I’ve a confession: I’m not an enormous fan of tower protection video games. However someway, Path to Nowhere’s alluring visuals and so-called beneficiant gacha system reeled me in, and the gacha recreation connoisseur inside me simply couldn’t resist giving this recreation a shot.
To my nice shock, Path to Nowhere proved my preliminary doubts improper by presenting a stable narrative stuffed with dystopian sci-fi components and clear-cut gameplay. It’s not stunning that Path to Nowhere is steadily rising in recognition, regardless of the presence of powerful rivals like Arknights.
However does that imply Path to Nowhere is an ideal match for you? Let’s attempt to discover out.
Path to Nowhere is about in Discity, a dystopian metropolis the place harmful outlaws referred to as Sinners run amok. Thoughts you, Sinners aren’t your run-of-the-mill criminals — actually, they’re half people, half monsters who can wield supernatural powers.
The participant assumes the function of ‘Chief’, an amnesiac human who has the ability to ‘shackle’ these outlaws and pressure them to observe their orders. The idea of enslaving Sinners felt a bit iffy at first. Nevertheless, I used to be a bit relieved after I discovered that the Sinners did retain full company over their very own life, even after getting shackled.
Moreover, each Sinner displayed a stunning quantity of character depth, despite the fact that the sport accommodates a roster of over 50 characters. However the primary story barely manages to scratch the floor of the person personalities of those Sinners.
As a substitute, the layers of their psyche are unpeeled by way of different recreation mechanisms like one-on-one interrogations and informal chit-chats within the Supervision Terminal, which was a satisfying expertise.
Furthermore, the Chief has a well-rounded character regardless of being a self-insert character. Self-insert characters in a lot of the video games are usually flat and shallow, however the Chief shows an unimaginable quantity of independence and feelings all through the story.
Tower protection mechanics dominate Path to Nowhere’s gameplay. Similar to another technique recreation, all you must do is to position all of the Sinners you possess of their respective positions and take a look at your finest to fend off the waves of monsters.
However in contrast to different technique video games which compelled downtime on fast positioning, I might transfer my Sinners from one block to a different on the fly. The dynamic positioning actually led to much less frustration, since I might truly save my important characters from dying throughout a battle.
Don’t get fooled by the simplistic fight, although. Regardless of utilizing absolutely leveled-up characters, the problem ranges of the later levels of the sport did stump me a number of occasions. Technique and timing play a key function right here, identical to in another technique recreation.
Furthermore, there’s a number of different stuff you possibly can mess around with on the primary menu. Supplies important for leveling up your Sinners may be farmed at numerous dungeons or acquired from the Dispatch missions at common intervals.
You too can examine in on the psychological state of Sinners by interacting with them on the Supervision Terminal, although the conversations do flip repetitive finally.
That stated, the stamina system within the recreation is a bit restrictive. All of the levels of the primary story and dungeons wanted stamina, so I discovered myself working out of stamina inside a couple of minutes. The restricted stamina delayed my total storyline development as properly, and I couldn’t play the sport for any time longer than half-hour.
As established earlier, Path to Nowhere’s true allure lies in its semi-realistic, manhwa-esque visuals. Each Sinner has an enthralling, 2D mugshot of their very own. Moreover, you possibly can even unlock particular outfits of some Sinners, both free of charge or by throwing in some money.
Throughout battles, the 2D graphics are scraped off and changed by 3D fashions that truly transfer. The motion of each enemy and character is sort of fluid, which makes the fight expertise rather more immersive.
However above all, what caught my consideration essentially the most was the constant use of cooler tones within the total artwork model. Blues, greens, and greys dominated the colour palette and highlighted the somber environment of the Lovecraftian premise.
Although the soundtrack isn’t my high precedence whereas taking part in any recreation, Path to Nowhere’s music is value a point out. The soundtrack isn’t restricted to a specific style, and it stays versatile to suit the environment of the story. My favourite OST was the foyer’s chill lo-fi instrumental, which made me linger on the primary menu greater than as soon as.
Regardless of having dynamic visuals, an ongoing soundtrack, and a number of capabilities normally, the sport is fairly tech-friendly. You don’t want a high-end gadget to play, and the sport barely occupies greater than 2 GB on my Android cellphone.
Lags and bugs are unusual, however even when they do happen, the builders reply speedily and resolve the difficulty rapidly. Furthermore, I discovered the UI interface fairly nice to take a look at, and I might entry all of the stuff within the recreation simply with out leaping by way of too many hoops.
To be frank, Path to Nowhere has one of the respectable gacha methods I’ve ever seen. Proper off the bat, rookies can get a assured S-rank Sinner by pulling on the newbie’s banner. The primary 20 pulls are discounted by 20 % as properly.
Having stated that, the sport’s official gacha forex, isn’t simple to amass within the late recreation. However fret not in the event you run out of your gacha funds resulting from dangerous luck, as a result of the pity system is fairly nice. The quantity of occasions you might have pulled in a sure banner doesn’t reset as soon as the banner is gone. As a substitute, the pity is carried over to the following banner.
Moreover, you don’t actually want S-rank items. The sport’s meta is sort of forgiving, and plenty of gamers spend money on A-rank items that do the job in addition to their S-rank counterparts.
Path to Nowhere is a technique recreation that achieves an ideal cohesion of role-playing, gacha, and tower-defense components. Its riveting narrative, coupled with lush soundscapes and gorgeous graphics, will definitely preserve you hooked.
Sadly, the restricted stamina restricts entry to the story content material and hinders the participant’s total development by way of the sport. All in all, if you’re in search of an informal gacha recreation with a gripping plot and beautiful waifus and husbandos, Path to Nowhere has you coated.
