This week the Demoman turns his steely, one-eyed gaze on the demo of The Path, the indie art-horror game based on fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood. Your goal is to reach grandmother's house, and the instructions are simple: stay on the path. Naturally, no one is going to stay on the path, since no one wants to visit their grandmother, because she's boring, she smells kind of funny, and she doesn't even have an Xbox. It's simple to play: just steer a young woman around, and if you see something you'd like to interact with, stop controlling her and see what she does. For instance, as I start wandering around, a bird lands near me. I lay off the controls and a moment later the young woman chases the bird, which flies away. Another example of interaction comes some two hours later when I turn the game off in anger because that bird is about the only goddamn thing there is in the demo to interact with. ... Read more

Available now on FileShack is The Path - Prologue, a demo of sorts for Tale of Tales' marvelous PC fairytale adventure, released in March to polar reactions of love and hate.

While much of the narrative and interaction is removed in this trial, you can wander freely in the enchanting forest and pick flowers to your heart's content. Those who have already walked The Path might fancy a potter to see what's new in the prologue's forest.

Independent developer Tale of Tales has released its surreal PC adventure-horror game The Path though Steam, Direct2Drive and its own site. Priced at $9.99, the game is said to take about six hours to complete "for a satisfying experience."

Over the course of the game, players take control of six different sisters as they stray off the path to their grandmother's house and explore the surrounding woods, said to be filled with wolves. Quite obviously, it draws from the tale of Little Red Riding Hood.

"There are no ticking clocks or monsters to defeat," explained the developer. "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."

The game's release coincided with studio founders Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn celebrating their ten year anniversary by revisiting the San Francisco hotel where they first met. As the duo's international flight approached, fans tracked their path online.