Pyre on the Horizon - Impressions

We're just a handful of days away from Supergiant's fantastical NBA Jam RPG, so here's a launch trailer to celebrate early!

I haven't read up on the gameplay mechanics too much, but I think Pyre is a real-time competitive sports game of some sort, with RPG elements and visual novel type of storytelling. It sounds maybe a bit intimidating or confusing, but I enjoyed how both Bastion and Transistor played, so I'm fairly confident in thinking that Pyre will also play well enough.

Of course I'm also stoked for how great the game looks and sounds! Pretty pleased to finally hear that it's running in 4K and 60FPS on Pro.

I also thought it was a sports game based on impressions the staff gave when they first saw it a while ago, but the videos make it seem much more like a hybrid strategy game, the action just isn't as fast as I was expecting. I guess I will wait see more of it in action, because the initial pitch was really appealing to me but the snippets of gameplay I've seen so far are not really what I was expecting.

other than RUINER, this is my most anticipated game of the year. i'll buy anything these guys put out, and this game looks incredible in every aspect.

It's not grabbing me like Bastion and Transistor did almost immediately, but yeah, I trust these guys. I'll pretty much buy whatever they put out.

I never got into Bastion, but I LOVED Transistor. So they get the benefit of the doubt and I pre-ordered. Animation and art are absolutely top-notch.

I'm not really that interested in it, despite liking their earlier works. There's no bigger buzzkill for fantasy than sports.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I found bastion to be pretty dull (emphasis on pretty to be fair). I though Transistor was a clever idea, but again, it wasn't enough to drag me through what I felt was a slog rather than an adventure. Despite all that, I'm still pretty curious about this, I have recently been playing a shit tonne of blood bowl 2, and it appears fantasy combat sport is my Jam.

I appreciate that each of Supergiant's games is a new IP and a new fusion of genres. That's a very rare, risky, and difficult thing to pull off.

I would've liked Transistor better if I had gotten it free on PS+ instead of buying it early on; but I failed. This game will be fine and short I'm sure.

It's Supergiant, the art looks incredible, the gameplay looks intriguing, the song is pristine and I'm sure the rest of the album is too. I'm there day one.

But ye gods, 2017. It's the fucking summer and still no signs of slowing down. Gotta do Greg a solid, though.

Supergiant's doing AMA on Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/6op1fc/we_are_the_dev_team_of_bastion_transistor_and/

I feel like the Indie game market is radically different today than when their first games came out. There's just so much product it's really easy to get lost in the noise. I feel like I've barely heard any hype for Pyre

Be curious to see how well they do financially. Hope they do great, be sad if no indie studio can have sustained success.

I still barely know what this game really is but I have it preordered. What little I have seen looks amazing but I love Bastion and Transistor so much that I will buy anything they make almost sight unseen.

Their games are always complete packages, but I have to be honest and say it's the music that REALLY ties it together everytime.

I already thought that Transistor was a little too much style over substance and this seems to be heading even deeper into that direction so I'll pass. The, admittedly really pretty, 2D art style seems to be becoming a crutch for them.

I loved transistor. GOTY for me in 2014. I hope this is great.

I honestly think they've done an awful job of messaging. From the beginning, I was under the impression that this was some online multiplayer sports fantasy thing. Then I heard about a campaign, then something about an action RPG but by that point I had tuned out.

Loved Bastion but burned out quickly on Transistor, so this won't be an instant buy for me. For the first time, I'll have to read some impressions before getting one of their games.

The soundtrack, though? I can probably blind purchase that piece.

I actually have not liked Supergiant's games so much (I find Bastion to be very overrated gameplay wise) but this one is really exciting to me. I love the idea of a fantasy or historical sports game (I give credit for doing anything besides the same old adventuring every RPG is).

I loved Bastion and adored Transistor so I've already pre-ordered this...but....I dunno. It's not grabbing me yet. I'm hoping that it's just something that doesn't show super well but plays great. I think Transistor was that a little. You had to really play with the systems to understand what that game was doing, and once you did it was just amazing (at least for me.)

I can't not buy this though.

I should try to find the time to play through Bastion again. It's not very long and I got that Xbox One version for free for owning the 360 version...

This fell off my radar in a way that Transistor definitely did not but there's still no way I'm gonna pass it up.

Think I'll pre-order my copy now.

• Destructoid - 8.5/10
• Eurogamer - Essential
• EGM - 9/10
• Gamespot - 9/10
• GameSpew 9/10
• PSU - 9/10
• PC Gamer - 71/100
• The Verge

Hmm i liked bastion but never finished, didnt get into transitor at all, and this looks cool but i havent seen much gameplay yet. Birthday is tomorrow maybe i will get it for myself...

Reviews convinced me to purchase it. Picked it up through steam, can't wait.

Can I just leave this Gamespot comment here?

