Looking for a family-friendly puzzle game that you can play on the big screen that will appeal to a wide range of problem-solvers? The Traveler’s Path is the latest puzzle game from Eastasiasoft, and it’s available now on PlayStation, Xbox, and the Nintendo Switch.
It’s one of those positional puzzle games where you must unravel a series of twisted paths. You know the type; those minigames where you have to get a flow of electricity or water from point A to point B. The gameplay is like that; only point A is where your adventurer starts, and B is their destination.
For those of you looking for a story or something packed tighter than a stripper’s codpiece, this will disappoint as it’s 100% gameplay. And while we’re at it, if you also want a challenge, The Traveler’s Path won’t provide it so much, either.
I’m not remarkably endowed in the brain department, but on average, it took me a minute or so to complete each of the 54 puzzles – give or take. As soon as the stage presented itself, I’d get to work and solve it as if I’d already done it before.
The Traveler’s Path Review: A Fork In The Road
Alarm bells might be ringing as this sounds boring, right? Perhaps. However, I enjoyed The Traveler’s Path – it’s exactly how it is represented in the promotional material. There weren’t any exaggerated gameplay mechanics or cinematics, and you could get to work immediately.
Presentation-wise, it’s a nice-looking game with cute visuals and from a birdseye perspective. There’s one foremost traveller/adventurer with an additional person that pops up and heads in a different direction, and both are colourful 3D characters. Aside from the opening lines, there isn’t any dialogue, and these two don’t even acknowledge each other in passing. It’s like real life!
Because The Traveler’s Path is on the PS4/5, you play with a controller and move either the d-pad or left stick to select a tile. Square will rotate a tile, and cross will pick it up, and then, when selecting another tile, swap it around. That’s all there is to gameplay, apart from a few additional challenges.
New tiles are introduced that can’t be rotated or moved, some coins have to be collected in order: bronze, silver and gold, and there’s that Gandalf chap who needs a path created for him, so you must manage two separate routes.
An Easy Path To Take
That said, The Traveler’s Path is still very easy and relaxing. Well, mostly. My biggest gripe isn’t the bland music but the teeny bit of frustration when you accidentally click a tile and then swap it with another. Though there are only two buttons, it’s easy to make a mistake and can be annoying. But maybe that’s just me?
Thankfully The Traveler’s Path doesn’t penalise you for your mistakes. There isn’t a countdown to complete each puzzle, but a timer shows, and if inclined, you can attempt to beat your scores. There aren’t online leaderboards, so it would be just for yourself.
I enjoyed my time with the game. As mentioned, it’s very brief, and with the number of games I have, I don’t see myself playing this again. At the end, there’s no fanfare (which isn’t a surprise), but there is a mention to check out White Rose Games’ Steam page for future updates as more levels could be added, which hopefully will apply to the console versions as I’d happily revisit this for new content. Especially if the difficulty ramps up a bit.
