#the pathless eagle

[gamingcreatures]

Go. Start this world anew. Spread the light...

[legionofpotatoes]

My annual invocation to play The Pathless to anyone that will listen

[sasoxichomoshi]

The Pathless fanart

[virtualcamelselfies]

Replaying The Pathless 🦅🏹

[tenuuchlegch]

Finished the Pathless and I can safely say -smacks game case- THIS is peak Odtsetseg core right here.

[adsurgitvagus]

A swap au for The Pathless I've been slowly working on! The game narrative doesn't change too much, but the Pathfinder is a pilgrim, returning back to the island after his travels in search of his own path and finds ruin, brought in by the Godhunter, who intends to bring the world to the primordial chaos and eliminate all order to stay true (if corrupt) to the Mother Eagle's intent Also the Pathfinder has a reincarnated Sauro as a companion, go lizards

Bonus: non-monochrome Godhunter

[birdsofthefictionalworld]

Bird Spotlight: The Pathless

The Pathless(2020) is a action/adventure game from Giant Squid, a studio formed by the art director of Journey(2012), Matt Nava. Nava was also joined by other members of Journey’s production team and released their first title Abzu, in 2016. However, unlike Abzu, our main companion in this game is a bird!

Our striking Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) companion does not disappoint, even to a discerning eye. The model is simple, sleek and beautifully designed, more than worthy for a main protagonist.

The animations are similarly smooth, meticulous, and objectively adorable, just look at those hops!

Additionally, markings on the bird’s underwing coverts and white tail feathers show that or friend is a juvenile.

The sounds, sadly fall short of realism, giving the bird sounds that would match a red-tailed hawk, instead of a golden eagle. I am willing to forgive, however, as the call and response button is a treasure, and the sounds used are, objectively, far more impressive than the real sounds of an eagle.

And, as a final note: YOU GET TO PET THE BIRD

Thank you for reading! If you want to see more of these, I will be tagging this series as #spotlights as well #bfw(my general works tag), and as always, my ask box is open to suggestions for bird stuff for me to check out!

[fascinatedhelix]

Decided to make a little introductory post to a very particular crossover AU (for ABZU, The Pathless, Journey (2012), and Sky: Children of the Light, to be specific) that @abhorrenttheorizer and I have made art for over on Discord. As there's a lot of ground to cover, I'm putting it under a read-more for courtesy.

Introduction

Welcome to Earth! Specifically, thousands if not millions of years in the future, after at least one cataclysm has claimed the lives of every human on the planet. But not to worry!

A little before the end of humanity arrived, two bird-like gods arrived on Earth, settling in the eastern and western hemispheres to establish their own followings.

Off to the East, we have the goddess affectionately nicknamed "Megabird," who landed on a mountain and began constructing her own unique ecosystem centering on light and flight, creating the Rythulians as her worshippers. (AT's more in charge of this portion; he's got a lot of interesting ideas about the "slugbirbs" as we like to call them.)

To the West, we have the goddess known to her own people as Mother Eagle. First, she got to work producing five eggs, which would hatch into their own unique gods and goddesses: Cernos, Sauro, Nimue, Basilla, and Kumo.

Basilla, the shark goddess*, was the one who crafted the people who would become their worshippers, taking remnants of humans and mixing them with seals and sharks to create the Basillan species (my specialty, based on my personal headcanons for the TGS games).

*(based on the Great White from ABZU being referenced in The Pathless and the mysterious stele that got edited out in an update)

The original Basillan kinda looked like this (these being the "humanoid" forms of the Tall Ones, Basilla included).

However, they wouldn't stay united for very long. Differences in religious views and lifestyle got heated, and eventually the mortals banished Basilla and her followers from their island home, with the Basillan cult setting up shop in an underwater territory a ways away from the Eagle's Island. Over time, the more land-focused followers of the Mother Eagle and the remaining four Tall Ones became the Vokara subspecies, and the more aquatic followers of Basilla alone became the Nanshen.

Here's a really old drawing of the differences!

(Did I forget to mention this AU has been in the works since 2021? Man my art's changed since then.)

Anyways, average Nanshen guy on the left, average Vokara guy on the right.

The Nanshen are more suited towards an aquatic lifestyle, with wider gill slits, darker skin due to heightened sun exposure, shorter and more compact body type, a flatter nose more suited for passing water to the gills, and longer barbels on the ears to allow for greater olfactory sensation underwater. (They're based off of the murals in the ABZU game, as well as probably unintentional environmental storytelling with how unnavigable the map would be without a lot of diving underwater; it only made sense to me that the lost civilization was probably amphibious.)

The Vokara have lived mostly in the mountains for generations, so they're more suited for terrestrial life, with a broader chest, smaller gills to focus on breathing air, lighter skin due to weather conditions providing less light, a more opened up nasal passage for ease of breathing, and smaller barbels due to less of a need for underwater sensory measures. (They're more based on the Hunter's appearance in The Pathless, given that she is way too gray to be a human. I know it's probably just to make her aracial like what they did in Homestuck, but I'm running with it damn it!)

