Hold the analog stick or point the mouse in the direction of a different enemy, and Reynardo dashes to attack them instead. Tapping the attack button swings Reynardo’s sword, and holding it makes him grab his enemy for a throw. Enemies appear in groups, locking you into the vicinity until you defeat them or die. Of course, story’s not all there is to a game, and as I mentioned above, there’s a lot more combat in Stories than there is in a book.

It’s no 100-hour epic like a Dragon Age game, but I found it pretty satisfying. Despite the fact that some of its details are quite dark, the story is handled in a lighthearted, fun manner that feels very appropriate to the game’s story-telling theme. Do the opposite, and he instead ruminates on the evil emperor and the necessity to do anything it takes to eliminate him before his plans can come to fruition, even if that means losing your friends. Remain loyal to your friends at the expense of searching out power, and Reynardo’s internal monologue discusses the importance of watching out for those near you. Even the game seems to get confused every so often - I swear there was a time or two that the story seemed to reflect a different choice than I had made.Īs you make those choices, the game does a good job of adjusting its approach to reflect yours. Sadly, having just those few choices each time around sometimes leads to confusion as to just what is happening in your current playthrough. Fortunately, the game does a few things to help you easily keep track of the paths you’ve already taken and guide you toward new Truths as well as toward the game’s ending, which helps you avoid wasting time by replaying the same path multiple times. Either way, you can play through again and again, making different choices and seeing how they play out.Įach chapter only includes two or three choices, so there isn’t an infinite variety available in the story, but I did find it interesting enough to keep playing after I saw the end credits to see how different choices played out together. After learning four Truths, you can make the choices that do lead to end credits, but you don’t have to. But your time has not been wasted - Reynardo has learned an essential “Truth” from his experience that affects every subsequent playthrough. Instead, you die and the story rewinds to the moment when you made your first choice. That is somewhat unique, but it’s not Stories’ real “gimmick.” The thing is, each playthrough only lasts a handful of chapters, and at the end of your first playthrough, you don’t see the end credits.

Before each chapter of the game, you must decide between two or three possibilities such as whether to rescue a friend who’s been captured by the emperor’s forces or go after a weapon that you think might turn the tide. (Puppies and kittens are specifically mentioned - this guy is a monster!) You have a few different ideas about how to make a difference in the fight and take down the emperor once and for all, but when the game begins, you have no way to know how well any of those ideas will work out. You play as Reynardo, an airship captain (and a fox, for a nice pun in French) in the service of a rebellion against a toad emperor who’s gone mad in his pursuit of power, sacrificing his citizens in the hopes of gaining favor from old dark gods. In Stories, I can’t put my finger in a page to save my place when I make a risky choice, but there’s a lot more combat in the game than there was in the books, and like the books, this game has kept me coming back over and over to see where the different paths take me. So when I heard of Stories: The Path of Destinies, I knew it was a game I’d want to play. Even now that I’m an adult, I’ve got 50 or so on my bookshelf.

I feel like I’ve mentioned this recently, but as a kid, I loved the Choose Your Own Adventure book series.

Stories the path of destinies guide