Pyre Review

Come for the fantasy basketball, stay for the unforgettable characters.

Pyre; Supergiant Games – PlayStation 4, PC

Reviewed on PlayStation 4

Released: July 25, 2017

Reviewed: April 20, 2018

Written by: Matthew Clem

To get it out of the way quickly, Pyre, made by the talented developers at Supergiant Games, is nothing short of a masterpiece. I didn’t play this game until 2018, about a year after it was released, but if I had played it in 2017, it would have easily been my Game of the Year (nothing against my 2017 favorite, What Remains of Edith Finch). Not only that, but I believe Pyre is one of my favorite games of all time. In my opinion, it is that remarkable, and I would recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in the title. I was enthralled almost instantly, and by the end, I didn’t want it to be over, yet I was still satisfied with how the story ended. That story, by the way, can conclude in more ways than I can even begin to count. The ways that the story can branch from your choices, or by your skill, still leaves me wondering about how things could have been different for the characters I grew so attached to. Whether I loved them, or even despised them, the outcomes for everyone you meet can be drastically different depending on how your journey unfolds. That alone is reason enough to play this game, before even getting into the gameplay, music, and world building of Pyre, all of which make it an incredible experience I will never forget.

(Left to Right) Hedwyn, Jodarial, and Rukey

The story of Pyre begins with your character waking up in the “Downside”, a place for exiles of the world of the Commonwealth, a totalitarian empire that, as the player, you never see. One can be exiled for a myriad of reasons; from high profile crimes such as treason or insubordination, all the way to owning a printing press to get real news to the masses, or even being able to read. The latter is the crime of the playable character, who is only called “The Reader” by the characters you meet throughout your journey. In a usual videogame trope, you wake up with no real memory of how you got to be where you are, but in choices throughout the game, you are able to flesh out your backstory as you see fit at different times, including your past career, and the dreams you held for your future, had you not been banished. As the story gets underway, you meet three characters: Hedwyn, Jodarial, and Rukey. Here you are introduced to a few of the different types of races in Pyre. The essentially human race that Hedwyn resembles are called the Nomads. Some Nomads however, if spent in the Downside for a prolonged time, such as Jodarial, become Demons, who grow horns from their head and grow larger as their sentence goes on. Then there is the charming and lovable Rukey Greentail, who is from the talking dog race known as the Curs. These characters only scratch the surface, as you meet many more as you continue. During your journey, you can learn much about these characters, such as how long they have been in the Downside, and what crime they had committed in order to be exiled.

Visual-novel gameplay

For now, the game begins with a visual-novel type style, with the characters speaking to you in snippets of a foreign language while you read the text on screen, and at times select dialogue options. The design of the world you see is sketchy, yet fantastical and dream-like. Your team travels in a wagon that navigates the map as you reach different points of interest where you meet new allies, find treasures that can aid you, learn about legends of the world, and most importantly, compete in Rites. You soon learn that these Rites are the key to regaining your freedom, leaving the Downside, and being accepted back into the Commonwealth. Rites are a top-down 3 vs 3 basketball-esque game that your companions will compete in against other teams. The goal is to get a singular orb into the opposing teams Pyre, until one of the pyres are out of flame. It somewhat feels like a game of Rocket League, but instead of a time limit, the team whose point total of 100 is brought down to 0 first loses… and also there’s no rocket-propelled cars. By controlling your team of three one at a time, you can move, pass the orb, and use a wide array of offensive and defensive skills to get the orb into your adversary’s pyre.  As the reader, you don’t compete with your team in the Rites, but instead your avatar learns more about them from reading the Book of Rites, which unlocks new chapters and pages as you progress. There are times throughout your quest that you can take one on one time with your teammates to raise their enlightenment level (experience points) enough to learn new Masteries (skills) to use in the Rites, or to learn more from the book for yourself which can raise different stats for your whole team such as their Glory (damage) or Quickness (movement speed).

