Have the courage to check out Dancing Pandas Ranger’s Path from Panda Games, available now on Steam – a low-demand casual in the shape of A Short Hike, and sharing the same maverick approach to how gravity does not destroy one’s knees when launching from a great height, as previously seen in Caravan SandWitch. You are Mico, the panda and have arrived on a resort island to meet with your nana, but she’s nowhere to be found.
Cue a Black Mirror-esque plot where you delve into panda trafficking, the bamboo black market, and how it’s all linked to chemtrails. That’s the narrative trail we could be tumbling down, though, with this family-friendly chill fest, innocence is bliss as you ask random strangers if they’ve seen the crusty ol’ cow. If they’re willing to dangle the proverbial carrot, you’ll be expected to do them a return favour – a quest – and potentially follow in Nana’s paw prints and become a Power Ranger.
Dancing Pandas: Ranger’s Path Review
The quests in Dancing Pandas Ranger’s Path are neither long-winded nor one-sided, as each successive win adds clues to Nana’s whereabouts, but also adds to Mico’s courage by filling a heart bar that unlocks new conversations and prepares him for meeting his grandmother by the game’s conclusion. There’s a moral here shoved down your throat about being good enough as you are. As admirable as this sounds, this concept is delivered halfway through. In reality, you aren’t good enough, and you’ll need to complete enough tasks to unlock the path to Nana. Don’t read into that. Dancing Pandas Ranger’s Path is not that kind of game.
Returning to the casual aspect and low-demand approach, tasks will include jumping off a cliff to wow a child, rebuilding shoddy furniture by dropping wood in a bucket, locating lost deliveries and returning on foot (or paw) through the forest. Without health bars and freefalling from any height without consequence (take that, Altaïr), this panda need not worry about extinction. On that note, where there’s no danger, there’s equally no challenge.
In the estimated 3.8 hours of play on the Steam Deck, only one achievement was out of reach – acquiring 2500 gems. Gems are only used for buying cosmetic gear from a fence and do not affect the story. They’re earned from mining, finding loose in the wild, or selling ‘magic’ pebbles. The only gear required is an axe, shovel, and pick axe to rinse materials and complete tasks. Dancing Pandas Ranger’s Path offers a cosy, welcoming world, though the lack of direction and access to these tools make it a minor slog.
Paws For A Moment
While on the Dancing Pandas Ranger’s Path moan bus, it’s worth mentioning that the map is rubbish – its purpose is to unlock fast travel, which is recommended as the island is relatively big. Alas, there are no legends on said map, so you’ll have to try to remember where NPCs are located. Adding a Banjo-Kazooie aviary chum was mostly pointless as its intended use was to seek out points of interest.
Instead, it disappears through floors and walls or aimlessly hypnotises the dirt. As stated, the game is low-demand, so it’s neither boring nor frustrating—unless you take into account some of the camera angles, which are absolute pigs when in the thick of the trees.
Dancing Pandas: Ranger’s Path Review Summary
Considering the above points, it didn’t interrupt almost four straight hours of play. The only reservation was that last elusive achievement. Nevertheless, Dancing Pandas Ranger’s Path was perfect to play on a lazy afternoon. It was a game that didn’t need grinding for hours (except the gem-hunting), learning complex moves, or encouraging competitive play with insufferable strangers. If A Short Hike or LumbearJack is the type of game you want more of, have the courage, cojones and/or cash to give this a further look.
