Swords 'n Magic and Stuff
Swords 'n Magic and Stuff
Game
Game2024
Pathless Woods
Developer AniYa Games Studio
Embark on a cozy open-world survival journey inspired by ancient China's heritage. Gather resources, cultivate crops, build your dream home, and defend it from marauders. Team up with friends to explore and uncover a world where adventure meets serenity. From the Steam store page
194 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Oct 3, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
84
LovedLoved
152 positive · 29 negative
95% range 78–89%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 152 | 29 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 4 | 0 | 7 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
164 of 195 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
83% recommend · 156 yes, 31 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 187 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mostly Positive (894 of 1,130 positive).
Players praise the game's cute art style and engaging crafting, building, and farming systems. [1][2][3] Some reviewers note that the game feels clunky and lacks controller support. [4][5][6] Several players mention that food spoils too quickly and systems are under-explained. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [5]
Not yet. I got the game on a whim. played the demo, seemed cool and since i mostly just did the crafting side of things the jankiness of the controls was acceptable. once you get into combat it becomes aparent that the controls are really bad for combat. you can brute force your way through but forget really aiming or efficiently dodging and attacking foes. the game is very pretty, nice sounds but the weird ui in …
- [1]
highly recommend, when i found the game i'm like.. "okay why not try the demo it looks cute!" with barely any expectations but i think i am addicted ! Pros: - cute and somewhat unique art style - farming !! i love - music is nice & fits well - i feel like there's a lot to do and explore, in a good way, which is why i have 15 hrs on the demo - nice build mode so far, i think ! i still have to try it a bit more - you …
- [7]
Even though I'm recommending this game, I want to make it clear that you should wait on getting this game, at least until they fix some things. The game has a wonderful custom weapon/tools crafting system that allows you to mix and match a lot of skills. It also has a very intriguing food system that requires balancing warm and cold foods, while also making sure they give enough nutrition. However, its currently …
- [8]
While I recommend the game, there is a lot going on and not a lot of explanation at times. It has some cozy farm / build / social type loops, but there is a cloud of pressure that sits on top of it. TLDR: Food spoils too fast, systems are complicated/under explained, and fighting is not great. Building is great; recruiting a horde of villages is fun and easy; farming is simple to set up and use; and the …
- [2]
I have played the game since demo, its a very cute game. I love the building aspect and the farming. I like that you can hire people as companions and they help do the work and the defending so you can explore. It's got a super cute aesthetic, I also love that I am able to make a smaller building that can travel with me. (I choose a caravan in true nomadic fashion!)
Summarised from 34 of the 202 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 12, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
83% of the 187 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Pathless Woods. The complaint that keeps coming up: clunky controls and no controller support. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Reactions
60 of 194 · most liked firsthighly recommend, when i found the game i'm like.. "okay why not try the demo it looks cute!" with barely any expectations but i think i am addicted ! Pros: - cute and somewhat unique art style - farming !! i love - music is nice & fits well - i feel like there's a lot to do and explore, in a good way, which is why i have 15 hrs on the demo - nice build mode so far, i think ! i still have to try it a bit more - you can pick up the storage box and place it elsewhere !! without having to remove…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Even though I'm recommending this game, I want to make it clear that you should wait on getting this game, at least until they fix some things. The game has a wonderful custom weapon/tools crafting system that allows you to mix and match a lot of skills. It also has a very intriguing food system that requires balancing warm and cold foods, while also making sure they give enough nutrition. However, its currently held back by two systems: 1. Durability. 2. Food expiration. These 2 systems…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Had to refund … wish it had controller support
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While I recommend the game, there is a lot going on and not a lot of explanation at times. It has some cozy farm / build / social type loops, but there is a cloud of pressure that sits on top of it. TLDR: Food spoils too fast, systems are complicated/under explained, and fighting is not great. Building is great; recruiting a horde of villages is fun and easy; farming is simple to set up and use; and the possibilities look great for as little as I've done so far. "Building" your own weapons is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Take it from someone who's played DST(1.1k hours), Conan (1.2k hours), Valheim (730 hours), 7D2D (431 hours), Terraria, Raft, Cube World Alpha, Green Hell, Ark, etc. If you're anything like me (A survival game junkie), you need to try this game out. If you played Core Keeper beta, you 1000% need to try this. If you played DST way back when the biomes were domes and the only threat was hounds, then you need to support this too. If you're a builder, you will go insane with this game (first…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not yet. I got the game on a whim. played the demo, seemed cool and since i mostly just did the crafting side of things the jankiness of the controls was acceptable. once you get into combat it becomes aparent that the controls are really bad for combat. you can brute force your way through but forget really aiming or efficiently dodging and attacking foes. the game is very pretty, nice sounds but the weird ui in combination with combat is really ruining the experience. not recommended,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Design is not as smooth as it should be. There are a lot of random glitch where teleportation destroys