Revisiting Pyre - An experimental Hades?
By wunder_ 5 Comments
Released in 2017, Pyre was the third title in Supergiant Games history. Quickly becoming known for a strong, linear narrative filled with a colorful cast of characters and gameplay mechanics that borrowed or twisted common archetypes, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to expect the third foray into games to be something even greater. Building upon Bastion and Transistor, Supergiant had released a game at a steady clip every three years, and Pyre was no different. While Transistor kept the isometric perspective of Bastion, it focused more on unique skills to enhance the protagonist's weapon, and allowed the player to explore the world while deciphering the mystery at hand. Pyre flipped the script in more ways than one, tossing the singular protagonist for a large party, and structuring their narrative in a way that, success or failure, it moves on regardless. Finally, no longer were you chopping or shooting at blue blobs or digital slimes, but instead playing a frenetic 3-on-3 game of ball. Anecdotally, it feels like Pyre fell to the wayside. A shunned middle child in a family of successes. It's conjecture, but at the same time you can point to the Early Access nature of Hades - a departure from the "released when its ready" style that they took on for their first three entries, as well as the return to the combat-focused isometric form of their previous two titles. Whether or not Pyre was as well loved or successful as their other entries, one thing was clear: I needed to see it to its end before passing judgment.
Disclaimer: There will likely be spoilers for later parts of this game.
The Downside
When I first played through Pyre at its initial release in 2017, I had only gotten through about 4 Rites before dropping it. Something about the game never clicked, either the gameplay or the start-stop nature of its visual novel style narrative created an environment where I felt it was difficult to play for hours at a time, something that Bastion or Transistor never had. Nothing about the game's presentation: visually, musically or narratively; Supergiant's greatest strengths, was bad or off-putting. The striking visual style and the character portraits that we see reflected in Hades was present and served to fill in large gaps in the world's mythos while saying very little. The music and themes of each triumvirate gave rise to unique feelings that were conjured every time you meet them. The story had multiple mysteries, each character had their own story to tell and reason for why they were outcast; but there was still something missing that tied everything together and felt like it was a cohesive product.
The structure of the game was quite strange to get used to - there were certain functions that you had to do that felt simply performative and didn't feel like they belonged. The flow and pacing felt like it struggled between giving you the freedom to choose what to do next (which typically meant to just button through the next prompt) or to guide you to the next area. The result was a mishmash of UI decisions that left me wondering where exactly things fell apart. Playing on a gamepad, you instantly feel strange from the main menu as you guide a cursor around the screen. Everywhere you go you have a moving cursor, giving the feeling that you were meant to be playing this on a mouse and keyboard instead. In between talks with your party members, you are sometimes given prompts to go to the next area, or looking at the stars for the next destination. Sometimes both of these choices allow multiple choices, making it clear that there is some type of decision to be considered and made. Often times though, there is simply one destination, and you wonder why you're being made to ploddingly move a cursor over to the next area instead of simply moving there. It felt like there was an internal struggle between having the player see the bespoke art, and just getting on with the game.
The gameplay itself suffers from similar issues, almost to the point where you start to question whether the priority was on the narrative and story or the game itself. Starting on Normal, I was curious to see how exactly the winning and losing affects the narrative - I'm not sure it's possible to tell without multiple playthroughs. Having gone through about 10+ Rites at this point, the game has finally started to open up and insert new systems, making the journey to the first Liberation Rite and sending Hedwyn off packing. The enemies after that point start gaining talismans of their own as well as levelling up with perks. While they have begun to fight back a little more, I still remain undefeated and typically don't let in more than one 'goal'. The characters are unique, and all feel like they have their own strengths and weaknesses, although the Legendary Talisman with Pamitha seems extraordinarily strong. Perhaps I have missed a prompt somewhere or haven't explored the Blackwagon thoroughly, but I have found it strange that there is no way to check your roster normally. The only ways I've found are during the Rites selection phase and while talking with Ron, which seems weird since he doesn't show up every time. To read newly unlocked roster bios or to tweak talisman selections, you have to simply spend time just before a Rite, or remember while shopping with Ron.
Nightwings
I'm not sure how long the game is, and whether or not there will be more twists along the way as we complete more Liberation Rites, but I'll say that my second time through, it is less of a slog than before. While I still have issues with the pacing, I am quite invested in seeing through the end of the journey for all the companions. I have attempted to keep all of them at a steady level of enlightenment, just so losing one isn't a huge sacrifice, but at the same time I am ready for the first loss should it come. I have already retried the Beyonder trials multiple times so I at least know how brutal the AI can be.
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