Stories: The Path of Destinies

Short and sweet...
...unless hunting for the last two achievements, in which case it'll require around 3x the amount of time plus the patience of a saint as well as an extraordinary tolerance for repetitiveness. An off switch for your brain also wouldn't hurt.
The game is fine, but completionists will want to tear their hair out.

Great Ideas, Not So Great Execution
This is one of those games that needs a middle button. A "maybe"
Sometimes you play a game that is bursting with some excellent ideas but frustration mounts when playing it as these ideas end up being half-baked or not fully fleshed out and so what should be at least a fine experience ends up being a letdown and that is the *ahem* story of Stories: The Path of Destinies,
A choose-your-own-adventure action-RPG, Stories biggest draw is its story path system. Where each chapter you choose which path to take, even strange contradictory ones the game accommodates. This will lead to one of dozens of endings (and possibly a path unlock, which reveals a vital truth to lead character Reynaldo. This does add up to the game having a lot of replay value, which makes sense as an average playthrough to an ending is around 30 mins.
So how does this all pan out? Well its mixed. The overall narrative is quite haphazard; We have no idea great understanding who the characters are; the lead, his allies, his enemies. We just get brief snippets and away we go. The world building is sorely lacking as we're either just given brief explanation or just told flatly about this person, this location and this MacGuffin.
It'd be more palatable if the writing was on point and sometimes it does the job, but other times the writing is kind of awkward, especially when it attempts to be funny. To give it credit some of the quips heard in gameplay are quite amusing (reminds one of Bastion on a much lesser scale). To give it some credit the story doesn't shy away from violent acts. They are described in enough detail and even some of them come with a illustration.
And all this is carried by the narrator, Julian Casey, who not only tells the story and the quips, but also is the one doing the voices for ALL characters. He does a fine job but there is defiantly times when its clear someone else should have voiced a character. That said the only time you'll want to mute him is when you hear him repeat the same story over and over and its clear the man is talented.
Which leads to perhaps the biggest issue with the narrative. You (sometimes) can't skip scenes. This means you have to hear the same thing over. And over. And over. At the very least being able to skip dialogue at anytime would have been great. Have fun listening to the same beginning over and over, especially if you want to 100%/get all endings.
Of course, this isn't a pure visual novel and so as Reynaldo the fox, you'll have to swing, dash and grapple your way to these endings. And its...fine (a running theme you can sense.
Combat uses a VERY simple version of the Arkham games combat system of combos, waiting for a enemy signal to parry and using some abilities you unlock. While you'd think this would open up some strategies, only one enemy in the game has you change tactics, the rest can be easily button mashed to death as its quite easy to parry. Oddly there's also no boss battles which is a let down considering the story provides many opportunities to do so and the skills you get would be great way to design something around them. Alas the best you get is a small variety of enemies.
Stages aren't too long which is good. Also sometimes you'll be taking a different route on a stage or start in a different place. The background draw distance is admirable and sometimes there's events going on which is nice rather than just having static levels, the music is forgettable aside from final chapter theme, which is the best with a good amount of tension, action and dread.
Its cool that depending on what storyline paths you take, you may get a buff or a debuff. So a story choice could see you having poison (health bar ticks down) throughout the stages or another could see you get health on kill
But its also plagued with a half-finished feel. Exploration is inconsistent. The game is very linear but there are a few off-beaten paths to unlock (due to needing different swords to unlock certain doors) or find but they aren't that rewarding and its not like you can really go out of your way to explore either, as Stories does not really push you to explore that much due to the rigid level design and it doesn't crop up that much. The feeling is "oh...look" rather then "oh! wow!"
Then there's the upgrade system involving magic swords and gems. Its cool to work towards them but in reality you'll only early end up using two of them; healing sword to restore health and ice sword for its OP ability. The gem system is similar as it ends up being shallow and not as great as it could be.
Puzzles are in the game but they are so basic it's baffling why they were included. Same with the hooking mechanic which feels forced as a level traversal gimmick (though at least its useful in combat).

What we have is a game with some very good ideas but with an execution that doesn't feel fully realised. There is a very good, even a great game buried underneath but its not to be and it just ends up being, at best, decent enough to give a go.
Rating: 6/10

This game was such a hidden gem. The choose-your-own-adventure style and the characters are all so charming, and the stories themselves were short but fun little adventures.
Also, Reynardo.

