Well summer is almost at an end and we will all be forced to continue our destined duties. What duties may you ask? Depends on who you are asking this very question to. Ask your parents and they may be talking about going back to work. Ask your older relatives and they will be talking about going back to high school or traveling back to a faraway college. Ask your next door neighbor who owns a landscaping company and he may tell you that he’ll continue what he has been doing throughout the summer. I wrote that sentence because I actually do have a neighbor who owns a landscaping business and that’s why I see expensive equipment outside my house every afternoon.
The point is that the line that marks the closure of sunshine and clear skies is being drawn, and now we’re trying to figure out what to do with the time we have left. I’ve played a lot of good games this summer including new titles that are making this year feel less desolate and stuff that has been collecting dust on the shelf. We’re going through what some of us reviewers like to call the “summer game drought”, because there is nothing interesting coming out during this time of the year and we have to find other video games to play. Fall is popping up on the horizon and so far I see….. absolutely nothing because I just remembered that it is 2021. I’ve been stalling for a good chunk of the introduction now, so let’s see what game we’re reviewing today as that is what you came here for. Another independent game and it is developed by none other than Supergiant Games who have now made themselves a household name.
Personally I was really excited to play another game by these guys rather than spend money on a recent release that I didn’t want to play. They easily became one of my new favorite independent game developers, and it is because of two specific titles. The first was Transistor which didn’t have the greatest combat loop and design choices in the world, but it’s the way Transistor tells a story and immerses you in a rich glistening world full of lore that makes it all that engaging. That’s why compared to a lot of games I look back at Transistor, because it dedicated itself to consistent storytelling and world building. The second game of course is Hades which is a greek mythological action packed roguelike which I have been keeping an eye on since it was announced for early access. It was one of my most anticipated games despite not having an official release date until a few months before it came out, and it greatly exceeded my expectations once fully released. It took all the amazing elements from Supergiant’s past works and combined to make one of the most intriguing roguelikes ever made. Hades has gone as far to become one of my favorite games of all time. A modern masterpiece is what I call it. Supergiant Games deserves a handful of awards from me for what they have made, but there are more awards as I haven't checked out all their games just yet.
It was today’s game and Bastion which has been sitting on my bucket list for a really long time. While I was planning to go for Bastion next, a little birdy convinced me to try the other game next. She asked what my favorite parts of Hades were and I answered, “The writing, story, and characters.” She then told me to play this game next and here we are now. Having beaten it I can say one thing for sure, “Goddamn this was amazing.” I’m talking about Pyre of course which was the title that came out between Transistor and Hades. Development began straight after Transistor and the team struggled to figure out where to take their next step. Greg Kasivin, who is one of lead designers and writers at Supergiant Games, came up with the idea of a game centered around failure. What comes after defeat and how do we as free thinkers stand against insurmountable odds? The team then decided to center the gameplay around sports as it’s a nonviolent act that does contain the consequences of losing. This then resulted in Pyre which came out during mid-2017, which would be the summer drought. Pyre wasn't as big as Supergiant’s other games, but it was praised as being another leap forward. Receiving glowing reviews and being nominated for quite a few end of the year awards.
Pyre was fantastic and hearing all this positive commotion made me want to check it out sooner than later. Picked up Pyre during a sale and much like Hades my expectations for Pyre were shot through the roof. This may sound like an odd statement, but this was the masterpiece before Supergiant’s other upcoming masterpiece. Pyre may even be one of the best games I tried out this year and I’m really excited to talk about it to you all. Today we’ll be talking about why I loved Pyre and why it deserves your attention. By the scribes, we gather in their names.
Story
The game takes place in a fantasy world filled with several races alike. There are the basic humans, strong beings with bull-like horns, talking dogs with sentience, talking snakes with one eye, people with big old wings, tree people, and even people who claim they can talk to trees. It’s a magical fantasy world with endless possibilities, but rather than follow a group of travelers out on a quest to defeat darkness like they are the main cast from Lord of The Rings, instead we are thrown into purgatory. We are told that Titans once roamed the earth and wreaked havoc upon the world, but eight individuals known as The Scribes each consisting of one of the different races sacrificed themselves and banished the Titans to a place dubbed the Downside. The eight Scribes were deemed as saviors and a new law system was established in honor of their name. The Commonwealth was then established and those who went against the law or dared to forsake the Scribes would be banished to the Downside. To hopefully die of age and rot along with the corpses of the Titans.