The captivating scenery of the Downside

Stats and skills screen

The game doesn’t necessarily hold your hand when learning it’s systems if you don’t want it to. At times, when adding a new companion to your team, it will go through how your new teammate controls for the coming Rites. This comes in handy since each character you add to your team feels very distinctive in movement and skill, and all of your companions have different pros and cons that you need to think about when forming your triumvirate. Other than that, you can move your in-game cursor over highlighted information to learn more about different upgrade systems and stats of the characters that have joined your team, known as the Nightwings. This leads me into what I love most about the world-building aspect of Pyre, and the incredible universe Supergiant has created. There is so much lore in Pyre, but you don’t need to read any of it if you don’t want to. It’s great to take the time to learn more about different characters that are mentioned, or the mythical Astral Gods that are referenced (which contain a lot of back story about the history of Rites, the Commonwealth, and the Downside), or the varied locales you come across. However, if you aren’t worried about any of that, it’s not forced upon you. As you progress, more information on subjects like the different races and history can be found in the Book of Rites, and even then, the information is laid out in easily read bullet points, and not in paragraphs of exposition. I liken it to the Codex from the Mass Effect series for comparison, but in an even more digestible form factor. Even for a place such as the Commonwealth, which you never even see throughout your journey, you can learn so much about the culture, those who inhabit it, and how their world works through, not only dialogue, but digging deeper into the lore given to you. Through all of this great world-building, and the deeply developed characters who you interact with, one thing really stood out to me about how Pyre presents its exposition through optional dialogue. Later on in the game, after I was more than invested in all of the different characters I’ve met, you’re told about two characters from a past iteration of the Nightwings. These character moments built for people I’ve never meet, never talked to, or even seen throughout the entire game, were incredibly moving and well-written. Through what I learned about them in dialogue options that I didn’t even need to select to progress your story, I felt things like sympathy and disdain from their stories; feelings that I didn’t know I could have for characters I never even met. This isn’t just a testament to Supergiant’s world-building, but to their character development, and the care they put into every aspect of Pyre, even if the player never sees it.

Rite gameplay

During the first few hours of your journey you face against a handful of other teams in the Rites, and as you progress you will have the choice of competing against these teams multiple times. Each team is composed of what is considered a triumvirate, as each team has three players in any given Rite. After facing many of the teams you’ll come across, you are summoned for a Liberation Rite. No matter if you win or lose in the Rites beforehand, your story will always move forward. You can restart during a Rite if you are inclined to, but I find it most interesting how the story, and the morale of your team, and the interactions with the other teams (think Shadow of Mordor’s Nemesis system) can fluctuate depending on the outcomes. It is explained that the Nightwings are historically the group on which all other triumvirates are judged, meaning no matter your performance in the Rites leading up to liberation, you will always be one of the contenders fighting for your freedom in order for the other triumvirates to prove their worth against you. It’s an interesting piece of exposition that helps explain why your unlikely band of misfits always get summoned for Liberations, no matter how you fair in other Rites, and this helps keep the story engaging throughout.

In regular Rites, not much is at stake other than gaining experience, but in the Liberation Rites, those stakes are as high as can be. By the Reader’s choice, one of the triumvirate of the Nightwings can be expelled of all past transgressions and be returned to their life in the Commonwealth. However, if your team loses, a character from the opposing team will be selected to be returned. This is where a vast majority of the differing outcomes come into play. Over the multiple Liberation Rites you face, how will you decide who has a chance to gain back their freedom? Do you send away one of your best contenders in the Rites? You might have to, as only the most enlightened and experienced of your group may be eligible. Do you break up a friendship by sending one away while the other stays in the Downside? With only a limited number of Liberations at hand in the story, not everyone can go free. The characters have interactions with each other, and bonds grow between them as their journey goes on. Do you throw a Rite so someone anointed by the opposing team can go up instead? Even if you try your hardest to get someone deserving from your team back into the Commonwealth, best laid plans can often go awry, and your rival could be going back while your companion continues to serve their sentence of exile.