(Anyways, here's a nicer comparison drawing from a little while later. Behold the specbio lesbian wedding!)

Fun Bits I Forgot to Organize

Tusks

Adult Basillans grow tusks like boars (based on the Godslayer's ascended model having these wicked tusks among his rows of fangs). They only really develop towards the latter portion of adolescence, around one's late teens to early 20s, and are regarded for the males as the sign that one has become a proper adult.

Of course, the downside is that these things are continuously growing and have to be trimmed every now and then in order to avoid poking oneself in the eye or scratching people with it.

The Vokara are especially finicky about covering their mouths for... not quite modesty reasons so much as baring one's scary teeth at another person is considered rude and aggressive. The Nanshen, living far more amphibiously and thus not really comfortable with more cloth than is comfortable underwater, don't care about that as much, though if you grimace at somebody they might kick you in the shins.

Barbels

A general rule I keep when designing out-of-water clothing for these guys is to cover the ears. In universe, it's because their barbels are very sensitive to differences in temperature and UV radiation out of the water, so it's deeply uncomfortable to have them uncovered for these guys. Out of universe, it's because The Hunter did something like this in her game, in addition to the ABZU people also covering most of their heads but not their chests for some reason (so probably not quite a modesty thing), and I decided to make up a silly specbio reason for it.

For some examples, here's a spread of different Nanshen city states and their different fashions:

History

The games are still canon here! But there's a little more to it.

The Nanshen had always been travellers, more keen to explore and establish their own territories far and wide. But after those dwelling in the Crown began messing with the Abzu, the life energy of the ocean itself, the ecosystem around the capitol collapsed and the population fled the area. Their former empire collapsed, and in its place, a number of different city states off the shore of their various old territories were established in its place.

Some time before, or maybe simultaneous to that, the Vokara had their own little collapse in the form of the Godslayer's rebellion. Many had read the writing on the wall and fled the Isle before he successfully slayed the gods and took control of the whole Island, leading to a number of villages and kingdoms being formed on the nearby continent, which would eventually spawn the Last Hunter, who would defeat the Godslayer.

There's more to it, but I think I'm approaching Tumblr's picture limit, and I've got more, sillier pictures from the AU. I'll add those later!

[thisfairytalegonebad]

Hey gamers y'all HAVE to play The Pathless, it's a fucking masterpiece of a game, it's absolutely gorgeous, the soundtrack is fire and the gameplay is so much fun (and you get an eagle companion, who you can PET, my god what a game

[sillylotrpolls]

(Relevant reading below poll)

Today's poll is courtesy @enide-s-dear!

Thus Maedhros and Maglor gained not the jewel; but it was not lost. For Ulmo bore up Elwing out of the waves, and he gave her the likeness of a great white bird, and upon her breast there shone as a star the Silmaril, as she flew over the water to seek Eärendil her beloved. On a time of night Eärendil at the helm of his ship saw her come towards him, as a white cloud exceeding swift beneath the moon, as a star over the sea moving in strange course, a pale flame on wings of storm. And it is sung that she fell from the air upon the timbers of Vingilot, in a swoon, nigh unto death for the urgency of her speed, and Eärendil took her to his bosom; but in the morning with marvelling eyes he beheld his wife in her own form beside him with her hair upon his face, and she slept.

...

On those journeys Elwing did not go, for she might not endure the cold and the pathless voids, and she loved rather the earth and the sweet winds that blow on sea and hill. Therefore there was built for her a white tower northward upon the borders of the Sundering Seas; and thither at times all the sea-birds of the earth repaired. And it is said that Elwing learned the tongues of birds, who herself had once worn their shape; and they taught her the craft of flight, and her wings were of white and silver-grey. And at times, when Eärendil returning drew near again to Arda, she would fly to meet him, even as she had flown long ago, when she was rescued from the sea. Then the far-sighted among the Elves that dwelt in the Lonely Isle would see her like a white bird, shining, rose-stained in the sunset, as she soared in joy to greet the coming of Vingilot to haven.

[plow-and-propose]

I'm really enjoying The Pathless so far!

I did a little bit of research before buying it and I'm glad I did, because Abzu is one of my favourite games of all time and The Pathless is a very different experience. While I definitely prefer Abzu, it's nice to do some actual puzzles and combat for a change!

I saw The Pathless described somewhere as a game that makes the fights feel extremely tense even though they're actually very easy, and yeah lol I agree, but I like that. It's low stakes high adrenaline that keeps me engaged but not stressed out. Even getting out of the red storm was easy, I thought I was going to hate that mechanic but no, it's very forgiving.

Now I've got the hang of the sprint mechanic I like it, but I do feel that world is a little too big. In Abzu every area was full of animals you could interact with, but in The Pathless it's mostly just trees and grass - although randomly stumbling across secrets is fun.

I think it's also a little less pretty than Abzu? but still very visually appealing

None of this matters tho because you can pet the eagle. Best game ever 10/10

[gamingcreatures]

The Eagle | The Pathless

[melishade]

So I replayed this game called the Pathless recently

And the goal of the game is simple: defeat the monsters, climb up the mountain, stop the antagonist from destroying the world.

