Genre: Action RPG, Sports
Year: 2017
Developed by: Supergiant Games
Published by: Supergiant Games
Platforms: PC, PS4
#49
Feeling Like: A burning desire
Pyre is phenomenal, though I fear Hades’ overwhelming success has cast a massive shadow that’s completely engulfed it. While I enjoyed Bastion and Transistor quite a bit, Pyre is when I surrendered completely to Supergiant Games. They’ve got me in their talons and I never want to be let go.
What kind of company can pull this off? It’s a 2D (mostly) Action RPG Sport game (mostly) with no spoken dialogue (mostly) that somehow ties gameplay with story better than most(ly) games with quadruple the budget and a team of thousands. I don’t know how they did it, but what I do know is that Pyre is criminally underplayed, underappreciated and will never get its proper due, despite excellent reviews from critics and passionate pleas from internet nobodies like myself. It’s anybody’s loss if they don’t give Pyre a try.
I loved how unique the game was – story moments and gameplay were equally fascinating. You play in a series of “rites” against other roving bands of various magical properties. Everybody you meet is in exile on a weird plane of limbo. If you win enough games, you can send one of your merry band above, rescuing them permanently from their exile and absolving them entirely of their crimes. I know it’s a great game when I cannot bear to lose or choose between party members. Hedwyn, Jodariel, Ti’Zo, Bertrude were all invaluable to my success on the rites…but because of their characters and the superlative writing, I couldn’t bear to deny them the freedom they’d earned. Saying goodbye was legitimately tough.
The magic basketball/rugby rites were so much fun and the different abilities completely changed my approach to a match. The ending was so satisfying and big moments hit BIG; for example, the majority of the spoken dialogue is in a romantic sounding gibberish. However, at one point the character Volfred Sandalwood, a wise and knowledgeable professor who happens to be a tree man, breaks out of this and speaks a line in English. That perked me up, holy shit! Leave it to Supergiant to understand that less is more, and the rarer the instance of a visual or auditory cue, the more impactful it is. Sandalwood’s spoken line made me jump out of my chair. So goddamn cool.
The gameplay is right up my alley. It’s fantastical, mythical NBA Jam meets rugby meets soccer meets who cares, it’s incredible. Each intrepid adventurer you pick up in your rinky dink, eventually flying rinky dink travelling wooden RV adds incredible flavor to the conversations, story and yes, the rites. Some are fast and zippy, others are imposing and powerful. Some are better on defense, others can teleport, others can snap the opponents down with powerful attacks. Like in life, it’s best to go with a mix when choosing a lineup.
I never felt confused about where to go. The rules made complete sense to me. Maybe I was a rite-r in a previous life. Having to consistently bid farewell to one of your companions is a brilliant twist. They get to leave the wasteland and go back home. Everybody desperately wants their freedom, but everybody also feels guilty about wanting to put their name forward. After all, their relief from banishment means a friend stays even longer, or permanently.
It’s tragic, it’s wonderful and it creates an incredible sense of camaraderie when it happens. Selflessness, selfishness, wishful thinking and reality all come together in a single instant. Who do you choose? When they’re gone, they’re gone. They don’t come back. You don’t see or hear them. You cannot use them in the rites. Your most powerful player is now permanently on the bench. Not only do their fellow friends say goodbye, you say goodbye too.
Anytime a game can combine gameplay and story effectively, I have to applaud. It’s so difficult to do. The Portal games did it. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons did it masterfully. The Last of Us is right up there, and now I must include Pyre. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing my little bird bro Ti’zo, or the imposing Jodariel, or the hilariously eager Sir Gilman, or Rukey and his dashing doggy mustache. Yet somebody must go, and don’t you want to see them happy?
Oralech is the justifiably angry villain. His origin is wonderfully told, and his theme is one of my favorites of the year. Doesn’t it sound like a massive dude with horns just showed up, unannounced and uninvited, into your cabin? What a soundtrack, another trademark of Supergiant games. The wistful guitar plucks and otherworldly beats made sure I never forgot I was in a world I’d never been to before.
I felt a rare emotional ennui by the end credits. I am still thinking about the story’s conclusion and what happened to the participants afterward. It stuck with me. I felt guilty about leaving two of my crew behind – Supergiant doesn’t let you off easy, you cannot save everybody. The final credits image had me staring in awe. It’s not for everybody; there’s a LOT of dialogue with hyperlinks and going through menus. Some may not appreciate the gibberishy voice acting. For myself, on the other hand, I couldn’t have asked for a better surprise. The only game I can compare it to is 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, which also included a mix of visual novel character development and balls to the wall insane action sequences. I think Pyre did it better, but both are superb examples of how mixing and matching genres, in the right hands, can lead to some prolific concoctions.
The 500 