From Telltale to Bioware there have been plenty of choice driven games but none quite like Stories: The Path of Destinies. This narrated, top-down, action game will seem familiar to any one who has ever played Bastion. However, where Bastion only had one story line Stories branches out into over 20 paths. Featuring fast paced combat and colorful scenery you'd assume Stories has a look going for it. While many of the individual pieces are nice the experience as a whole doesn't come together quite right.
In Stories you play as Reynardo the fox. A former outlaw Reynardo has chosen to flutter away his time while the emperor has become quite the tyrant. Through unfortunate circumstances Reynardo ends up inheriting a magical book. With this book Reynardo thinks he can help the rebels in their fight against the empire but he only gets so far. After Reynardo meets his end the book resurrects him with a chance to start over again from the beginning. If he can learn something every time he perishes then maybe he'll find a way to succeed in his plight.
No matter which paths you take you'll have to fight your way through hoards of ravens. Reynardo has a standard slash attack as well as a grab and counter-attack. You'll need to grab and throw enemies into shield ravens in order to make them drop their shields. There are also mages that will try to either burn you or power-up other ravens. You can also add elemental effects to your weapon based on which sword you're wielding. The sword magic effects include burn damage, freezing enemies in place, as well as healing yourself. You'll also need to have unlocked the different swords if you wish to pass through certain gates that offer alternatives paths.
You'll need to collect essence, orbs, and experience points in order to make Reynardo stronger. You are rewarded experience points after every battle based on if you took damage and how stylish your moves were. As you level up you can dramatically increase Reynardo's abilities with a wide variety of upgrades. The essence and orbs are required for both unlocking and upgrading the four different swords in the game. It takes a little while to upgrade them all but afterwards you won't have much need to explore as chests will only drop health and energy for your sword magic.
I wish I could recommend Stories: Path of Destinies but I have some issues with the story-line. Certainly the art is wonderfully colorful and the environments are all of character. The combat is very fluid and feels great once you get a hold of it. Even the dialog for the narrators voice is well written and features a massive amount of lines. The problem is choice is an illusion. If you have more of a dark sense of humor you many not mind seeing all the unfortunate ways Reynardo's stories conclude. Having only one happy ending it would be better to compare this to a detective game than anything else. After you have seen the good ending there is little motivation to keep playing. If you don't think that will bother you than may yet enjoy this as a solid action game.