house/items and some teleportations don't even work. A very slow pace game that depletes your stamina and hp really quickly. Too much things u must keep in mind in order to make things and play the game smoothly. The producers are lazy at correcting the game and improving the game. There has not been much change or improvements since the game first came out with its early access. Waste of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So far it's promising, but the controls are overly-complicated. Picking up some things uses E, and some other things uses R. The right-click-to-aim-camera is awkward. Overall, the controls need to be streamlined. Building also needs work - the pieces often want to snap together in strange places. One of my walls is shorter than the others, and I have no idea why. There are lots of little dots of information on each building piece, but none of it is explained yet. Also, the day/night cycle goes…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game has a lot of promising features but still needs considerable polish. As expected from an Early Access title, it comes with numerous bugs, so I won't harp on those. Currently there is no controller support but I hope it will be added soon. The game itself reminds me of a Wuxia-themed blend of *Conan Exiles* and *Don't Starve Together*. I genuinely hope this game doesn't end up being discontinued, as it has been quite enjoyable so far. **Pros:** - Tool swapping is streamlined with a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Like others have complained it's clunky with controls, I couldn't be bothered to finish the tutorial. I was hoping from the reviews from almost a year ago it'd be different by now, but it's not. maybe I'll try it again if the devs start updating the game again. They did downsize in july 2024 though they seemed to stop updating at the end of november 2024, as it is currrently march 2024 without any word on steam from the devs. So if you INSIST on buying the game don't wait and hope they'll fix…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have played the game since demo, its a very cute game. I love the building aspect and the farming. I like that you can hire people as companions and they help do the work and the defending so you can explore. It's got a super cute aesthetic, I also love that I am able to make a smaller building that can travel with me. (I choose a caravan in true nomadic fashion!)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Takes a while to get used to the menu's etc. but when you become familiar with the mechanics, it's a really good game. The art style, the environment, in fact the entire design of the game is great. Can't recommend it enough.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't know, what to say about this one, yes you can play it for quite some time, but you get lost on the huge map and you repeat a lot of things, it isn't really exciting, it is an ok game, but I would have expected much more from it. The survivaling is easy and the goals are few. I would not buy again, it was just too boring.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I’m hooked on this game! It’s super addictive and enjoyable, striking the perfect balance between being slightly challenging and highly engaging. I love the freedom to build my own structures and craft a variety of clothing items and weapons, which adds so much depth to the gameplay. I do wish there was more guidance on unlocking certain crafts, though – after 140 hours, I still haven’t figured out how to mine copper and am working with stone tools. But even with that minor frustration, it’s a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dying because I ate one too many "hot" food is plain stupid and ruined it for me. I understand debuffs but killing me? Nah. I got other things to do...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Let this game cook for a few more years.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fantastic little game, really sad that the studio seems to be lacking funds, so wanting to write a positive review to help bump the game even if a lil bit!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really love this game is so beautiful , iam impressed about building , crafting , enemy and a lot ,i like the combination of chinese culture with survival game , this game showed its own way of playing , the scenery is vary beautiful , i really enjoy and excited to ending this game , 10/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ugh, So here's the thing. I really don't wanna say no to this game. I like the concept and the idea and I know the game just released! That being said it doesn't run great on my system which isn't their fault either. I have a gtx 1060 6GB and a i5 8600k and my game is at 30fps with 'normal' graphics enabled. I did try low and it took away all the grass and the game just looked rather empty then for me. I'm not sure if it's an optimization issue or not but I wanted to play it but it was chugging…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I tried the demo during the Cozy Game Fest, and I really liked it so I picked up the full game. I'm really enjoying Pathless Woods a lot! It's got a good combination of farming, companions, base building, crafting and fighting to be really interesting and fun! One thing that I'm really enjoying about the crafting system is how you can construct your weapons and tools -- there's recipes for 'copper sword' and 'stone pickaxe', but you can also craft different weapon components (e.g. 'copper…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →cute but still clunky and the beginning feels kind of empty and directionless. will revisit once fully released for sure!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game has nice simple visual style. That's the most good thing I can tell about it. Ugly bad things about it, which are unforgivable since there are HUGE ammount of better games of this genre: 1. No controller support in 2024. 2*. Rather young human character moves and turns around with the speed of slow giant turtle. 3*. Rather young human character can sprint only several seconds before energy runs off. 4*. Every single hit on the tree starts QTE event to determine the quality of hit. 5.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's reasonable. As do most of the Open World Survival Craft games, the game aims to do many things and gets some of them right. Best enjoyed with a friend or two. The game loop mostly consists of running about, fighting enemies (and occasional bosses), gathering items, and unlocking waypoints on the map. If something seems unusually hard, perhaps you should have crafted some weapons/armor. The game tries some interesting things with combat - weapons and armor can be made from mixed parts to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its worth all the money thats all i have to say