The various characters representing the Nightwings

There ends up being much more depth to the story than just freeing your compatriots, and your decisions can way heavily on the influence of the success or failure of what your team is tasked to accomplish. The endings of not only your team members, but that of your rival triumvirates, and the whole of the Commonwealth can be vastly different all depending on the outcomes of the Liberation Rites. If you’re a player who values replayability, that is here tenfold. There is no perfect ending, and at best, they can be bittersweet, with the final choice being one that took me by surprise, effecting multiple characters in significant ways. The characters who are on this journey together can end up in vastly different places depending on who gets sent back, or if anyone gets sent back at all, and all options in between. The underlying story here is something profound and hopeful. It keeps your team going and wanting to strive for victory, not only for themselves, but for the good of everyone in the Commonwealth; to have all races unite and come together and make their world a better place. All of that hinges on the outcomes of the Rites, and if the Nightwings prevail.

On the surface, a visual novel about fantasy basketball sounds interesting enough, but once I started and met the characters that Pyre introduces one by one, the game became something so much more. For each character I liberated, I was happy for them, but the Downside always felt a little lonelier once someone was freed. These characters grow on you, and by the end I wanted to rush to the internet to find amazing fan art just to see more of them and their interactions with one another. I haven’t connected with characters on this level since the Mass Effect series, and with Mass Effect 2 being my favorite game of all time, it is high praise in that regard. As much fun as I had participating in Rites and learning about the world, the characters, their development, and the relationships built between them are what make this game special. When I started Pyre, I never thought I’d become this invested in its story. The journey of the Nightwings, and of the ensuing character moments caught me wildly off guard and exceeded every expectation I had going in.

The last, but certainly not least, aspect of the game I want to touch upon is the music. Supergiant, apart from making spectacular games, is known for the composition used in their games. I never played Bastion, but from what I played of Transistor, their last project from 2014, the music was immaculate and spellbinding. The score in Pyre is just as astounding, which is absolutely to be expected. The music holds a special place in Pyre, as one of the first characters you meet will actually play songs at certain times during travel that, while melancholic, fit the world and story moments perfectly. On top of that, each of the other teams you face in the Rites have their own distinct theme music that you can encounter on possibly several occasions. These themes are some of the most iconic scores in the game, and they give the opposition even more character then they already had to begin with. I would find myself choosing to face against certain triumvirates just for a chance to hear these themes over again. The music is intertwined into every aspect of the game perfectly, and is always there for a reason, whether it’s subtle background music, or a resounding orchestral sound at a pivotal moment. It gives the individuals you meet more character, and always feels like an essential aspect throughout the game. Near the end of the Liberation Rites, the music will swell and rise, adding tension as the approaching conclusion looms closer. Videogame soundtracks can be something special when done correctly; they can be subtle, they can be iconic, and they can add to the experience. Pyre’s soundtrack excels at all three, and then some. Personally, I’ll be buying the soundtrack myself to listen to the music whenever I want, and I feel that will be pretty often.

With memorable characters, an engrossing journey, fun gameplay, and a spectacular soundtrack, Pyre is a one of a kind game. It has remnants that remind me of other experiences, but in the same breath, there is nothing else like it, and that alone makes it worth playing.

Did you play Pyre? If so, let me know what your thoughts! You can leave a comment or tweet at me @mathyouclem or @AGamingBlog!

Writer’s Note

Thank you for reading my review of Pyre! This was my first full written video game review, and it means the world to me that anyone took the time to check it out. I don’t have plans on having any type of scores for my reviews, but instead I want to convey as much information about the game, and tell you my overall impressions, whether positive or negative, and if I think it is a game worth playing. My articles, review style, and outline for what I want to do with Star District Gaming is an ongoing work in progress that is continually evolving. I welcome any feedback or critique you have so feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or Instagram from the links below. Thanks! – Matt

Twitter: @mathyouclem or @AGamingBlog

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