Road Not Taken

“Road Not Taken is an insidiously clever randomly generated puzzle game that stumbles sometimes around awkward design.”

Most rogue-like games operate under the assumption that you tackle multiple playthroughs, and the variation in the procedurally generated worlds keeps things interesting. Spry Fox has taken that design structure and crafted a highly playable twist on puzzle gaming. The system works admirably, with a gradual curve into difficulty, endless varied puzzles, and some thoughtful storytelling thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, the core puzzle and rogue-like features become increasingly tedious the longer you play.

A path less traveled by.

Every year, just as the winter starts to kill off the last of the year’s berries, children head out into the forest in a final attempt to boost food stores. Some of the little ones never come back, which seems to panic the parents a little too much considering that they let them go off and do it every year regardless. This is where you come in: as a Ranger, you’ll go into the forest, outwit witches and wolves, and save as many children as you possibly can.

Road Not Taken is a interesting mix of ideas that make a strong first impression but don’t quite come together. It starts out fun enough as you learn how everything fits together and the goal is discovery instead of progress through the story, but once you find out what you’re supposed to do, what started out as a fun and curious adventure becomes something more drab.

It has some interesting ideas, but Road Not Taken is too often both frustrating and confusing.

Road Not Taken might not always be successful in making players feel remorseful for paths avoided, but the game itself stands as one journey that at least everyone should attempt; if only to expose themselves to the game’s frustrating, yet undeniably fresh idiosyncrasies.