A good indie RPG. The gimmick is that you have to go through the game 5 times to unlock all the "truths" and then reach the true end. Each run is very short (around an hour) and different from the previous one.
Combats start out kinda boring but get better as you unlock abilities. Environments look very nice and the game is generally well polished.

This game doesn’t just tell you a story —
it hands you the pen, lets you mess up, and says:
"Alright, try again... but smarter this time."
At first, it feels like a simple action-RPG:
Cool sword combat, smooth movement, talking animals — all wrapped in a fairy-tale world.
But then you hit your first “ending” and realize…
you’re not done.
In fact, you’re barely getting started.
The magic of Stories: The Path of Destinies is in the branching narrative.
Every choice, every path leads to a different outcome — sometimes hilarious, sometimes tragic, sometimes eye-opening.
The narrator is sharp, witty, and makes every run feel like a bedtime story gone wrong (or right).
I ended up replaying it more than I expected — not because I had to, but because I wanted to know what else could’ve happened.
It’s compact, fun, and cleverly built so that failure is part of the journey, not a punishment.
Highlights:
Tight, satisfying combat
Gorgeous visuals and world design
Great narration with real personality
HIGH replay value with dozens of story paths and secrets
Fox with a sword (what else do you need?)
Final Verdict:
If you like choose-your-own-adventure books, charming indie games, or just want something unique that respects your curiosity — this one’s worth the journey.
And the second one.
And the twelfth.

This game has a great idea, but the problem is that its either executed badly, fine or good. It felt like there should have been more chapters since most of them end so abruptly and do not get fleshed out at all. The fact that there was also only one choice during the level, only for Lapino's path is disappointing as well, and the final chapter. Also the choices that kill you which put you back all the way at the beginning of the level instead of right before the last fight and/or just could have made it into an actual path. The endings are also disappointing, most of them end too abruptly or are hurried on because of the game's small amount of chapters (five for one path). Biggest let down for the story is the true ending, which ends on a cliff-hanger, feeling like it should have continued in this game or a sequel that will not be. It leaves a poor taste in the mouth after completing the game four times (or even more if you unlock the same truth) to unlock the ending and then just have it end poorly. The characters are underwhelming as well, and having the narrator just tell you exactly what the characters are is bad, you have no connection to them so why should you care at all? why would i care that Lapino is my old friend? Why should i care that Zenobia is the same except that she secretly actually loves me? Why should i even care about the war between the Empire and the Rebellion? There really is not that much world building in this game, the scrolls are the only lore aspect of the game and granted, are very interesting, but there are only a handful of them and they do not really do much to help with the world of this game. Perhaps a longer beginning before getting the book would have helped, fleshing out the characters and world of the game. You also cannot skip cutscenes in this game, which i would understand the first time you go through a path, having to go through the same dialogue over and over again is annoying and at times boring. The narrator was a nice touch, and he was talented, although at times it would have just been better to have another voice actor for a specific character, such as Zenobia.
Gameplay is on the same boat, at first i liked the arkham-like gameplay but it became quickly repetitive with how simple it is, and the fact that there really is only one enemy that forces you to actually think (the boomer). I would consider putting the shield enemy in that category as well but throwing the enemies into each other is so over powered you really don't have to care that much about the shields, you can even just pull them with your hook with a skill in the game. The fact that the enemies get stronger with each level you gain does not help, as it just feels tedious to not feel like you are actually becoming stronger and that you have to attack them many times if you do not want to use the overpowered throw. There also is no bosses in the game even though there should have been, like Zenobia, Lapino or even the two huge crows you see behind the emperor in some endings of the game. At least you do not have to rummage through each chest in every level, they just respawn which cuts down on a would-be tedious grind. Although that does not really matter since you do not even need to use the special abilities of said swords since you can easily counter enemies and even kill them fast if you use the throw. There are some bugs of which are really annoying, like some times dashing in combat doesn't move you or you just stop moving out of nowhere, but aside from that there were no other bugs.
Overall, this game is just a 6/10. It is a very mixed bag and could have easily been so much better if the developers tried harder. I will continue playing this game until i get all the endings and perhaps will add something more to this review afterwards, although i doubt it. I will probably end up playing their other game, Omensight which seems to be just like this game. (Of which they could have just made a sequel to Stories: The Path of Destinies, which could have helped but i suppose it is naïve of me to hope for this.)

from what i remember, this game was fun to play, its got basic combat and the levels are repetitive, the main draw of the game is the multiple endings that you get from it and it does this very well, even if some of the dialogue can be repetitive after playing through the game enough, overall, it was enjoyable to play.