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Grab it! A fun cozy survival game, indeed. So what is it? I think the store page doesnt put enough emphasis on a few things: A survival game at its core with a more complex system of temperature, satiation, nurishment (...) with cute graphics, but suprisingly complex systems. You build a house- or even a city and recruit a group of up to 32 "partners", followers that will also mine, collect wood and farm for you! They need places to sleep, tools, weapons, armor, food (...) It can have a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game. - good co-op - relaxing story - pretty biomes - cooking is neat - fun building - interesting crafting - lots of little QoL things
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An extremely detailed open world survival sandbox game with a bigger emphasis on creativity and cuter/casual outlook. From the short bit i've played, game performs pretty well considering how well it looks. Game has a certain theme its going for and nails it. Looks gorgeous and simplistic. The open world survival part is pretty nice and adds in elements to make it more interactive such as minigames during farming/gathering. The number of nuances in this game is unbelievably specific and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I hate to say it, because this game is really beautiful and clearly has a lot of potential, but I can't recommend it right now. The balance between crafting and exploring is WAY off; none of the food keeps you full for long enough to feel like you can go out and explore very far from your base, which IMO is supposed to be a main draw of games like this. The game also throws seemingly every material and ingredient available at you right at the start, with very little in the way of instruction as…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i dont understand why this game isnt blowing up its got robust combat, crafting and base building, I really wish I was rich enough to angel invest on these devs, they did a really good job with this one.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great beginnings to Valhiem/Palworld (Mechanics) style sandbox. Very happy with my purchase, this is also a good TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) reference lol. I ask family for a 6 ingredient soup to cool chi and sure enough it works in game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pathless Woods is a charming open-world survival and building game loosely inspired by ancient Chinese heritage. Players can experience the adventure solo or with up to three friends in online co-op. It is very much an early-access game. It feels incomplete and many aspects of it are frustrating and confusing. Concepts and activities are introduced too quickly and with limited information, companions are a nuisance and the controls are unintuitive and cumbersome. The intended hindrances such…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You need to have online to play this game. You can't play it offline because you need to host a sever
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is buggy and unfinished. But the world interactions are so thoughtfully crafted and animated that it is hard to deny how charming it is to cultivate in these pathless woods. The eating/survival is paced much like Don't Starve, and the playstyle reminds me of old-school Runescape. But there is less grind and more wonder than an MMO.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I truly, truly want to love this game. The development team seems passionate and is listening to their community, and the game itself seems genuinely great! I just can't get multiplayer to work no matter what I try, and without that I can't play with my girlfriend, who is the one who would truly love this game. But if you're playing singleplayer or can get the multiplayer to work then I absolutely do recommend buying and supporting pathless woods, it's lowkey a hidden gem.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So many updates since my first review - removed my comments until I could reassess where they are.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's only a day after release and I never write reviews, but this early access game has me super impressed. The mechanics are different and interesting so its not a drudging, same old sandbox open world survival. The bones and meat to the game so far are already really fun. The demo was addictive and 8 hours into the just released early access is even better. The building is smooth and looks great, the creatures and mobs you find, the farming, the combat system, the crafting, and the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played the demo during the next fest and was blown away. Some great details you just don't see in the genre that really needs to be commended. Easy buy for me and have a positive review for the algorithms and such.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I just sold my child to the Chinese work factory to play this game :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Got glitched into a ditch. I wasn't able to escape the hole, at all. Even the "Escape" option in the menu didn't help. Thankfully, the autosave feature didn't activate, or else I would've been softlocked. This game needs more patching, it's too broken to be a game at all.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly recommend this game. it still needs some fine tuning here and there(which game does not) but the devs are very eager and listen and implement feedback. The moment I saw it it resonated with me as it combines all the wuxia and xiaxia vibes with farming simulation environment that I've been looking for. Some controls around building and combat take some getting used to and are in my opinion the main ''downside'' of this game. Apparently there is a small hiccup as of the moment but it has…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So this game was released into early access very unfinished. Since it's release over a year ago there have been a handful of minor updates. As of right now, it's been 7 months without an update. Looks like they just dumped an unfinished game into early access and then abandoned it. Kind of sucks that this is the norm for games these days. Don't buy it
