You may ask, “Are you really going start with Pyre?” Yes, I know Supergiant has already a huge fan base around them; however, this is probably one of the weirdest famous indie games I have played this year. I hope by the end of this article, you will be interested in playing this precious little gem.
Pyre is the third game from Supergiant Games. If you never heard of them, they have some amazing previous titles — including Bastion and Transistor, which are both incredibly well crafted games. That being said, I’m here to write about their latest release: Pyre!
“Pyre is a party-based RPG from the creators of Bastion and Transistor. Lead your band of exiles to freedom through a series of mystical competitions in the Campaign, or challenge a friend to a fast-paced ritual showdown in the head-to-head Versus Mode.” (Official description found on Steam)
I’m not gonna lie, despite following Pyre since its announcement, I never fully understood what the game was about. The gameplay was this interesting basketball? competition between two teams — something totally different from what I was used with Supergiant — after the first hour playing the game I realized just how wrong I was.
While the sports moments or the “rites” between the teams is well crafted and challenging, to me the star features of the game are the narrative and construction of the characters. When you start the game you discover you are the only person who can read the scribes and rites to help this group of exiles. With this knowledge, you start caring about these people and want to help them succeed in their journey for freedom.
Gameplay wise, each character is different during the rites against another team, and you should learn the best way to use them as a trio. You gain XP, level up the character, and unlock abilities to make your life easier against stronger opponents. Everything is pretty easy to learn, and everything is connected with the story. Move your character, get the spiritual “ball”, and throw it in the Pyre of the enemy team. You succeed when the fire of the enemies’ pyre is extinguished — this is when things start to get really exciting.
I’m going to try to avoid spoilers, but everyone who is competing in these rites are, in essence, fighting for their freedom. Some of them are playing for chaos, others for revenge, but most of them either want their old life back or salvation. Each time you win against another team, you are essentially killing their chance for salvation.
Crazy huh? You may ask yourself, “But I’m the hero of the game, why should I care about them?”. In my opinion, you really should care about your decisions. I believe this was the strongest point of the game. There’s no black and white in this world, everyone has an interesting background. Some people made mistakes in their pasts, others made bad things and some of them even don’t care about what’s going on; however, every decision you made in the game has a consequence, and more you play and go ahead in the story you really start to think twice before choosing who should be saved next.
I could write for hours about the fantastic story of Pyre, but to conclude, if you like well written characters, religion, politics and sports, this is a no-brainer for you. Connect with the characters, enjoy the astonishing art while listening beautiful soundtrack til the end of the rites. There’s a lot of meaning behind the story of the game and you will be thinking a lot about everything between.
Pyre is probably the best game Supergiant made so far and, for me, is one of the best games of this year. I can’t wait to see what’s next for this talented crew. Their journey is just starting, the path to the stars is open and see you in the next rite, Reader…
Final Thoughts
Played the game for: Almost 14 hours!
Recommended for: People who enjoy narrative games with well written characters, deep lore, interesting decisions and beautiful crafted worlds.
Not recommended for: People who hate to read or are just interested in the sports moment of the game, maybe you will find fun just playing the versus mode against another player. Who knows? It’s good anyway.
Conclusion: Worth every moment, buy the game, buy the soundtrack, buy everything related with this game, actually buy Pyre in all platforms the game is available as well.
How many gems of recommendation?
Overall Informations
Price: $19.99 USD
Site: Pyre
Download: Steam / PS4
Developer: Supergiant Games
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are mine and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Archiact.
