When it comes to sports games, I'm only really interested in those with some kind of twist on them. Regular sports games like NBA and Fifa just flat out bore me. However, I adore games like Rocket League and some of the Mario sports games that add creative mechanics to the sport as well as add their own flare. Thankfully, Pyre does just that, being a sports game implementing heavy RPG mechanics. Originally, I was sucked in by the beautiful artwork and the enriched soundtrack, but the gameplay itself intrigued me. An RPG sports game is a far step from the developers' earlier games, Bastion and Transistor, and even they admitted they were a bit nervous about the game's concepts coming together. Pyre combines a lot of ideas with it's story and gameplay: but it combines them so masterfully, that it becomes something really special and unique.
Your character, referred to as "the Reader", is charged with the crime of literacy and exiled to the harsh lands of the Downside. On the brink of death, you meet three other Exiles: a human man named Hedwyn, a demon woman named Jodariel, and a talking dog named Rucky (complete with fancy mustache). They bring you into their group and have you read an ancient tome, revealing a way to return from exile. The team forms a group called the Nightwings, and must compete against other teams of Exiles in the ancient Rites. As the team travels across the Downside, more exiles join their ranks, all hoping to win their freedom and return to the Commonwealth above.
Out of all of Supergiant Games'... games, Pyre's story is personally my favorite. The others still have great storytelling, but Pyre's just carries so much weight and emotion. The world is filled with lore to discover, both through progressing through the story and unlocking pages in your tome. You can also highlight keywords in dialogue to find out more about the world and characters, without having to add more exposition to the dialogue. The story's greatest strength however, is it's characters. Every single member of the Nightwings are incredibly likeable and memorable, each with their own backstories and motivations for competing in the Rites. Add the fact that nearly all of them are from different species with different abilities, and you have an incredibly colorful and diverse cast. It's really hard not to get engrossed with your team as you travel across the land and prepare to compete against other Exiles. Even your adversaries are memorable, as they aren't painted as enemies that solely want to stop you. Just like you, they're broken people who are desperately fighting to be free.
I love Pyre's art style: all the characters have fantastic designs, and the world is covered with brutal yet colorful landscapes. Each character has massively different designs that make them look epic and really set them apart from each other. Despite how cool they look in their regular attire, I can't get over how cool they look in their Rite outfits. Like Bastion and Transistor, Pyre also does a great job of combining 3D character models with 2D backgrounds. Due to their outfits' bright colors, they fit in perfectly with the vibrant wastelands and desolate tundras that make up the Downside. The art direction for this game is easily one of it's best assets.
The soundtrack also is beautiful, and evokes the feelings of a lot of classic fantasy movies and games. I also get a bit of a familiar feel to the soundtrack to Crystal Chronicles, which is definitely not a bad thing. Not only is the main theme and the tracks for traveling the Downside gorgeous, but every enemy team also has their own theme. They each use different instruments, complimenting the teams' personalities expertly. The characters also make use of a created language. I feel like this is often a hit or miss aspect in games, as there's a fine line between sounding credible and talking gibberish. Luckily, what we have here is the former, and the voice actors do a great job of making it sound credible and natural.
Pyre's main gameplay takes place within the Rites, a series of ancient sports involving two teams of three. It takes a lot of inspiration from soccer and basketball, with each team guarding a large flame. Using a celestial stone that spawns in the middle, a member of the team must plunge into the fire with the stone or toss it in, dealing it damage, whoever snuffs out the opponents pyre first wins. You can also temporarily banish your opponents from the field using auras, allowing you to clear a bit of the field for a better shot. A really unique aspect of this game is that only one of your three players can move at a time, allowing you complete control of your team. This allows for a lot of strategy in where you place your team members and for when you make a pass. The Rites actually end up being a really fun sports game, being both fast paced and very strategical.
The game currently has some performance issues, though: I've had a view cases of visual glitches on the world map and frame rate stutters, as well as a couple of crashes over my playthrough. Luckily the game checkpoints progress well, so these are more of an annoyance that hopefully gets fixed later. That and while they are a bit more present than I'd like, they aren't too annoying. Despite the slight technical issues, Pyre's gameplay is still fantastic and ridiculously satisfying.
The RPG aspect comes with how you prepare for the Rites and what you do outside of them. Each race in the game has stats, abilities, and passives unique to them, allowing for a lot of team customization. For example, demons are slow but have massive auras and can perform large leaps that push enemies around. While curs (fancy mustache dogs) are faster and can unlock the ability to perform double and triple jumps. You can also level up your characters and equip talismans to unlock new passives and abilities for them, some of which are huge game changers. All of this creates so much potential for making your team, allowing you to experiment and find what combinations suit your play style best.
If you have a friend, you can also play them in multiplayer, having access to all the characters, masteries, and talismans from the main game. You can also pick from all the games different arenas, allowing for potentially hours of fun picking teams and testing them out against each other. Unfortunately, multiplayer is currently only local. I honestly found this a bit shocking, as most sports games see online as a necessity due to being competitive by nature. It's really sad too, because I can see Pyre having an amazing online scene. There's a lot of potential here for online matches and tournaments, so I hope Supermassive could possibly add it in the future. To be honest, though, the story mode alone is easily worth the price of admission.
Outside of the Rites, you'll be traveling across the Downside to get to their location. Along the way, you'll have to make many decisions, such as choosing which route to take and responding to the requests of your allies. Due to how engrossing the characters and story are, these decisions carry a lot of weight and can alter how your party develops. The game also has a lot of branching with it's ending, which is determined both by your decisions and how you perform in the Rites. Your presented with so many difficult obstacles and decisions, but being able to overcome them is really satisfying. You can also fail, however, but the story doesn't stop there and leaves you to try and learn from your mistakes.
To say I'm pleasantly surprised with Pyre's many ideas working so well together is a massive understatement. This is honestly one of the funnest sports games I've played in a long time: probably because it's not just a sports game. It goes the extra mile by having a massively immersive story with characters and decisions that add weight and emotion to everything you do. The art and design work make the world feel dire and dangerous, yet vibrant and full of life. It makes you want to keep going to see and learn more about the game's world. And while the concept of a sports RPG hybrid sounds weird, it's execution is fantastic. The game itself has a great balance between strategy and speed, while the RPG elements add so much depth to team formation. It's another Supermassive masterpiece that I definitely recommend. Like a fire, it's burning bright and beautiful to behold.
The Good
- Emotional Story with Gripping Choices
- Memorable and Diverse Cast of Characters
- Fast Paced and Strategical Gameplay
- Deep RPG Mechanics Allow for Great Team Formation
- Beautiful Art Style with Rich Color Palette
- Gorgeous Sound Track Fits Fantasy Setting Perfectly
- Well Done Mutliplayer Carries Over Team Customization
The Bad
- Multiplayer is Begging to be Online
- Minor Visual Glitches and A Few Crashes