Pyre review: Out of the furnace, into a celestial adventure

Supergiant’s third game is also their largest and most ambitious yet. But the real question is, does Pyre hold up to the indie studio’s reputation?

Developer: Supergiant Games
Publisher: Supergiant Games
Platform: PlayStation 4 (Version reviewed), PC
Release Date: July 25, 2017

One thing that can be said about Supergiant Games is that they are really good at betting on themselves. Their original, expansive worlds have captivated many ever since Bastion caught many by surprise in 2011 and Transistor improved upon the studio’s storytelling ability three years ago. Since then, it was often wondered what would come next; and upon first glance, Pyre is really unlike anything that’s been seen before. Combining the storytelling of a somewhat Tolkien-influenced a party-based RPG with arena sports style gameplay sounds like an odd mix on paper, but it works out better than you’d probably expect.

Pyre starts out with you, a nameless, faceless protagonist cast down from a nation known as The Commonwealth where literacy is outlawed. Simply because you know how to read, you’ve been thrown into exile in The Downside, a lawless land where survival is fought for; and survival is met with a harsh price of its own. Finding yourself near death, you’re met by a trio of fellow prisoners searching for a way to regain their freedom.  Upon finding out about your literacy, you become a tactician of sorts for the group called the Nightwings in their quest to complete rites, rituals that can earn participants a full pardon and re-entry into The Commonwealth.

Pyre also gives plenty of opportunity to explore the world’s lore with the help of flavor text that reads like the bottom of a Magic: The Gathering card…

From there, you travel through a colorful world with equally colorful characters that are met along the way. Sure, some fall into typical RPG character tropes (like an overzealous knight who looks like Mike Wazowski with no limbs), but it’s nothing too much to drag the game down for that reason. The narrative also introduces important choices that can affect the plot, opening up the possibility for branching plotlines and multiple endings; increasing the replayability factor for those who want to fully sink their teeth into the game’s world thanks to having up to five save slots found buried in the settings menu.

Pyre also gives plenty of opportunity to explore the world’s lore with the help of flavor text that reads like the bottom of a Magic: The Gathering card and a readable Book of Rites, written by the deities of the land to further explain locales, other factions and the astral plane that’s used to light the way to freedom. Without giving much away, the main campaign is serviceable, and it can be pretty easy to get invested in helping your allies gain freedom. Despite some pacing problems, the story does take some twists and turns toward the second half while getting a bit more compelling thanks to a difficulty nosedive a few hours in. Overall, the campaign is a serviceable experience that could potentially go anywhere from 8-12 hours, depending on how you play.

The game also takes a more traditional, old-school RPG approach in telling its story, with the help of still frames of the characters and text. Lots and lots of text. By no means is it entirely bothersome, but it is very prevalent and those diving in should expect to get plenty of reading material. However, this does make the game drag on a bit; especially when you’re already a few hours deep into the campaign. The characters also mumble their native tongue as the text comes up on the screen, and their stills change depending on the situation. The stills provoke each one’s emotions rather well, and will likely pull many in based on that alone, but for others, they could prove to be a bit hollow once looked at beneath the surface. These scenes just don’t feel quite as vibrant as the world around them at times, creating an inconsistency that’s not deal-breaking, but definitely noticeable as you get deeper into the game.

Pyre’s music feels like a mix of everything done with Bastion and Transistor but adds in some folk-style elements to mix things up.

Pyre also features pretty solid presentation as well. The world of The Downside is well-crafted with bright, contrasting colors that show up nicely on a good enough display. The overworld is almost like navigating through a big pop-up book, with shades of green and blue in more nautical areas while molten lava zones are showered with bright yellows, reds and oranges. The rite sequences also reflect the places in which they take place, and characters animated very well, each with their own way of moving around the arena. With the game running at 1080p/60 FPS on PS4 and native 4K on the Pro and 4K support on the PC version, performance issues weren’t really prevalent at all except in the final level. For whatever reason, frame drops seemed nonstop in one of the most critical points of the game to the point where it was infuriating. That said, this was the only time anything like this was present, and a simple patch could potentially fix that up.

Supergiant’s work with award-winning composer Darren Korb also makes a return here, and it’s a strong effort. Pyre‘s music feels like a mix of everything done with Bastion and Transistor but adds in some folk-style elements to mix things up. Pounding bass, soothing synthesizers and shimmering guitars and even some vocals at times will travel through your sound system of choice as you make your way through The Downside. It even throws a curveball or two in as well, one of which is a full-on transition into a fast-paced punk rock track as the theme for one of the Nightwings’ adversaries. Luckily these are so few and far between that’s it’s not a big deal for a soundtrack that, maybe not as memorable or filled with hooks as the one found in Transistor, is still an enjoyable listen.

With all of the good aspects of Pyre‘s presentation, it would be for naught if the gameplay wasn’t that great. Fortunately, the game is pretty fun…for the most part. Rites are conducted in a 3-on-3 setting with the objective being to carry an orb to the other team’s goal in order to extinguish a flame. It sounds pretty simple at first, and the game does a good job of easing you into how rites work and how each character plays. Each character you meet has a particular playstyle, whether they’re large demons who act more like tanks or dog-like creatures that can zip by opponents with their speed. Your score when reaching the opposite flame depends on which class of character reaches it (larger character score more, smaller ones score less.)

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Each also has an ability that can be used to knock out opponents for a time, whether they’re large beams of aura with different traits, setups for more defensive play or just charging straight in for an offensive assault. Those who run into the opponents’ flame also will be knocked out for the next round in an effort to even up the odds a bit. There’s much more than just those examples as well, and it offers up a depth of strategy in choosing who participates to guarantee your best chances for success. Every character also has different stat types that can be upgraded throughout along with ability trees and items to enhance them further. There are also modifiers to enemy teams that can be used in the latter part of the campaign to crank up the difficulty, with the reward being more experience should you prevail.

The kicker to the gameplay is a trait pulled seemingly out of NBA Jam, in that only one character can be controlled at a time regardless of whether or not you have the orb or not. Of course, it can be passed along to other teammates, but getting in the right position can be key in scoring. It definitely gets hectic in the later game, especially at higher difficulties. The camera also had a hard time keeping up on occasion, zooming in on my controlled character while an opponent was on the other side of the map charging for a score.

Much like Transistor, there’s a practice area in which certain characters can complete trials to earn exclusive items and come up with new strategies in an endless rite against the AI. There’s also a versus mode that can be played locally or against the AI, but yet no online or co-op exists in Pyre. Supergiant expressed that they wanted to focus more on the single-player experience and that adding an online component would take away from that. While a creative decision like that can surely be respected, online play would have added even more to Pyre‘s replayability aspect and just frankly feels missing here.

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Another thing Pyre stumbles with is making its premise not seem like it has high stakes. What I mean here is that winning and losing doesn’t really matter that much, and you’re even warned about this if you choose to restart a rite. You gain experience regardless of the outcome, and while it’s a noble idea on paper; it just takes away the urgency that the plot of the campaign is trying to convey. There are no game overs; there’s no risk to be taken here for the most part. Apparently, a chance at freedom from the wasteland can be earned with participation trophies, with only the rite at the end being the one that truly matters. Though the game does make you live with the consequences of losing, this is still a problem in a game that has at least a wrinkle of a competitive edge that just can’t go unnoticed.

A copy of this game was provided to App Trigger for the purpose of this review. All scores are ranked out of 10, with .5 increments. Click here to learn more about our Review Policy.