Stories: The Path of Destinies Review

Ah, the moral choice. It’s impossible to go through life without encountering a fair few, so it’s only fitting that video games have followed suit. Now, when incorporating such a heavy plot device it can go one of two ways; it can have a worthwhile payoff where all of the choices you have made throughout the story have an ultimate consequence in the ending of the game, or it can all have been for naught as the decisions you fretted over for hours on end turn out to have no impact whatsoever on the conclusion of your adventure, leaving you to question the point of the whole exercise. I like to call this “The Mass Effect Conundrum”. Play Mass Effect 2 then Mass Effect 3 to see how both possibilities can work their way into the same series. So, how then does Stories: The Path of Destinies fare in this balancing act? Pretty damn well, as it turns out.

The game starts by introducing us to the hero of the piece, a daring pilot and sword-for-hire by the name of Reynaldo who also happens to be an anthropomorphic fox with an eye-patch because why the hell not? The opening cinematics do a great job of establishing the universe and explaining the history behind the game’s events, how the once-benevolent Emperor has been corrupted by dark forces and a lust for immortality leading to the creation of the Rebellion who seek peace across the galaxy. As you have probably guessed, Spearhead Games took a lot of inspiration from Star Wars with this one. Once the core of the storyline has been explained, you find yourself faced with the first of many choices. Each playthrough begins with a number of options for how you’re going to end the war and bring peace, from saving an old friend to finding an ancient superweapon, and you’ll find yourself torn between the greater good and a more personal approach. Whichever option you choose sets you off on a path which will require many more decisions to be made before the end. On your first playthrough, you will inevitably fail and watch helplessly as the bad guys win.

When I reached the end after barely 45 minutes of gameplay, I was outraged. How could Spearhead possibly justify such a short game, which ended in failure? I was very quickly made to feel like a fool when it was explained that this was one of many paths to be followed in the Book of Stories, that Reynaldo had learned from my mistakes and that I was once again back at the start of the story to begin anew. Here lies the genius of Stories, for there are 24 possible endings to be found which it very conveniently forgets to mention until that first crushing failure. With your knowledge of what didn’t work the first time, you can now continue and try to make the right choices, and the story and characters are so engaging that you will go through this time and time again until you succeed. And success tastes so much sweeter when you’ve had to work so hard for it.

Now, how does the gameplay itself fare? Sadly, this is where I have to get a wee bit negative. While the combat is very fluid and plays out in the Arkham style that a lot of games are emulating these days, there just isn’t enough variation to either the enemies or Reynaldo’s moveset to keep it entertaining. Don’t get me wrong, the levelling system and complex skill tree available is substantial and offers a fair few options to upgrade your abilities and stats, but the novelty of each new skill learned runs out after a couple of battles. The same goes for the enemies, as the introduction of each new type requires an adaptation in your gameplan but this will again only take a couple of fights before you get the hang of it. With the collection of ore and different elemental essences you can forge and upgrade new swords, with each level containing gates which require a certain sword to get through and access shortcuts or treasure chests, and while this is a nice idea it simply wasn’t capitalised on enough, with only four swords to unlock.

I’ll divert myself back onto a more positive note now, as despite the failings of the combat system this is one beautiful game. Utilising the Unreal 4 Engine and a cel-shaded animation style (which is criminally underused within the industry, in my personal opinion), you really feel like you’re running through a world within the pages of a book. The environments are gorgeous, from earthy towns to crumbling ruins to icy mountain ranges with crystalline structures puncturing the landscape. Each world is made up of floating islands and the background is consistently rich in other islands and dropships full of enemy Ravens flying around in search of rebels. The score used in the game is adequate but not particularly noteworthy, it fits the tone of the story and each track fits well to the topography of the level but never really pops or engages the imagination. I can’t go discussing the sound however without mentioning the narrator, who provides the voice of each character, drives the story forward and is also bloody hysterical. Every action you perform is subject to his scrutiny, so expect accusations of vandalism and anecdotes about Reynaldo’s love of smashing things in his youth if you’re going to go about smashing all the crates and destructible elements within the game. The narrator also isn’t afraid of a tasty cultural reference or two, describing your ship, the Farfarer, as having “made the Kestrel Run in twelve furlongs” as well as dropping quotes from films and even other games galore (I particularly enjoyed the shout of “COME OVER HERE!” when I hooked a Raven and dragged him closer to his demise). Having the game be narrated as opposed to the characters speaking for themselves was in reality the most sensible way to do things in a game which is being read from a book, but infusing him with so much personality and dry wit was a masterstroke from Spearhead and as a result Stories features the best narration I’ve seen in a game since The Stanley Parable.

And now, we come to the end of our tale. The last page of the final chapter. Now I have to decide whether this has a happy ending, or if I’m going to be the George RR Martin of this scenario. Did I enjoy Stories: The Path of Destinies? Yes I did. Does it have its problems? Absolutely. Would I recommend buying it anyway? I’m not so sure. While it is a gorgeous title with a hilarious narrator, an engaging story and beautiful visuals, Stories is very badly let down by its lacklustre gameplay and a lack of variation in who you fight and how you fight them. It really is a shame that Spearhead Games have only made it available on the Playstation Store and not in physical form, as this is one book that should be rented from the library for a week or so rather than purchased. The End.

This game was reviewed on Playstation 4 with a code provided by the developer.