Pyre

If youre a fan of SuperGiant games (bastion, transistor, hades 1/2) do yourself a favor and dont skip Pyre, i did and i wish i played it sooner, it truly is a unique gem, though that uniquess was a double edged sword, the unique mix of VN and gameplay put off a ton of people, because be warned, youll be reading ALOT, think of this as the Ace attorney or Zero Escape series which have their gameplay sections but with a ton of reading, but thats also its greatest strenght, the characters are delightful and interesting, youll be playing more just to find out more about the characters and the story Another warning though the gameplay its also quite unique, its like a weird version of basketball and Football, i didnt understand it at first and thats why i dropped it the first time Besides that it has the usual supergiant quality seal of great artstyle, well polished gameplay and of course the music, with some amazing vocals that i liked so much i even added them for listening on my spotify playlist TLDR: like previous supergiant games more than a game think of it as a " unique experience" , but be warned that its basically a VN with some segments in between of a made-up sport which its unlike anything youve ever played, still with the usual supergiant seal of quality

Pyre is a unique game. While previous Supergiant games were somewhat straightforward, a different flavors of RPG, Pyre is a mix of a party based RPG, a visual novel and a sports game. The mix is weird, some elements work, some work to the detriment of the overall experience. The story of Pyre takes place in the Downside, which serves as a prison for the nation of Commonwealth. Your character, unnamed and unseen, becomes an exile due to the greatest crime of all - being able to read. For unknown reasons, Commonwealth govermant has a widespread ban on literacy and shows them instantly as a tyrannical authocracy that holds lesser people under the threat of exile. Our character is saved by a strange trio of a giant horned demon lady, anthropomorhic talking dog, and a regular guy from Middle East. Long story short, all of you have formed the triumvirate of Nightwings, and will participate in the rites to free themslves from exile and return to the Commonwealth. Unfortunately, knowing the rules of Commonwealth, it is not as easy as it seems and there are quite a few of prerequisites and unclear rules on how to actually gain your freedom through the Rites. The story is good, but it becomes a bit dense at a certain point. Writers definitely put a lot of thought into the world and the lore. There are way more characters than previous Supergiant Games. There is a whole book that explains lore and has a full index of each of the races, scribes, triumvirates, locations and so on. Unfortunately, checking all of this out takes a lot and unless you are super into this world, you will be skimming over all of the additional lore that is provided. Not to mention the lack of voice acting. Each of the characters talks in their own way of gibberish with only the judge talking during the rites. There will be a lot of reading. What doesn't help is the structure of the story. First half of the game is a rather linear adventure, where you meet new party members, new rival triumvirates, and travel through new locations. But, after first leg of the journey ends, the map opens up and the structure of the games changes and becomes a bit repetitive. Knowing that, the game speeds up and basically forces you into an endgame, causing uneven pacing with a pretty slow and measured start and rushing to the finish line. The presentation of the game is on point. The character designs are great and serve the baseline that will be expanded upon in Hades. The world map presented as a storybook with each new location unfolding before you. The music is still amazing, with each character having their own unique theme on top of the great ambient tracks and more upbeat tracks playing during the rites. The only limitation is the amount of sprites characters have during conversations. Each character gets only one pose with different facial expressions, with only variation having their Nightwing garments and regular clothes, but there are a lot of characters, so it's understandable. The gameplay is where it gets a bit more weird. The structure of the game is simple. You get a destination towards the next rite, travel to that location and a long the way choose the path, which may provide new resources or buffs, or provide you the time to pursue your vocations, which allow you to gather resources, get permament buffs, or level up one of the characters. Then you get to the rite itself and participate in the weirdest game of basketball. Each team gets three represantatives, each character belongs to a different race, each having different stats, movement and abilities related to their aura. First three characters represent this dichotomy perfectly, with demon Jodariel having the biggest aura and doing the most damage to the enemy pyre, while cur Rukey is the fastes, but having smaller aura with doing the least damage, with the nomad Hedwyn being balanced character in-between. After you choose your characters the goal is simple, get the ball in the middle of the map, and get it to the enemy pyre to douse it's flames. Your character can just jump into the pyre to do full damage, but then you will lose them in the next round, or throw the ball into the flames, but charging it to the full power takes time and can be blocked by the enemy. Each character can level up by gaining the experience after the rite which can enhance their abilities. After the initial novelty wears off, the whole process gets pretty repetitive. While there is a signature Supergiant games mechanic of adding optional challenges for a bigger reward, the reward this time is just more experience points for faster leveling, and it doesn't change the core gameplay that much. There is also a versus mode where two players can locally participate in the rites, so if you are really into the rite gameplay, you can get into the metagame of the rites, but I don't think there is a big community for the Pyre pro-gameplay. So yeah, Pyre is weird and can get somewhat boring and repetitive during the later stages of the game. But It's a very unique experience worth chacking out. As a fan of Supergiant Games, I am pretty satisfied overall with this one.

Overall, I really enjoyed the game, from the characters to the story to the music. Its pacing suffers a bit by the time you finished about 3/4ths of the campaign, but I doubt that would have been possible to change when considering the ending. The gameplay is pretty unique, and suprisingly challenging when activating some of the different high-risk/high-reward stars unlocked in the endgame.