The Path

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

San Francisco, California, 18 March 2009, 9 pm PST

After two years of intense work, the small team of Tale of Tales releases its biggest project to date: a highly original artistic horror game, entitled The Path. As of 18 March 2009, 9 pm PST, The Path is available as digital download for 9.99 US Dollars from Direct2Drive, Steam and Tale of Tales' own website.

"The title refers to the path to grandmother's house in the story of Little Red Ridinghood that inspired our design," directors Auriea Harvey (US) & Michael Samyn (BE) explain, "the path that you're not supposed to stray from for fear of meeting the wolf. But it also has another meaning. While most videogame designs encourage you to achieve your goals quickly and efficiently, The Path allows you to focus entirely on what happens in between start and finish. Much like life, our game ends with death. But despite the gloomy and sometimes unsettling atmosphere, The Path contains a positive message: enjoy life to the fullest, no matter how short it may be!"

Six sisters live with their mother in a city apartment. One by one, they are sent to their grandmother's house on an errand. Alone on the path, the temptation to explore the dark forest is too hard to resist. There's plenty of fun to be had in the woods. And even a friend to meet. But every forest contains a wolf. And though he may appear to be friendly or harmless, or even attractive, there should be no doubt about his evil intent. The question, however, is: wouldn't it be worth it? Even if it leads to a certain end, wouldn't the experience make up for that? Do we really have a choice?

The Path is a new type of game. It originates from the rapidly emerging field of independent game production. Ambitious independent creators are trying to do the same thing with videogames, as film makers of the Nouvelle Vague have done for cinema. They explore the artistic potential of the medium and establish a new, unique language to express things that could not be expressed before. In other words: to create a new artistic medium for a new century.

The Path is not another action adventure filled with guns and violence.

Instead, it is a calm and introverted computer game that finds itself a cozy place in the dark corners of your soul. The Path is designed with accessibility in mind. There are no ticking clocks or monsters to defeat. No hard puzzles will ever halt your progress. Most activities in the game are entirely optional and voluntary. The player has all the freedom in the world to explore and experience. The Path is a Slow Game.

Creators Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn will be attending the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco next week. Another, shorter game of theirs, entitled The Graveyard, has been nominated for Innovation in the Independent Games Festival that takes place during the conference.

Last year, a prototype of The Path was nominated for Excellence in Visual Art. Today, The Path is launched from a room in the hotel in San Francisco where the artistic couple met in person for the very first time, exactly 10 years ago, to launch their first collaborative project.

A project that ended up being awarded the San Francisco MOMA Prize for Excellence in Online Art in the year 2000. Perhaps history will repeat itself with The Path.

Tale of Tales is an independent games studio located in Belgium and founded by Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn. The Path was created with the help of Jarboe (music), Kris Force (sound), Hans Zantman (technical art), Laura Raines Smith (character animations) and Marian Bantjes (logo and calligraphy). Production of The Path was supported by Creative Capital, the Flemish Authorities, Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Design Flanders, CultuurInvest and Villanella.

For more information:

The Path story website: http://grandmothers-house.net The Path trailer website: http://ThePath-game.com The Path development journal: http://Tale-of-Tales.com/ThePath/blog

To purchase the game:

Tale of Tales company website: http://Tale-of-Tales.com Direct2Drive, IGN Entertainment's digital download channel:

http://Direct2Drive.com

Steam, Valve's digital distribution platform: http://store.steampowered.com The Mac version of the game, courtesy of TransGaming, will be digitally distributed through the GameTree Network as of late April:

http://www.gametreeonline.com

Soon, a Russian version of The Path will be published by 1C.

###

Free review copies of The Path are available to the press. Please send a message to press@tale-of-tales.com if you're interested in featuring our game in your publication.

For screenshots, concept art, rendered images and a fact sheet, please

visit:

http://Tale-of-Tales.com/ThePath/presskit.html

For further information contact: press@tale-of-tales.com