Pyre

From the art to the music to the story to the tactical gameplay, and even to how they’re all woven together so artfully, Pyre is an adventure that excels in every area of its design other than limiting its multiplayer to local only. It’s an epic journey that made me feel thrilled, devastated, and awed, and its tense moments had me tugging my collar both in and out of its fast-paced mystical sports arenas. With an emotionally charged ending that saw so much I’d striven for come to fruition, but was still tinged with tragedy and melancholy even when I did almost everything right, I won’t be able...

Pyre is simply a complete package. Everything from story and characters to art and gameplay is superb. While I could use nearly every positive word I know to praise this game, nothing can really describe the roller coaster of emotions I felt playing it. It is an endlessly surprising and satisfying experience that I would recommend to just about anyone.

Mixing together so many different influences and styles of gameplay together could have made Pyre an unwieldy, confusing experience. However, Supergiant apparently found just the right mixture of ingredients to make Pyre work almost perfectly, as its addicting Rites "combat" shows. Thanks to a compelling mix of gameplay and atmosphere bound by an incredible art style, Supergiant Games has crafted one of this year's most unique titles that's equally tense and thought-provoking throughout its journey. Coming from the studio that already has provided memorable titles like Bastion and Transistor, ...

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Pyre’s world is full of dynamic characters with unique motivations, darkly vibrant backdrops that look like paintings, and a soundtrack that you’ll be humming for days, weeks, even months to come. It might be slow to start, but once it picks up it never looks back. The Rites are exciting and addictive, and you’ll always want to play “just one more round.” Even when the game is over, you’ll want to have at least one more round through the whole thing, just to see how things might turn out differently. Pyre is an admirable addition to both Supergiant’s repertoire and any gamer’s collection.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we never see another game quite like Pyre, and that’s perfectly okay. Simply describing its spectacularly outlandish battle system doesn’t do it justice; upon playing it, it doesn’t take long to realise that it works – and that it works incredibly well. Pair that with a wonderful cast of characters, a riveting story, and enthralling music and visuals, and you have nothing short of a compelling game that demands your time and attention. If you are at all curious about Pyre – and you should be – then you owe it to yourself to check this one out.

I have a love/hate relationship with Supergiant Games. Alright, hate is too strong of a word, but Bastion definitely inspired some kind of loathing within me (directed both at myself and at the game) while Transistor was an ARPG tour de force in my eyes. With its slow start, Pyre almost seemed as if it were leaning towards a miss rather than a hit, but once the spark caught the tinder, it became a sizzling experience that you can’t skip out on.

Despite some of these hiccups, it’s difficult not to enjoy being part of this strange world and participating blindly in its customs. Although I wasn’t quite as attached to the characters as I had hoped, I did appreciate the medley of personalities and felt the world and its customs were admirably orchestrated within everyone’s backstory. It might not be for everyone, but Pyre delivers on its fun gameplay in a way that beautifully illustrates the struggles of redemption and what it means to gain true freedom.

Supergiant Games delivers stunning art and a well-written story, but stretched across an overlong, repetitive campaign.

From the creators of Bastion and Transistor comes a... visual novel RPG?

I won’t spoil too much about Pyre’s story and where it goes, but I will say that the numerous branching paths pay off, with an ending that lets you view how each and every major character you met along the way ends up. While I don’t know when I’ll find the time to sink 10 to 15 hours into another playthrough, I absolutely want to — if only to try to get all my favorite characters into better positions by the end, or see what happens if the Nightwings never manage to win a match.

And that, I think is the goal of Pyre. It wants you to recognise that people are not there necessarily so that you can Win Win Win, that others, even your enemies, sometimes deserve their desires over your own machinations. There are messages woven into the tale about justice, mercy, forgiveness, and liberty in a way that few games even attempt to cover. And I haven’t mentioned once how stunning the whole thing looks – I barely even need to say that. I only wish that the mechanics and feeling of Pyreball lived up to that strong storytelling, because it so often feels like an interruption to a ...