There is a way to return back to the Commonwealth, the plain of existence. A way to redeem your freedom. Every few years an event known as The Rites would commence and teams of three could compete to earn one of their member’s freedom back. Win against other teams, rise in the ranks, and prove yourself in a Liberation Rite. Then you will be prepared to ascend back into the Commonwealth. The stakes are high as the stars above guide travelers to location where the Rites will be hosted, but when The Rites draw to a close then the stars will fade.
We follow an unnamed girl who was banished to the Downside for unknown reasons and left crippled in what seems to be an endless desert. She could have been left to rot, but a wagon passes by containing three masked travelers all of which are wearing similar clothing. The three debate whether to drag you along for the journey, but luckily one of them decides to bring you along. Cause why not? The man unmasks himself and goes by the name of Hedwyn. The two other travelers whom he is traveling with are his friends who got banished to the Downside. Jodariel, a blond haired bull-horned woman with a stern voice and tone. Then there is Rukey Greentail, a talking dog with a mustache that knows his way around these parts. They ask the poor girl if she can read the books they possess as they haven’t encountered anyone who could do so. The girl picks up one of the books and magically she can understand the words and pages within. You are deemed The Reader, an individual who can guide the figures around you.
The group you are traveling with are known as The Nightwings and they promise to free everyone within the wagon through the Rites. The four of you press onwards and luckily you can read the stars that guide you to the next set of Rites. Along the way you pick up other travelers who want to compete in the Rites with the Nightwings. You even meet a musician named The Lone Mistel who knows how the Liberation Rites work, as he is one of two musicians that help host them. Over time you learn that your companions were banished for the wrong reasons and that the officials above in the Commonwealth are more corrupt than they seem. You all seek freedom, but true freedom doesn’t exist in the world above. Justice must be brought and a new age shall spark through a revolution. The companions you set free will set an example for the Commonwealth and your action will affect how the story plays out. Go forth Reader.
Gameplay
Would it be concerning if I said that the main gameplay for pyre is literally just magical NBA Jam, because in a couple of ways that is what it is. You progress through the main campaign and occasionally once in a while you compete in a Rite. You can choose three companions to compete in the Rite and equip them with charms to boost certain stats and traits. These may include how quick they respawn after being banished, how quick they are, how much stamina they have to perform actions, and the amount of aura they have to cast magical attacks. The goal is to pick up a ball and score it into the other team’s pyre. Bigger teammates deal more damage to the enemy pyre so keep that in mind. If you extinguish the eny pyre before they put out yours then you win.
Each of your teammates play differently and depending on the combination of teammates you have you may have an easier time with a Rite. For example, Jodariel is a very slow moving character. However, she can ram most adversaries over and her cast is the largest of the group. Rukey is much quicker and can easily evade adversaries, but he has a much smaller projectile and can’t knock adversaries out as easily. After every Rite your companions gain experience points and sometimes you get to unlock perks which gain certain benefits during Rites. It is possible to lose during Rites and effects of losing a rite is drastic especially during a Liberation Rite.
You see, at least two or three hours into the main story you compete in a Liberation Rite and this is where your performance during Rites becomes more drastic. You choose the companion you think deserves to be sent back to the Commonwealth and if you win then that companion goes free. Otherwise the other team sends their chosen member back. Once you send a character away then they are gone for good. You can no longer use them for the rest of the game, but there are benefits for bidding them farewell. You need to spark a revolution in the Commonwealth and prove that banishing people to the Downside is justifiable as it seems, and your companions are the only capable enough to follow the plan and help with starting a revolution. The more characters you send back the higher chances there are of a successful revolution. I’ll explain more about liberating later. Alongside the revolution, after beating the first Liberation Rite you unlock a planner. The planner shows the likeness of the next team you will compete against in a Liberation Rite, and how they rise or fall in the ranks. You can send down in the ranks by either beating them in Rites or sending them further down in the Liberation Rites. This lowers the chance of facing them during the Liberation Rites. It also allows you to choose how difficult you want your campaign to be which is a method I always prefer. Difficulty that is more on the player rather than unfair design choices. There’s a much bigger element hiding beneath.
