A simple trial-and-error puzzle game about guiding an alien-headed humanoid to the end goal by picking up gems along the way, Enchanted Path does not have much going for it. The visuals are sorely bland and there is no replay value but at least the background tunes are pleasant.
From an isometric grid, the player needs to guide this weirdly 3D modeled figure tile by tile without falling off the ledge, getting trapped, or running out of space. It is a typical and expected puzzle experience that is usually designated as a small mini game in other adventure or RPG titles. Out of the 40 included stages, only a few will require several attempts. In fact, the pacing is a little strange because the hardest stages are towards the middle and gets easier towards the end. The biggest hurdle to overcome, though, is the control scheme. Since this is an isometric game, pressing up isn’t really up or tapping right isn’t really right. Like Q-Bert, the 45 degree grid control takes time to adjust.
Stages eventually start to throw some curveballs at the player by incorporating different gameplay elements such as teleporters, controlling two alien men at once, having tiles fall away, or even being locked in cages. All hazards are easy to understand and it only took me about 25 minutes to complete the entire game. Completing level 40 only gives the player a very simple congrats screen so there isn’t any pay off or incentive to see the end.
I mentioned the quality soundtrack, which was probably downloaded from a public domain website, but there is one more gameplay element that put a smile on my face but in a laughable way. If your little alien manned figure guy falls off the edge, the falling animation is laughably bad. It is like his head is extra top-heavy but yet in perfect balance and then his body shrinks for some reason. It doesn’t make any sense and provided some out loud laughs for all the wrong reasons.
Even though Enchanted Path was created by a small indie dev team, there is no ignoring the boring and simplified gameplay. The amateur approach was clearly made by an inexperienced team but looking forward to their next title as I am sure releasing this title on the Switch eShop was a quality learning experience.
Not As Pretty As: Nature Matters
Almost As Casual As: Inbento
Play It Instead: the Active Neurons trilogy
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz
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