Games I Beat: Stories The Path of Destinies

Stories The Path of Destinies
Action Story Telling
1 Players
System: PS4
Developer: Spearhead Games
Year of Release: 2016
Beaten: May 27th, 2017

Anthropomorphic animals, floating islands, airships, fun action, a Bastion inspired narrator, a pleasant art style, multiple endings, a metaphysical concept as the basic structure of the story, most of these things all appeal to me in some form or another. And yet...

Stories stars a fox who finds a book at a pivotal moment in his world's history. Everything is coming to head and it's up to this fox to determine the fate of his world. You will play through five stages, with choices to be made between some of them, which will lead to a specific ending. In order to truly beat the game you'll need to get at least four endings, each revealing a "truth" about the world and once your character understands all four they can finally achieve the perfect ending. There is something like twenty six endings in total though and while the game does a decent job of guiding players to the stages that will unlock an ending they need, it isn't perfect. Not to mention by the end of the game I had already unlocked basically everything.

You'll collect materials throughout your journey, er, story and these can be used to purchase and upgrade four different elemental swords. These swords act as keys (no clue why) as well, and you'll need specific swords for specific doors. You'll never lose upgrades or unlocks as your progress though, so you're just gated off from specific areas early on. It's kind of annoying and doesn't really feel like progress has been made. It feels like the game is just trying to be irritating.

Honestly the combat itself is pretty fun, but incredibly shallow. Take the Batman Arkham game's basic combat structure and strip everything but counters away. That's it. As you level up your character will become a death dealing machine, capable of slaying massive groups while avoiding damage altogether. While not terrible, the simplistic combat does not encourage repeat plays. Which is the game's entire fucking premise. Worse still, there are NO boss encounters, or even unique encounters in the slightest. Every single fight (of which the game almost consists solely off aside from walking between fights) is the same mob attacks you. Sure, some have shields, some cast magic, but that's it. There's less enemy variety than Fallout 4 or Breath of the Wild!

It's forgettable, that's the main issue. Stories is just so by the numbers it quickly felt more like a chore than an enjoyable gameplay experience. The idea is really neat, but having such incredibly linear levels that you're forced to experience repeatedly with an overly simple combat system is just a recipe for disaster. There is no incentive to explore these areas, there is no exploration at all. Once you understand the combat (which you will within minutes), aside from unfair advantages in numbers, you will conquer every single battle. I can't recommend this to anyone, even having gotten it for free through Playstation+ I feel like I wasted my time.