It’s one of the main factors that carried over to Hades and that is the visual novel factor. A majority of the game isn’t even the sport-like competitions, rather the choices you make along the way. Spending time with characters will give you knowledge of how they got banished and why they desire to be freed. You can improve their stats permanently or for upcoming Rites depending on the branching paths you choose while progressing. You are given opportunities to talk to them in the wagon or learn more about the lore through the books stalked on the wall. The wagon is a tiny feature that I ended up really liking. It’s filled with more stuff as you unlock new companions as you explore and it can be used to plan ahead. There are times when you have free time to either study to gain stat boosts for the entire team, educate companions to make them rank up faster, and gather resources to sell for gold. There is a shop known as the Slugmarket and you purchase Talismans there which grant special perks to your companions. These Talisman work alone, in pairs, or sometimes may be cursed. They can even be upgraded using a special powder called Stardust. There are a lot of branching paths in Pyre, some good and others bad. Enough choices to encourage future exploration of areas you haven’t been to enough or maybe come back for future playthroughs. There isn’t much else for me to bring up about Pyre. It’s a nice little game with a strong gameplay loop and choice. The choice is yours to create a better world on the surface above. Together on their own. The journey shall be made!
Thoughts
Pyre is much more than a typical visual novel with a weird basketball gameplay loop. Everything that is there somehow works perfectly and what seems passable will swarm your heart with love. The gameplay is the part I thought I would hate most about Pyre and predicted it would have the Transistor effect of having to grind through it to reach the meaty good bit, but I ended up really liking it. There is enough engagement that makes matches energetic, the variety of characters to choose from allows infinite team compositions, and it feels satisfying once you master the flow of each match.
The main draw for me was the visual novel aspect and it mixed incredibly well together with the gameplay. All of the characters are likable, have a ton of depth, and you really get to feel for them once they reveal how they got banished. When it came to the Liberation Rites it really got me thinking. I could send away the characters I don’t need or I could send the mates who deserve it. The ones that have been helping me win these last couple of matches and have proven they deserve to be sent back above. Not all your companions will be freed even if you win every Liberation Rite, but this is what drives the player to perform better and make use of what runtime they have. I will never forget the conversations I had with Hedwyn, Jodariel, Rukey, Rhae, Pamitha, and all the other mates loaded up onto my wagon. The wagon also felt a little more sad as the game progressed on as you get to wave goodbye to all your friends and fear that you may spend the rest of your time in the Downside alone. Kinda reminded me of Spiritfarer and how it too was a game where you need to learn how to bid farewell.
There is this choice at the end which I don’t want to spoil, but it’s the ultimate choice in Pyre. There is this twist that reveals more about the Nightwings, The Scribes, and what came before you showed up. One guy who looks like an enemy, but has this very tragic backstory that makes him a redeemable character. Seeing what happens to him in the end will either be really enlightening or saddening depending on the choice you made. Pyre is a visual novel where it is possible to lose, but you need to learn how to get over failure as the developers intended. That aspect of conquering what seems like impossible challenges would then be carried over to Hades. A boy trying to escape his own personal hell which is sadly his own home. Then there are all the other aspects of Pyre which I love, but are also the staples for Supergiant’s other games. The hand drawn artstyle with a wide arrange of colors. The way they have hand drawn backgrounds and combine it with 3D models. An isometric view which allows you to see everything and have an easy time depicting where enemies or hazards are coming from. Tight controls and commands for easy responsive gameplay. The brilliant soundtrack . Then there is the writing and characters which we just covered.
Pyre is a masterpiece and I don’t know why I didn’t get to it sooner. While I really want to give this game a perfect score I do have to bring up that it isn’t for everyone. There is a reason why a lot of players turn this game down. The visual novel aspect is what may bore people, and there are a lot of gamers who get annoyed with long dialogue sequences. Yet again, alot of gamers can’t tell the difference between what is art and what is pure corporate greed. Visual novels was a genre I really hated when I was younger, but I grew to love it thanks to good writing. To make a good story you need good characters, world building, and of course writing. Fail at all these aspects and you get a story that will be forgotten within the first two hours. Persona 5 is a visual novel and I really love it, and if you think about it really hard Disco Elysium is a novel due to the amount of dialogue. A couple of my friends also recommended me to try out an Ace Attorney game which I may consider. There is also the fact Pyre can be considered a sports game which is a very bloated and money driven genre. Pyre is a sports game done right and there’s even a versus for those who enjoy the gameplay that much. Pyre is a high recommendation in my book and its sad people skip this one. Please play this game. It is so worth it. In the end I am going to give Pyre a 9.5/10 for excellence at best.
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