THE PATHLESS

FORMAT PS4 / PLAYERS 1 / PUB ANNAPURNA INTERACTIVE / DEV GIANT SQUID

After starting out as art director on Flower and Journey at Thatgamecompany, Matt Nava founded his own studio, Giant Squid, which made Abzû. It’s a strong portfolio. What’s notable is that even though these games have been great team efforts, his touch is clear in all of them. Now he’s serving as creative director on The Pathless, which feels like a clear evolution of Nava’s particular style of art game, but with extra mechanical, action-packed depth.

“Everything I make seems to end up with a similar quality to it, and I think it’s just endemic to the fact that it’s me behind the wheel in some way. And so we have a lot of similar themes, a lot of similar game design ideas,” Nava tells us as we tear him away from working on the game on a rare rainy day in LA. “Each one is kind of stepping off from where the