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →comfy sandboxy game Pathless Woods with @sorabayashiwakako.bsky.social - come vibe twitch.tv/histeaksgaming #envtuber #vtuber Hope to see you there <3
positive · AI labelView post →Great game for co-op! I had so much fun playing with my friends. I love the freedom it gives for building - so much creativity. Highly recommend!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I hope that the storyline can be extended and there's lots more quests along with the gameplay. I'm loving this game!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really good game, full of potential. The game is a mix of known game genres. Farming materials, building construction, crafting, cooking. It has a story to follow with several side quests. And combat with combos based on the weapons used. The crafting system is particular. It allows you to create objects by combining materials and parts of objects. Based on these different possible combinations, objects will acquire different functions or statistics. Same for food, the satiety system is well…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love this game! I've played it solo on my steam deck, and after changing some of the controller inputs it works great. i love the exploration and my portable little house!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is just nice and relaxing, the food system is always nice to mix and match to get good combos and if you ever wanted to just create your own dream home with an asian twist to it this game is fantastic for that. :D
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is beautiful and calming while also being interestingly crunchy enough to keep my mind busy.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I hate using other games to compare, but I feel it'd be best here. Take the Quality of Life and Social stuff from games like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing (farming, meeting people, ect) the base building style of Valheim, and a Zelda BotW style of combat and graphics, and here ya go. This game has its own, unique way of doing things as well with the nutrition system, the way you can mix and match to create different weapons, a class system of some sort, the way you level stuff. For…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →100% GPU Bottleneck
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very well made, a lot of love put into this, I can tell. Can be very complicated, but I think that adds a sort of challenge. If I were to add anything it would be the ability to climb walls/sheer cliff faces & add a para-glider like in BoTW/TotK.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wholeheartedly recommend this game to others and especially for those looking to play this game with others! It's a charming survival game I got to play this with my partner and coming from a Chinese background, I was excited to share a bit of my culture in a cute way. It's clear the game is still in early access, but the attention to detail this game has is true to it's charming nature and certain parts of the game such as farming for materials are far more enjoyable to me! I seriously…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I usually don't do reviews but this game blew me away, it feels like a breath of fresh air. There are many interactive and thought out details regarding character stats, building materials, and environment. This is a perfect game to play solo, with a spouse, or with a group of friends. If Animal Crossing, Minecraft, and Breath of the Wild had a baby it would be this game. I really like that you can have the game on hard and still have the choice to play actively or passively. From watching…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Solo Player I honestly really like this game so far. It's actually amazing for an EA game. Haven't encountered any bugs that would bother me gameplay wise. There is a slight freeze/lags when autosave/saving--this starts to happen after you've played for a while. It's a perfect mixture of valheim, don't starve, minecraft, and bellwright elements. I love that you get companion NPCs to help out at your base while you wander off. It's absolutely perfect for a solo player. The execution wise…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The building in this game is shockingly good, one of the best I've seen in a sandbox game like this. It's similar to Valheim in a lot of ways but has actually fixed a lot of the issues I had with that game. The rivet system lets you attach pieces together like lego bricks, but you have the option to reduce it or even turn it off and place completely freely. Pieces can also be clipped into each other to make larger shapes that are almost seamless. You can additionally change the size and angle…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A Beautiful Game with Potential, but Needs Refinement As a fan of survival open-world games, Pathless Woods definitely caught my eye. Even when playing solo, the game shows a lot of potential, but there are several areas that need refinement. First, the graphics engine needs serious work. A stability overhaul would greatly benefit the game, making it more accessible for lower-end hardware and the Steam Deck. The controls could also be simplified—streamlining the UI would go a long way. For…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game even in early access; I'm excited to see as it grows! Added 6/3/24: a recent update tweaked various systems in the game, and it's exciting to see the overall refinement of the game week by week. Pathless Woods started strong with the most complex food system I've seen, and it is really cool to see elements of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the food system. The recent update simplified the food buffs somewhat and balanced many things out, but it still encourages experimentation and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →why is my GPU so high O__o ?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What is Pathless Woods? To me it's a game where I can go out and Fight discovering enemies to fight, finding recipes for the base, weapon armor, defensive structures in case I get raided. Once you get all that you'll usually just start spending time on building your ideal base or grabbing allies while just chillen. Don't expect too much. That's really the Gist of it. Go out. Explore Biomes. Kill/Gather to find recipes. Build. Sit back and Relax. UPDATED REVIEW (Still more to come) Now I am at…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →started using AI
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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