time after attacks, damage from counter attacks, etc. As for upgrading your weapons, you will need to search the levels to find chests and breakable objects to uncover ore and specific resources. Once you’ve got enough you can upgrade your weapon. It sounds more involved than it actually is, and this area is one of the more disappointing aspects of the game. You can only upgrade your weapons once after unlocking them, and as already mentioned this doesn’t really do much. More interestingly, however, you can find gems that offer perks such as increased attack speed, the ability to knock enemy shields out of their hands, and so on.
In line with the whole choice/diverging narrative concept, there are also multiple paths to take in the levels. Some of these simply lead to chests, but others offer different ways of approaching the level. In most cases these paths will be closed off by doors, and in order to open them you will need to have a specific sword equipped. Some doors require the fire sword, others the frost sword, etc. This means that earlier levels see you missing a lot of areas, only to return later when you’ve acquired your new weapons. It’s a nice way of making sure some of the levels don’t get too tedious with the constant repetition you have to endure, though it would have been better to see larger areas unlock – as it is there’s not a great deal to discover after your first few playthroughs.
That last point is the biggest flaw of Stories: The Path of Destinies. It’s a very interesting concept, but it lacks scope. There’s actually quite a large number of varying stories that you can achieve – 24 to be precise – but after fewer than ten of them you may have already seen as much as you want to. I was very excited when my first new area of the game opened up (a temple housing another curious artefact) – of course, expecting that this would follow through the rest of the game – but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. There is a substantial amount of repetition of levels, even after you’ve successfully upgraded all of your weapons and discovered much, if not all, of what they have to offer, creating a weird situation where exploring off the beaten path and opening chests results in no reward. It’s a failing born from its own ambition I suppose – which can be taken as a sort of backhanded compliment since in this way it offers much more than a lot of indies – as it instils this idea of a vast web of possibilities and teases you with the odd brand new level unlocking due to a decision you made, but then fails to follow through. I wasn’t satisfied when I finished the game at around 6 hours of play, but at the same time nothing compelled me to continue exploring the unseen story paths (maybe if there were more craftable items this would have been alleviated somewhat).
It’s a case of missing its full potential, because as I’ve already said – the game has a great concept, and actually for the most part is really well delivered. I was entertained and intrigued for those short 6 hours, and I did become invested in Reynardo and his strange little quest. It also greatly helps that the actual gameplay and design is solid as well. The combat is swift and creative, and the world colourful and interesting. Each level features sweeping distant views and bright environments – it’s clear that a lot of effort has been put into the details.
But it’s not quite enough. Stories: The Path of Destinies is a really intriguing title, and, as far as I’m concerned (and despite it’s flaws), is a worthy investment, but its choice making narrative needed to offer a bit more to really make an impact. As it stands, the game feels a bit shallow.