10/29/2022 0 Comments Pyre switch![]() Photo courtesy of Supergiant GamesĮach Rite is essentially a three-versus-three ballgame that is a crazy, strange fantasy hybrid of soccer and basketball. After this, you travel to the Rite you have chosen to perform, where you have the choice to interact with a merchant or get right on with it. Usually these consist of events such as foraging for items, or helping members of your Triumvirate gain experience known as Enlightenment. This section is more formulaic as you travel to an area and decide on actions you want to take. In the second half of the campaign the map opens up, giving you a bit more freedom, with the ability to do some rudimentary exploring and to choose the next Triumvirate you face. Worse, sometimes they can’t be sped up at all, and you are forced to wait as the camera slowly pans across landscape you’ve seen a dozen times before. Upon my second playthrough I found myself wishing I could skip dialogue and cutscenes entirely, instead of merely being able to speed them up. Unfortunately, the campaign suffers from a lot of downtime and what feels like padding. With several different possible character interactions and player choices, Pyre offers replayability both by being able to explore different narrative choices as well as offering addictive gameplay with the Rites. Pyre stresses character interaction and player choice as you discover early on what you say and do can have consequences that last throughout your playthrough. There is very little voice acting and animation – much of the story is delivered through text. This serves as a sort of extended tutorial that eases the player into how the Rites are performed, as well showing the player around the Downside and teaching the player inventory management, skill trees and everything else needed to be successful. What feels like the entire first half of the campaign is a classic quest that follows the Nightwings as they assemble their party and compete in Rites with other Triumvirates. These Rites are conducted by teams known appropriately as Triumvirates, and your team is named the Nightwings. Shortly before succumbing to the Downside, the Reader is rescued by a group of travelers that tell you that the only way to escape is to succeed in three-versus- three competitions called Rites. You play as a never-shown person known only as “the Reader” – someone who is literate in a land where literacy is illegal. The player takes the role of a nameless criminal exiled to the Downside – a vast inhospitable land where the Commonwealth cast their criminals. If you play as the developers intended, you are meant to live with your failures and victories as they shape the story. Supergiant Giant games also stresses the inability to achieve a “game over” in Pyre. Expectations aside, Pyre delivers on great gameplay with RPG elements- as usual. The only reason I’m making this point so dramatically is because nowhere in Pyre’s official description are hints made of its sports-like nature. It possesses role-playing game elements, and claims to be a “party-based RPG.” That’s technically true, but what I found was mentioned nowhere outside of user reviews and gameplay footage was this – Pyre is a fantasy-themed ballgame. The world building and lore created for it are amazing, and the story is the usual mix of melancholy and hope. It also has a great soundtrack by Darren Korb, composer of Bastion and Transistor’s soundtracks. Pyre is gorgeous- almost every screenshot is wallpaper worthy. Pyre technically follows the trend set by those two games. Both were role-playing games- Bastion, an action role-playing game and Transistor, a mixture of real-time and turn-based combat. Both featured breathtaking art, an amazing soundtrack, and an engaging but poignant story. Supergiant Games is best known for 2011’s Bastion and 2014’s Transistor. Minor story and gameplay spoilers follow: ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |