Developer: Spearhead Games
Publisher: Spearhead Games
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Stories: The Path Of Destinies – Review
Indie action-RPG; Stories: The Path Of Destinies tells the story of a dashing fox known as Reynardo who must lead a revolution to victory against an evil empire, or alternatively, crash the rebellion into the ground and cause the destruction of the world. Repeatedly. With a deep, choice driven story in a world of floating islands, airships and fallen gods, all accompanied by a zippy, tongue in cheek narrator who follows your every move. Fans of Bastion and Transistor, buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Story
An evil emperor performing nefarious rituals and sacrifices, a retired rogue who gets thrown out of retirement to become the rebellions greatest hero. Whilst this storyline perhaps isn’t the most unique in itself, it is the way that Stories presents these tropes that really make the game an experience worth having.
Set in an anthropomorphic universe, where all people appear to be different species of animal, the once peaceful emperor has begun a reign of terror, where whole villages are being secretly taken into the wilderness and sacrificed in heinous rituals. Reynardo, a retired rogue and hero, is forced out of retirement when his city is destroyed by the emperors soldiers who are trying to find and destroy a book.
Fleeing the island in his airship, book in hand, Reynardo decides to find out why the emperor wants the book so badly, by reading it. He discovers that the book allows him to see the future, the outcome of the civil war, that changes drastically depending on the actions that he takes.
You must repeatedly play through the timeline as Reynardo and fight your way through half the imperial army whilst making choices, until you can find a way in which to defeat the Emperor without also accidentally destroying the world. With each play-through you can discover a hidden truth, that will open up new options and bring you one step closer to ending the war. Expect to wield demonic powers, weapons of mass destruction and the eye of a dead god.
The real strength of the story however lies in the writing, displayed most prominently by the narrator and Reynardo’s excellent sense of humour. Expect yourself to become thoroughly attached to the characters and to be shocked at each twist and turn of the story. Not to mention giggle at each little sly comment. The game is packed full of film and video game references, including quips about smashing pots, constructing additional pylons and Captain Hooks imaginative name, to name but a few.
Graphics
Graphically, Stories is very cartoonish in style but nonetheless beautiful. The world of floating mountains, giant crystalline structures and sunken temples is rendered fantastically and really lives up to its potential to create a mysterious mystical world.
We encountered a few graphical errors with buildings suddenly popping into existence but it was rare and never anything game breaking. The developers have also recently added greater support for low graphics options so if your PC is not exactly a powerhouse, you have no need to worry.
Sound
The visuals are accompanied by haunting melodies and explosive action tracks. The sound effects are likewise fitting and don’t become annoying over time. Something that is very important when you require multiple playthroughs to complete the game.
Gameplay
An epic story can only get you so far, at some point it is going to come down to gameplay. Thankfully action-RPG Stories does not disappoint in this regard, going with the tried and tested hack and slash approach, along with a few differences. You must cut your way through an army of raven soldiers and unlock abilities to aid your quest. These range from a hookshot, dash and slowing down time. You can also forge new swords which each have a powerful ability, and switch between them at any time. The battle system feels similar to Bastion although perhaps with less variation in enemies. Having said this however, there is still plenty to keep you occupied and new enemies begin to appear as you progress through the story and uncover truths.
At the end of each level you are offered a choice of actions (for example; save your best friend or go to aid the rebel council) and the story adapts accordingly. Once you’ve seen the outcome of your actions you must take what you’ve learned, start again and try not to make the same mistakes again. You keep everything that you earn on each playthrough and slowly become more and more powerful.
As you must replay the game several times to progress the story, boredom from repetition becomes a worry. Stories however handles this well as you will be making new choices each time and therefore experiencing new levels. New options also become available as you uncover truths.
Variety is also added by the swords. As mentioned earlier they each grant you access to a powerful ability, but they also act as keys. You will come across large doors that correspond to each sword and often lead to secrets or alternative paths through the level. At first you only have one sword and so can only unlock the basic door but as you replay levels you will come back better equipt and quickly find new paths and treasures. We encountered a few bugs with the doors (some refusing to open until you equipt the right sword, whilst others open for any sword as long as you have the right one in your inventory) but again this wasn’t game breaking.
Whilst these measures do go some way to alleviating repetition you will regardless start to become very familiar with the levels. Thankfully the narration and Reynardo’s quips change and help to keep everything feeling fresh.
Conclusion
If you are a fan of action-RPGs or story driven games in general, you will have a hell of a lot of fun with Stories. If you’re a completionist and want to find every single ending (there are a lot) expect to be bored from the repetition of levels and dialogue. If however, you’re just in it for the story, expect to be drawn into an amazing storytelling experience, full of laughs and action.
Stories: The Path Of Destinies - Review,
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