The way it's implemented is clever. Players gradually wear down challenging terrain, incentivizing you to take those easy paths. But the mechanic subtly solves

The way it's implemented is clever. Players gradually wear down challenging terrain, incentivizing you to take those easy paths. But the mechanic subtly solves a problem with open world settings, bringing order to infinite choice: you can go this way. You also get notified when other players follow paths you've made, which feels great.