Pathfinders: Memories

Genre: Puzzle-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Pathfinders: Memories is a Puzzle-Platformer released on PC in 2021 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2023. This game has you directing space suit wearing characters through various stages after memorizing the layout, charting their path after all the stage’s features are removed from your view.

The presentation here is clean, but simple and not especially inspiring, using simple 2D visuals backed by somewhat subdued music and cartoony sound effects. There’s nothing bad here, but there’s also nothing especially noteworthy or memorable going on either.

As for the gameplay, if you read the opening paragraph of this review, you probably have a rough idea how this game plays. Everything here comes down to simple memorization. Look over each level, remember the route you want to go, then draw that route once you start the stage. I suppose if you have a photographic memory this game will be extremely dull for you, and if you have an abysmal memory it will be torturous. For everyone else, it will largely be a decent but not especially exciting experience.

There is one element I can point to that detracts from this otherwise-mundane experience, however – the controls. The game’s traditional gamepad controls are clunky and not always responsive, though thankfully you’re not on a timer or in a situation where you need to react fast, so this is more of an irritation than a game-breaking flaw. The game does have touchscreen controls, but they are absolutely terrible, which is a shame since that seems to me like the way the game would probably be the best way to play it if they worked properly.

In the end, I suspect some players may find some mild enjoyment out of Pathfinders: Memories, but I suspect most will grow bored with it fairly quickly. It’s not that the game is bad, just that it doesn’t do anything that makes it particularly good, and outside of its overall premise, there’s just not much going on here that seems all that inventive or engaging.

tl;dr – Pathfinders: Memories is a Puzzle-Platformer that has players memorizing stages’ layouts, and charting a character’s path after all the stage’s features are removed from your view. It’s a decent premise, but one that the game doesn’t build on in any way that makes it interesting or memorable, and sub-par controls make even this mediocre experience less enjoyable. This isn’t a terrible game, but it’s far from anything particularly good.

Grade: C-

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