Hm... I wonder what Greg Kasavin would have reviewed this game if he still reviewed games on here. I don't know, it just seems like his type of game :P. Ironically, at least in my opinion, Greg Kasavin was a really great, respectable critic (no offense to anyone else). The games he seemed to like a lot, were the games I always ended up liking too it seemed, but I never touched any of his games him and his coworkers created. Bastion came out, and I didn't play it, so I didn't feel like playing Transistor, and with that said, I probably won't play this one. Well, not anytime soon anyway. They're probably good, but I just never played them.

Wtf is that?

Anyway... Pyre seems kiiinda cool! It's been off my radar for the most part, so its neat to finally see it in action. I hope it does well for Supergiant and lets them keep up their astoundingly creative work.

These guys make good video games. They have my trust I'll check this out at some point, probably once it's on sale on psn.

I LOVED Bastion. Wasn't thrilled with Transistor( but I didn't give much of a chance). I think I'm going to give it another try. I trust SuperGiant Games and I'll probably pick this up

No online multiplayer means I'll probably wait a bit before picking it up.

I'll wait for a Quick Look of some sort. GB might not have have one, given their friendship with the Supergiant team, but I'd like to see this actually played before I sink money into it. I loved Bastion but then hated Transistor an equal amount, so I'm kinda on the fence about Supergiant stuff.

@personandstuff: The crux of the game is its single player campaign, though.

@therealturk: Quick Look is most likely incoming; Transistor had one and obviously Bastion had a bit of coverage here. I think they simply shy away from reviewing it.

@personandstuff: The singleplayer is clearly the focus, with the local multiplayer being more of a bonus.

Anyone else not able to purchase it on the PlayStation store :/ I can only add to wish list...

@darth-malum: I have had problems like before. Are you trying to purchase it from the PlayStation store website? Trysearching for the game and clicking on it that way, rather than clicking on something that redirects you to it if that makes sense?

I could be wrong but I think sometimes, when a game has been up for preorder, once it's out if you click on the preorder page for the game it won't let you buy it because it's no longer available for preorder but if you search for it you can buy it.

@pompouspizza: I'm on the store on the playstation itself and it won't let me buy it if I search either, not sure why really, it's in the pre order section but not in new games, supergiant could be losing a lot of money if this is a wide spread problem

I really liked Bastion, but Transistor did not click with me at all. The reviews for Pyre are impressive, but I'm leery about whether the core gameplay is something that would interest me. I'd definitely like to see a Quick Look.

Few rites behind me and I like it so far. The gameplay seems simple enough and I didn't have much trouble learning it. Granted, I'm playing on the standard difficulty and have only done like four matches so far, so I'm sure it gets more overwhelming eventually. I do like the idea that there still won't be a game over even if I lose a rite.

The artstyle's great in motion as expected and the soundtrack is reaaaaally good! I like the cast of characters so far as well, even if they've got a gibberish language instead of voiced dialog and static images representing them.

Just did the first main thing. This game is pretty cool. Highly enjoying the gameplay, the world, the writing, the characters, the music, all of it. Four hours in so far. Overall story definitely takes a back seat so far but that's not really a complaint as it's still pretty good.

I'm still not sold on this premise, but I'll still pick it up to support the team taking risks to make unique and interesting games.

I could not be less interested in actually playing this, but damn do all of their games LOOK amazing.

Interesting so far. Quite a departure from their previous narrative style, but you can definitely still ... how to say this... feel the 'supeprgiant touch' on the world building, quite impressive stuff. Only thing I'm not sure on is that your companions speak only in this fantasy-language, while the other thing is full English VA. Wonder if that'll be explained at some point.

I know there is no game over in the game but does anyone know if you lose, do you get the option to restart the match or do it force you to live with the loss.

Part of me would respect the choice of making you live with it but I really hope they let you restart.

I'm getting kind of a Banner Saga vibe from this.

The world is interesting, but I'm not sure about the dialogue. The combat definitely gets more challenging and therefore more enjoyable after a while on medium difficulty.

Think this may end up being my favorite Supergiant soundtrack.

Opinion on the game itself forthcoming. ;)

Goddamn does this game look and sound amazing. Not a big surprise considering everything they do does but man. Really interesting world and fantasy nba jam seems rad. Only an hour in but loving it so far.

I'm loving this game but god damn am I trash at it.

@efesell said:

Ditto. I'm a few hours in and having some trouble remembering how each power works on-the-fly. I'm also finding it kind of hard to identify which character I'm controlling, since they are generally small sprites. But the game has been gorgeous and interesting. I'll stick with it for a few more hours, at least.

@thatdudeguy: You'll be able to do practice matches and solo-challenges (personalized for each member of your group) at one point with no risk of losing anything, which I'm definitely doing myself to memorize all the personal skills a bit better.

I'm having a blast so far and the soundtrack just keeps getting better!

I don't know if I like actually playing this game, but man the soundtrack is cool

I am really digging the world they've created. The structure reminds me a bit of the Banner Saga which I also liked a lot.

If you're on PC, I recommend using a gamepad. The mkb controls area bit clunky in my opinion.