Stories: The Path of Destinies

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.

A game with a unique style and beautiful narrative, gets destroyed by repetitive gameplay and boring combat. The game could have been so good, but the combat alone turns it into a very average game.
The story is so good tho it's worth a playthrough.

The writing and characters in this game are great and funny, but there's only so many times I can be bothered to play through the game to get alternative endings, especially when dialogue can't be skipped at any point.
I played through it enough times until I stopped having fun. Maybe that's the best way to enjoy this game, but it's sad it has to be that way.
I would still, however, recommend it, even if just for a few runs, because the game is still very fun overall.

"Less is more" is a mantra that I wish this developer had in mind.
Purely from a gameplay standpoint it isn't bad, the combat is a simpler version of the Batman combat, pretty much a one button combat system. It does it's job and can even be fun at times from how well it flows.
You have a magic system which just buffs/heals you and a run of the mill skill tree.
The biggest highlight is the humor which is actually pretty funny, it's a lot of pop culture references to games, events and celebrities.
At times it's borderline modernized Gex dialogue.
My biggest issue is the structure of the story. You have this book that the main character is reading that shows him the future and many different outcomes of his actions and you learn truth's at dead ends that you can then use to figure out a perfect solution with this knowledge to forge the perfect path where you survive the events of the game.
Now the issue is that even with the truth's known; nothing actually changes apart from eventually unlocking the true ending when all are found.
So say you know for a fact that every decision with a specific character is a bad idea cause they are a bad person the MC will constantly mention their knowledge of this fact but ignore it for the sake of letting that story unfold as if you didn't know this fact.
Which makes it kinda pointless to even have this meta narrative of learning knowledge you shouldn't have to influence the story, I wish the game was way shorter and focused more on that meta narrative even if it would be even more linear.
Also I have to mention the fact that you can not skip cutscenes and have to replay so much of the game and rewatch the same cutscenes over and over again to 100%, it's a pain.
So overall despite being a little bit negative about it.
It is a pretty good Steam Deck game if you want a simple little adventure game in short bursts but I do not recommend getting 100%.
A very similar game that is pretty much the same concept but perfected is Beacon Pines which I would highly recommend checking out.

Wonderful narrative, really charming characters and a really addictive gameplay loop. It also doesn't outlast it's welcome. I really recommend picking this up and playing it. We absolutely need more games like this.

This is one of those games I think I got in a bundle at some point and then it sat unplayed in my library for years. Finally played it, and it's actually great! Combat is simple but fun once you get a few upgrades, voice acting is excellent, the story is interesting. Highly recommend.

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