Paws and Soul is a walking simulator where the player experiences the life of a wolf. Unsure of who he is (or more accurately, who he was), the little animal ventures forth to discover his past and how he came to live on four paws. Journeying through a variety of environments, he watches the lives of two sets of spirits play out, but why is he being shown these spirits in particular? The game explores the Buddhist doctrine of reincarnation using the wolf, the spirits he encounters, and how they are all interlinked.
While the game showed a lot of promise with the demo (Paws and Soul: First Step), the full game doesn’t seem to be off to the start that it may have wanted. On the surface, Paws and Soul appears to be the perfect game to help players relax and wind away the hours in, but there are many issues with it that seriously let it down.
Paws and Soul is available on PC (Steam).
Story – A Tale of Sorrows
The story begins with the wolf waking in the middle of a forest, all too aware that he is walking on four paws and not two feet. As he ventures into the woods to begin his journey of self-discovery, he ponders on what happened to him, setting the premise of the story.
In the woods he encounters two sets of spirits. He meets Michelle first as she speaks with her grandmother about her parents always being away and her loneliness. Throughout the game he dips in and out of Michelle’s life. The main character he sees is David, and through these ghostly apparitions he witnesses his life play out. After seeing a few moments from their lives, the wolf questions why he can see David and Michelle specifically. He concludes that they are connected in some way, but the truth is never confirmed. Since David is our main protagonist, my guess is that Michelle is possibly one of David’s descendants, or perhaps a future reincarnation. This led me to question why Michelle’s character was included in the game if her presence wasn’t actually explained.
The wolf is guided through the forest by orange energy orbs.
For me personally, the story let the game down. The first half was quite promising and made me want to know more about David and how his life would pan out, but the second half wasn’t as promising. David’s character grows rather annoying. He seems intent on making the same mistakes as his father, in pushing away those closest to him. This seemed odd to me considering how his father’s actions and behaviour impacted on him when he was younger. I can see how this would fit in with the Buddhist doctrine of reincarnation and how an unenlightened soul will continuously be reborn until enlightenment is achieved, but for me, the story was far too depressing.
While not advertised as a game with multiple endings, it has been suggested by some players that the game has more than one ending. This was confirmed when the developers released the recent update and an improved second ending was included in the update notes.
Gameplay – Four Paws and Butterflies
The controls for Paws and Soul are pretty standard (W, A, S, D to move, space to jump, shift to sprint, mouse to move the camera, etc.). All the other keys are explained when we reach the altars and runes stones. There’s nothing overly complicated about the controls, and everything is easy to use.
Throughout our journey we collect orange energy orbs that guide the wolf where he needs to go. In the beginning of the game there are plenty to collect, but as the game progresses, they grow quite sparse. It’s a good idea to pick up as many as possible as they can be spent at altars to help Michelle. I did find that sometimes I didn’t have enough energy orbs to power an altar.
The energy orbs can be spent at altars to help Michelle.
There are no dangers or risks with Paws and Soul. This game is very much a simple walking simulator with a set path to take and no enemies to beat. Should he take a wrong turn, the wolf automatically turns around and the voice in his head says that that is not the way to go.
There isn’t a map to guide the player, only the orbs and the paths to rely on. In the beginning segments, it’s easy to find the way ahead, but as they game progresses, it does become difficult. The second area opens up a luminescent forest, and because of the environment, the energy orbs blend in with their surroundings. In later parts, the energy orbs grow sparse, and it isn’t always easy to see where the path is.
The game does include small additional tasks that broke up the constant running. In the beginning, there are different coloured orbs to find that can be taken to their respective pedestals. Later on there are rune stones the wolf can howl at to unlock a cave. While they didn’t contribute anything to the story, they do give extra energy orbs and a change of pace.
In the second section of the game, the wolf finds himself in an ethereal forest.
One of the mechanics that I found interesting were the butterflies. At certain points there are bright butterflies that the wolf can catch to gain a temporary ability. Different butterflies give different gifts, such as the ability to jump higher, run faster, and see through fake rocks. The time limit after catching a butterfly opens up a slight sense of urgency in an otherwise slow-paced game. Unfortunately, while the butterflies themselves were a nice touch, some of the parts they’re used for are not. The jumps between raised rocks were the worst part and quickly grew frustrating.
Paws and Soul is a really short game and can be played in under 5 hours. There are quite a few achievements to unlock so it can be played a few times.
The gameplay aspect of Paws and Soul offers some small amount of fun, with the butterfly mechanics, the ease of play, and the additional tasks, but for the most part it seems a little lacklustre and repetitive.
Paws and Soul offers a range of environments, including snow and ice.
Graphics and Audio – A Breath of Fresh Air
The graphics are where Paws and Soul truly shone (quite literally). While not overly detailed, the game’s aesthetic held a lot of charm. I probably had more fun taking screenshots than I did actually playing the game. The environment is mostly geometric, but there are different styles too in some of the flora and the later environments. From the start I was immersed in an ethereal, airy environment that made me feel like I could breathe in and smell the pine trees and fresh air.
The range of landscapes are brilliant: there’s a luminescent forest, sand dunes, ice and snow, and whole array of spacious places to explore. I also enjoyed the little details like the white curves that indicate the flowing wind and the ring of cloud that pops up around the wolf when he jumps down something. For me, all of the calming and atmospheric qualities came from the graphics. While there were a few minor rendering issues, they were barely noticeable and didn’t affect my play-through at all.
The graphics, while not overly detailed, contained great little additions like the white curves indicating wind flow.
Paws and Soul contains many audio aspects. The characters are all voiced and include subtitled lines, even though some of the voice lines don’t match their subtitles. The voice acting for this game is pretty decent and makes the story more believable. The wolf makes his own noises too, howling at the altars and rune stones.
There is background music that accompanies the wolf in his adventure. On the odd occasion it stops, faint chirping and the wind can be heard which compliments the graphics well. The background music is quite gentle and calm, but it quickly becomes annoying. I had instances, mostly with David’s lines, where either the music was too loud or his voice lines were too quiet, making it difficult to hear what he’s saying. Personally, I would have preferred to have less of the music and more of the forest sounds to amp up the atmospheric feel.
