Indie Pyre

[radiofloyd]

 I've played over an hour of this now in about three 20 minute bursts. I like it but it is very different to Transistor (and the early parts of Bastion that I played).

 

 

 

 

The game is part visual novel, part rpg. It's not as text heavy as a game like Sunless Sea (nor remotely as free-form), but the story is told through text like in the second picture above. Pyre is not remotely an action game. It's been described as a sports game in some reviews, but I think that's a bit laughably over the top. The "combat", known as Rites, does resemble a sport in that you have to take a ball and carry it into your opponents "pyre"...but I think this is the one element of the game that does resemble Transistor to some extent. Actually now that I'm typing this maybe it is closer to basketball than Transistor but anyway, I'm not going to call it a "sports" game just yet.

 

During the basketball match (I've given up) you can perform actions like sprinting, jumping, passing and even throwing the ball into the enemy's pyre (oh my god it's basketball). If you don't have the ball you can cast your aura, i.e. attack an enemy. Each team has three characters and you can only control one character at a time. If a character is attacked they are banished for a certain period of time. Each individual character has stats that govern how much damage they do to an enemy pyre, how long they are banished for etc. Each character also has a skill tree and you can pick new abilities when they level up, and each character can also equip one "talisman" that has some kind of stat boosting effect.

 

Those are the rpg elements. The visual novel elements are basically everything else. You move from point to point on the map (so far the game has been almost entirely linear) and this will usually trigger some kind of story event or conversation among your party that is told through text. In one hour I haven't experience much of the story but basically your characters are exiled in some kind of wasteland, and completing this rites ceremony seems to be some way to obtain freedom for them. There is no full voice acting (the characters make a few squables when they speak a la Zelda) except for the character who seems to control the rites, I don't know what it is but his voice seems to remind me of movies like Tron and Logan's Run.

 

So far, it's an intriguing game, and you definitely can't accuse Supergiant of retreading old ground. Artistically, in terms of visuals and music, it's too early to comment but the signs are that this will match their earlier games.

 

 

 

[radiofloyd]

Phoenix down. Got back into this yesterday and today. Yesterday I played the game for 20 minutes then switched to the World Cup but left my PC running, so my play time jumped by 8 hours...

 

Player another hour today. Hooked up to the tv which is my preferred way to play PC games now, if possible. More enjoyable all around.

 

Pyre took a little bit of re-learning, but luckily you can practice the rites (the part that resembles a sport) any time you like. I performed in two more rites, the first was piss simple, the second was strangely difficult where I had to play as a new character I had never controlled before. I was annihalated but even if you lose you gain experience and the story continues.

 

Characters (up to three) that perform in rites gain experience (enlightenment) and if they increase their rank they can learn new abilities. There are two ability trees for each character, which generally appear to be for active and passive abilities. Characters that don’t perform gain a bonus (I’ve forvotten the name of it) where they will get more experience the next time they take part in a rite.

 

Outside of that, it’s a lovely adventure game that moves at a fast pace. The game has lovely music and sound effects and a very beautiful visual style. In fact it’s almost like playing through an illustrated fantasy novel (although the game is not very wordy at all). It’s an intriguing story...

[radiofloyd]

I understand a bit more about the game now. You reach a point where you can take part in a special rite where you can choose one character to be granted their freedom (ie return to the “Commonwealth” from where you were banished), if you win. But you can only choose characters who have reached a certain ranking. I lost this rite but I think I’ll get another chance soon. The goal appears to be for all characters to gain their freedom.

 

I’ve won most rites easily but I’m still far from an expert at them. There’s kind of a push/pull between focusing on scoring (but your characters are vulnerable while carrying the ball) and focusing on reducing the enemies numbers instead (which makes it easier to score). But it’s far from black and white and rites are quite fast paced. There’s definitely a learning curve and a layer of skill to the game.

 

You can also take part in individual challenges for each character, where instead of the usual 3v3 it’s 1v3, which I guess forces you to come to grips with the strengths and weakness of that character. I’ve passed two characters challenges so far and the reward is a unique talisman for that character.

[radiofloyd]

Around 10 hours in now and I still have mixed feelings about this game.

 

The rites themselves can be infuriating, I don’t like them. I’ve scraped through so many without having any great confidence in what I’m doing, and lost a share too.

 

If anything I’ve probably reverted to the simplest tactics at this stage, simply running into the enemy to make them drop the ball and when I have the ball give it to my fastest character so he can quickly run into the enemy’s pyre. 

 

Bizarrely, the game presents you with a myriad of options to make rites more difficult, if you wish. Before each rite you can active a titan star which will hinder you or help the enemy in some way. In return you get increased experience, but I haven’t bothered...

 

I’m also on the fence about the story. It’s pretty cool, but I wouldn’t say I’m dying to see what happens next either. I’m determined to finish the game though.