Path to Nowhere
Common Sense Media Review
By Erin Brereton , based on child development research. How do we rate?
Visually stunning strategy has more speed bumps than action.
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Path to Nowhere
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Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What’s It About?
In PATH TO NOWHERE, just as your character is supposed to become the chief of the Minos Bureau of Crisis Control, an attack occurs. After escaping the riot, the chief, dealing with memory loss, sets out to detain rebels with help from a group of Sinners, outlaws controlled by the chief. Kids place Sinners on a grid to use their powers against incoming opponents in battles that happen between installments of a storyline with some voice narration. Kids collect more Sinners as they go and can level them up with DisCoins, earned by finishing tasks.
Is It Any Good?
The stunning visuals are impressive, but you might wish you had more control in battles, and you'll spend more time reading than you'd expect. Graphically, Path to Nowhere really shines. Characters are drawn with an impressive level of detail, and dramatic music and sound effects heighten the tense mood. Much -- although not all -- of the dialogue is read aloud, and a list of tasks outlines what kids need to do to move forward. Along the way, kids amass a team of Sinners, criminals who help fight opponents with magical abilities, and can position them in battles against various foes.
That element -- particularly the shackles the main character uses to control Sinners -- is a dubious plot choice, and other aspects are also confusing. The introductory sequence is fairly vague, presenting characters who aren't fully identified, and overall, the plot feels needlessly drawn out. Fighting capabilities, too, can be unclear. Aside from the occasional conversational responses you click on (which don't always offer a choice; sometimes there's just one option), the battles are the game's main interactive element. Most scenes involve written descriptions of what's happening, shown over still images. Kids can place characters in certain positions at the start of battles, and shift them somewhat once they start. Sinners can only be moved to another square so many times, though, which can limit kids' ability to strategize -- and it can sometimes be hard to tell whose energy is depleting, because the red and green bars can overlap during combat. If kids are OK with a slower story pace and their involvement in battles primarily centering on them setting everyone's position up, they might enjoy checking the game out. Kids who want a chance to customize each battle move, though, may feel like they aren't able to contribute to the outcome enough -- and could, as a result, decide to discontinue walking down the Path to Nowhere.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about kids taking a leadership role in Path to Nowhere. As chief of an organization, they'll make decisions and oversee people. How does your child feel about having that level of responsibility? Are any parts of it particularly challenging?
Can kids think of a supportive, kind way to help someone's performance improve? Why would that type of approach possibly be more effective than criticizing or ordering someone around?
Kids work to achieve goals in Path to Nowhere, but how can they start advancing toward reaching one in real life?
App Details
- Devices: iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Mac , Android
- Pricing structure: Free
- Release date: November 18, 2022
- Category: Role-Playing Games
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy
- Publisher: AISNO Games
- Version: 10.9
- Minimum software requirements: Requires iOS 11.0 or later, macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with an Apple M1 chip or later, and Android 6.0 and up.
- Last updated: November 22, 2022
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