Solar Ash and The Pathless are defining a new kind of open-world game

Blame my job or my memory but I am prone to taking notes during games. As well as I played Heart Machine and Annapurna Interactive’s Solar AshOver the last few days these notes have devolved to a list of how the game is similar to another Annapurna Game: The Pathless.

These open-world titles are budget friendly and prioritize platforming and smooth movement over custom stories and combat. You can also find In Solar AshYou can glide around on futuristic skates that boost and grind in all directions. The PathlessYou can propel yourself forward by using your magical bow or arrow. Each game features environmental puzzles in high vertical areas and mask characters. The story wraps all this together with loosely written narratives.

At their core they take place within relatively open environments. They fill them with unique forms and movements, rather than endless content. That simplicity makes it easy to enjoy the environment without being overwhelmed. They don’t feature crowds or a wide variety of enemies. In fact, they’d probably work without anyone to fight. Play through either game, and it often feels like enemies aren’t there to add to the story so much as to signal that you’re going in the right direction. (At the very least until you reach your bosses.

Image by Annapurna Interactive/Giant Squid

It is possible that budget concerns are at work here. Heart Machine. The PathlessGiant Squid is far smaller than studios making high-end open world games. It employs far less people and takes much longer to make enemies, quests, or animate faces. Neither of these games comes anywhere close to the level of animation in something like Insomniac’s Spider-Man games. The result works for me regardless of the motivation. The lack of excessive stuff in them — and what their respective developers have done with movement, platforming, and world design to fill that void — is what I like about them.

They’re not overwhelming. They don’t contain hundreds of hours of content. These games give you an experience of adventure and exploration, as well as a feeling of gratitude. Once you have finished, you will feel fulfilled and ready to move onto the next one. They’re big enough to get lost in, yet small enough to keep you focused. And they’ve allowed me to enjoy open-world games in a way that I haven’t been able to with a lot of big-budget stuff in recent years.