Pathless Woods Early Access Impressions

An Early Access code was provided, with many thanks to JF Games PR Comms.

Pathless Woods from AniYa Games Studio has landed on Steam in Early Access. It’s advertised as a cosy open-world survival game, and I was curious to see just how cosy it is. Pathless Woods is inspired by ancient China’s heritage, in which you gather resources, cultivate crops, build your dream home, and defend it from marauders. You can do this alone, or you can team up with friends to explore and uncover everything the world has to offer.

In-game screenshot from 'Pathless Woods' showing a player character in a vibrant, cartoon-styled open world. The character stands on a grassy path, looking at a large, ethereal white bird with pink accents and glowing runes, soaring in the blue sky. An overlay displays the game's HUD with a minimap, various meters such as temperature, an FPS counter, in-game currency, and objectives like 'Collect Straw Mushroom' and 'Collect Yam'. Published on: LadiesGamers. — Now that’s quite a sight, isn’t it?

Getting to Grips With Things in Pathless Woods

You start Pathless Woods learning the ropes in a sort of tutorial environment. You’re shown how to gather things, chop wood, pick crops and eat them, drink water from a little pond and use a bag as your inventory. I was surprised to see that for actions like chopping a tree or hitting a rock, a little mini-game triggered: hitting the button at the right time gets the job done quicker, but you can also go slower and just hold the same button until the tree is felled.

"A user interface from Pathless Woods displays a crafting screen with various items like 'Grass Sandals' and tools to select from. The player's character stands in a vibrant green field with a crafting table, while game statistics, like temperature and player stats, are shown around the edges of the screen." Published on: LadiesGamers — The building and crafting menu

Pathless Woods has two craft menus, one Building and Crafting, which I found to be a bit confusing. Finding the items to make takes some getting used to, as there are so many things to make, even from the beginning. Finding new materials once you get to explore gives you even more recipes, which is nice: you’ll have quite the inventory quickly.

Once you have done the tutorial, your very own procedurally generated map opens up in which you can play alone or with up to three other players. You can choose to be a boy or a girl, and there are a couple of colours available for your clothes. A nice touch is that their characteristics are explained.

"Character customization screen in Pathless Woods, showing a female character in green and yellow attire named 'QiaoEr-Green'. The text describes her as a nurturing, soft-spoken lady with a tree spirit friend. The background shows a whimsical forest setting." Published on: LadiesGamers. — These are the options you get for a female character

Procedurally Generated

Your world is your very own and your own to play in as you please. Go out and explore as much of the world as you can, keeping in mind that you will meet animals and bosses to fight. Or you can stay much closer to your camp and focus on building and farming. No matter how you play, though, the survival element is always there. And I think it’s intense, a bit too much for my liking. You have to drink (don’t drink from a poisoned pond) and eat (and be careful what you eat). The food perishes, and the tools and weapons aren’t durable. You also have to keep in mind that the weather and temperature can influence you.

"Another gameplay interface from Pathless Woods, where the character stands near a campfire and a workbench in a lush meadow. The game's HUD shows various resources, a minimap, and an action prompt to harvest yarns, along with the player's stats." Published on: LadiesGamers. — My little YvoCaro starts out in a new world.

The biggest problem for me was the day and night cycle, as in the night, your sanity meter goes down. I tried to sleep most of it, for which you need a bonfire to sit next to, but the cycle goes so fast that I feel I can hardly do anything. It made me afraid to leave the basic camp! But on the other hand, if you die, you lose your bag and some stats, and your bag is waiting for you right where you fell, so that’s good.

The Controls Are Worrisome

Aside from the survival element, which is harder than I expected, the biggest problem for me is the controls in Pathless Woods. There is no controller support; instead, you have to work with your keyboard. And there are a lot of buttons to click and remember. For every action, you press buttons, even when you choose a response to give. You don’t click on the text balloon; you have to press the right number. To be honest, I’m not much of a keyboard gamer, and this really took away from my enjoyment of the game.

"A pastoral scene from Pathless Woods where the player's homestead includes a wooden house and a small, fenced vegetable garden amidst a field of wildflowers and grass." Published on: LadiesGamers. — This is how it can be: one of the sample screenshots for Pathless Woods

It also meant that while it runs on the SteamDeck, it’s really hard to make it work with all the different command buttons. And aside from that, the text is way too small to read on the Deck.

Not Wholesome Enough

Pathless Woods looks wonderful, and the novelty of this ancient China-themed game is a big draw. Crafting is fun, with so many recipes to choose from. However, I went into the game for the wholesome experience. While I love that the game takes a different approach to things, I didn’t find it to be very wholesome with the very apparent survival element.

It’s early days, though, so hopefully, the developers will eventually add controller support. Looking at the depth of Pathless Woods and all the things you can adjust in the settings, I have every faith that this will eventually be added. If they also manage to make the survival element easier, I’ll surely take a look in the future.

Of course, be sure to take a look at the demo that’s available to form your own opinion!