One of the best pieces of news to come out of the August 2020 State of Play event is the ability for the player to pet their companion eagle in Giant Squid's upcoming adventure game, The Pathless. Not only is this just a fun and great thing to do, but it's also a very necessary part of playing the game, as petting your eagle keeps them clean and healthy and keeping your feathered friend happy is super important, since he helps you around the world with his flying.
As you progress through the game you can also find crystals that also increase how many times your bird friend can flap to increase your height. This mechanic is exceedingly important, since Giant Squid has done away with a lot of the trapping that we take for granted in most games. For instance, there is no fast travel system included in the game at all, but as you increase your birds ability to fly higher-and-higher you find yourself able to get around the world more and more easily.
Traversal seems to be a huge part of what makes The Pathless enjoyable to play. Not only is the movement system seemingly very fluid and smooth, but you can also still use and draw your bow as you move without losing momentum at all. Perhaps most interestingly, The Pathless does away entirely with game overs but without having to lose all of the stakes a traditional game over provides. Instead, you lose the crystals you've collected, setting you back by preventing you from accusing future upgrades. As of right now it's not clear how you'll get around this set back.
The Pathless will be released on PS4, PS5, Mac OSx, iOS, and Windows PC, and for more information you can check out the trailer below for yourself.