But if you play through the game without exploring the levels all the way through, the ending message of the game might be a little confusing. “The truth is a pathless land”. It doesn’t hit as hard if you don’t explore the lore of the game on these levels. The history of how the antagonist, the Godslayer, came to be and the perspective of the people who followed him or not. There are two souls on the fourth level that do convey the message of the game. There is no chosen or set path that everyone must follow. You must find and choose your own destiny, your own path and make the most of it. 

Also you have an eagle that you get to pet:

And she’s a pretty bird.

[sasoxichomoshi]

there's something so charming about hunter, but in a soothing way

it doesnt mean she cant be silly ofc, but her eyes reflect so much of her moods and personality

when she's with the eagle she looks calm and gentle and much of the expressions she makes are towards the eagle; when nimue gets the bird, when the godslayer stuns the eagle and got one of the flaps and at the end of the game when he corrupts the eagle completely there were always a close at her face to show us how worried hunter was towards her friend

it's as if the eagle highlights hunter in some way, cause if you think about it hunter is not really an important person; she's an outsider and a stranger, and eagle mother is there not only to push her forwards, but she also works like this excuse to develop what lies inside hunter - her feelings

the more i think about, like no human(oid) character in the pathless have a mouth, which is an interesting decision - may it be because the animator said "nuh uh i aint doing this" or because they had other intentions - having no mouth makes it harder to humanize a character cause to do so you work around facial expression mostly

for characters like the diver or the little guy from journey it works cause humanizing them is not the focus - they are vessels for the player to experience the message of the game, much like a blank page, but hunter is a more defined type of character, she's not only for the player to control; there are instance where she speaks for herself (literally), she reacts towards her environment (like when she groans when she hits the ground), it's a bit of "i exist in relation to others" kind of thing i dont even know if this explanations make sense

the thing is, if you gonna hide the mouth (and it's funny cause they got rid of the mouths but not of the speech), to deliver something believable you have to put extra attention in other places, like eyes (which is probably the reason why they made her eyes big, for emphasis) and corporal expression (i love all of hunter animations like ALL of them, the idles are so cool and my favorite has to be the climbing one HAVE YOU SEEN THAT CREATURE)

another aspect that locks my eyes on hunter is her color palette; she feels a bit like 60% red and 40% black which an almost dangerous distribution cause it gets near the boring looking too evenly palette, but i feel like this problem is partially solved by the color choice cause black and red is very iconic (but i see that this can be subjective, so take it with a grain of salt)

to give some examples: im typing from an nitro acer (black red palette), you can see cars with that bright red (+black of the tires), and i can name a few characters with red+black combination, like matoi ryuko from kill la kill, kaguya, that masochist from that cassino games school (she's iconic i will recognize but i wont lose my time googling it i dont wanna know details about that anime)

(also if i had to point a match for hunter from another media....... kikyo my beloved i fucking love you my gay awakening i kept watching inuyasha cause i wanted to see you on my screen omg)

but at the same time her color scheme puzzles me: what does it mean? usually color is used for storytelling or readability purposes

hunter red black contrasts very well against the greens/whites/oranges of the landscape, mostly bc it's highly saturated; but then you get to the boss fight and......

i know that the boss fights dont take as many screen time as exploration but considering that they are the action moment hmm idk the math aint mathing here

well what's about storytelling? a bit of the same problem shown on the above image; hunter shares the color scheme with the corrupted tall ones and godslayer which makes things even more confusing

(seriously am i stupid and didnt see the obvious hint everyone else saw and im just here staring at the walls idk)

that said i have come up with my own worms to explain this and it comes down to: it's not from the land/natural

godslayer and the corrupted tall ones shouldnt exist, they are not natural to this world and actually an evil twist of the reality; hunter not necessarily is corrupted, but is also not natural (from the island), she's an outsider, it's about this feeling of not-belonging

however in the end of the day the color choice is also about readability and keeping things cohesive; stretching the color palette of the entire game just to give hunter a different look would do more damage than helping, imagine changing to something not that far like a pink or yellow, things still would change drastically

in the end i still love hunter very much ma babegurl <3 sillly stupid<333 my dear blorbo<333 hope she finds a lot of hobbies <33333

[lilith-queen]

When I’m making Muriel art, I love to listen to The Pathless OST. It’s SO fitting for him, the game itself is about an archer and an eagle that go on a journey through a dark forest to bring back light to the world. It’s also a very fun game with neat details, especially the lore. I recommend it!! Austin Wintory has some other amazing soundtracks as well.

[benvironment]

It was an unbearably soggy start up Ben Laga on Tuesday. We were drenched through to the skin after just 2km of road walking, and even before we'd stepped onto the hillside we were left pondering whether it would be remotely enjoyable to push on........but the forecast bore out, the rain abated, and the trousers quickly dried in the strong and yes, mild (yawn) wind.

And what a hill! Pathless, craggy, rocky, and with a significant number of lochans per square inch.  We saw this (not so) tiny wee vole near the summit. We also saw a (very) tiny shrew later on, plus a pair of white tailed eagles. Quite the day!