I need an algorithm to find the best solution of a path finding problem. The problem can be stated as:

• At the starting point I can proceed along multiple different paths.
• At each step there are another multiple possible choices where to proceed.
• There are two operations possible at each step:
  • A boundary condition that determine if a path is acceptable or not.
  • A condition that determine if the path has reached the final destination and can be selected as the best one.
• At each step a number of paths can be eliminated, letting only the "good" paths to grow.

I hope this sufficiently describes my problem, and also a possible brute force solution.

My question is: is the brute force is the best/only solution to the problem, and I need some hint also about the best coding structure of the algorithm.