Ranger's Path: National Park Simulator Review for Steam Early Access

Ranger’s Path: National Park Simulator Review for Steam Early Access

Greetings, Gamers! Greg here from Gaming Cypher, here to find out what all the buzz is about for Ranger’s Path: National Park Simulator from publisher astragon Entertainment and developer To-Go Games. Simulator games are all the rage these days, but this one has got what I’m looking for in a Simulator, protecting and documenting nature. I will acknowledge my bias from the outset. I love National Parks and the people who work at them so very much, and I couldn’t be more proud of the work they do. That said, I will do my best to not let that cloud my judgment on the game. Pull out your binoculars and take a peak with me at Ranger’s Path: National Park Simulator.

After you’ve created your ranger, it’s your first day as a new ranger at a fictional national park in the Pacific Northwest of America. After completing some simple tasks like item retrieval, repairs, cleaning, and photography, the sun sets on your first day. You are now a ranger taking on all the tasks from your first day and beyond. Hiking through the beautiful landscape, players can find wild animals, plants, and things to do with their Ranger Sense, which highlights important objects or animals. Using this special ability along with your map makes things pretty easy to navigate around this massive park, finding things to keep your ranger’s day jam-packed with helpful tasks. Driving the spiffy-looking Park Ranger truck also helps get places faster and look official doing it. But with drivable roads and a dense forest, that means you may have to chop up some fallen trees blocking the roads or paths.

While exploring these vast trails and roads, players will discover many sights Ansel Adams would happily set up a camera to shoot, but unlike in his day, players have quick access to a fast and handheld camera. If you are so inclined, let your shutter bug fly and snap as many photos as your heart desires. Which is one of my favorite things to do in a national park in a game or In Real Life. Catching photos of new and important things helps build the Lexicon section on the in-game tablet and helps to inform the displays in the visitor center.

If photography and keeping the park running smoothly aren’t quite your thing, there are other missions that allow players to find missing hikers, ticket visitors, give emergency aid, and even solve some mysteries along the way.

Overall, Ranger’s Path: National Park Simulator is exactly the type of relaxation game I needed in my life. It’s fairly easy to just enjoy walking around taking in the sights due to the game’s attention to natural beauty. While you enjoy the sights in this game, you might just learn something while you read your lexicon or gain a new appreciation for all the hard work that goes into keeping parks wild while engaging in the wilderness. There are very few downsides to this game, only small glitches and janky driving mechanics that make it feel like a less than perfect experience. Ranger’s Path: National Park Simulator is a 9/10 in my Parks Passport book, and I can’t wait to visit Fairmount National Park again soon.

Ranger’s Path: National Park Simulator releases today for PC via Steam.

Related: Reviews by Greg Vander Velde

Greg Vander Velde

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I've been a life long nerd and video game junkie known to associate with the likes of Link, Nathan Drake, Batman, and Master Chief. I'm a filmmaker by profession, but spend lots of time behind a controller escaping the real world. @GregVelde on Instagram/Twitter/YouTube