SPOILER WARNING!!This blog contains spoilers for Pyre. I'd consider them minor, but they are definitely spoilers.

What do you do when your life isn’t turning out how you thought it would? Or more importantly, how you wanted it to? When you feel like you’ve been tossed out, like nobody cares about you, that you will never be successful, and have reached rock bottom? You know, when life gives you all those proverbial lemons, how do you go about making lemonade?

The characters of Pyre all face such a situation. Cast out from the “normal” society of the Commonwealth, they find themselves in a prison wasteland called the Downside. The name is not just to sound cool; it is “down,” or below what’s commonly seen as a successful life. The insinuation of course is that those who are exiled are lesser beings, and if they want any chance of having a good life again, they must win the rites and return to the Commonwealth. This outlines a very clear, direct measure of life’s success in the world of Pyre: you either succeed in the Commonwealth, or fail in the Downside. That’s just how life is.

Or is it? Is there really only a single measure of “success?” This is one of the big questions posed by Pyre, both mechanically and narratively. That may seem antithetical to normal video game logic, where there’s often a clearly defined victory state. But Pyre has no “game over” screen, and no designated failure state. It encourages us to embrace our journey, warts and all, and it can play out in different ways; the game continues ever onward, regardless of whether you “win” or “lose” any given rite. And there are plenty of cases where winning a rite isn’t even the ideal outcome for everyone on your team. One of my most profound moments in my playthrough was during a liberation rite against the Essence, aka the tribe of harps. Pamitha was on my team, her sister Tamitha a member of the Essence. Pamitha feels for her sister, who hates living in the downside much more than her. So she prefers to lose the rite so that Tamitha may be freed. It was the moment that made me realize “winning" in the traditional sense isn’t everything for everyone in this world.

That seemingly small realization blossomed as I continued playing, and it became apparent from then on that each and every character dealt with living in the downside drastically differently. Some, like Tamitha, wanted out no matter what. Others, like Pamitha, were more inclined to accept their life in the Downside and make the best of it. And what I found most interesting is that the characters who were obsessed with being “freed” from the Downside ended up being the more tragic, or even downright insufferable characters. Tamitha was always rude and demanding, and felt her life was worthless unless she could return to the Commonwealth. Oralech, who was once cheated out of his freedom by a team member who tried to steal it from him (she met a grizzly fate herself), clearly has no joy of life; his entire purpose seems to be regaining the freedom he feels he is owed.

And then, of course, there is Manley.

Manley, for lack of better words, is a pompous asshole. He thinks he's entitled to everything, and that it's a huge mistake he wound up in the Downside in the first place. He acts all proper and friendly on the surface, perhaps overly so. But the instant he’s denied what he wants, he gets real prickly, real fast, and reveals himself to be a lying, scheming jerk. Nobody likes Manley, the guy who pretends to be “the nice guy” only to stab you in the back to climb up the proverbial ladder and achieve a high status in society. He’s not fooling anyone, and comes off as an incredibly fake person as a result.

Manley is an extreme, however. There are others, like Dalbert, who simply feel a religious duty to complete the rites. Or a personal favorite, Barker, a rock and roll dog who simply likes to stir things up. He doesn’t give a damn about “freedom” or the “Commonwealth.” He just wants to kick your ass on the field because that's a good time. But for everyone who wants to win the rites, for whatever reason, there are just as many who find meaning and solace in life in the Downside beyond the rites. This includes many of your own team members, who are often bittersweet if you send them on following a successful liberation rite. After all, many of them were outcasts even while living in the Commonwealth. Life wasn’t so grand there, as they had to play by all sorts of rules they didn’t particularly care for. In the Downside, however, they can make their life into whatever they want it to be.

This is the emotional core of Pyre, and you see it play out in a number of ways. You see Sir Gilman show immense joy in the camaraderie he has with his teammates. Hedwyn and Jodarial similarly find friends in the Downside that they could never have found in the Commonwealth, and become sad when separated. The vagabond (I don’t care what anyone says, her name is Xae!) finds a lot of peace in her religion, which was not accepted up above. Bertrude finds purpose in her alchemy, which she can practice in peace, on her own terms, in the Downside. You get the impression that none of these characters would be happier in the Commonwealth. So why fight to get back there? Why is there such a premium on returning to a place that doesn’t allow you to be who you are?

Sandalwood straight up asks you at one point, “What does freedom mean to you?” It may be a little on the nose, but it also serves as a good gut check on what you’re really looking for. Is returning to the Commonwealth all freedom means to you? Or is freedom something at once more grand and more personal? What if everyone is allowed to define their own freedom, rather than follow the freedom defined by the powers that govern a narrow and strict society? Sandalwood obviously has an extreme bent to his motives, as he seeks revolution to dismantle the Commonwealth entirely. But I think his heart is in the right place. He wants everyone to live their life as they see fit, not by the rules set forth by a (possibly corrupt) governing body.

Which brings up back to our original question: What do you do when your life isn’t turning out how you thought it would? The characters of Pyre all found themselves in the Downside, and I would guess that’s not how most of them envisioned their life going. But once there, what do you do? Do you wallow in it, and wish it was different? Or do you embrace your position in life and make the best of it, possibly discovering that it's not that bad after all? As we see through the fates of each of its characters, Pyre clearly suggests the latter, and I think it’s a powerful and positive message. There are times where you may really want, or even feel you need something in your life, but you can’t have it for any number of reasons that may or may not be fully in your control. It’s understandable to get down in these situations, and I’ve certainly been there plenty of times. But Pyre poses the question: what if you find the ups instead? What if you stop wishing for a life you don’t have, but rather grab on to the one you do have and make the best of it?

In other words, don’t be a Manley. Nobody likes a Manley.

The Sandalwood moment is so amazing. Made me stand up straight for sure. Good write up about a few things I loved about Pyre, and why the game impacted me the way that it did. I'm definitely in that slump of worthlessness now, and feels like I've been here forever. I related most to the characters who felt more comfortable in the downside, among the dirt, doing their own thing even without the possible pleasantries. I become so attached to all those characters for that reason. They're just trying to make the most out of what they've been given.

It was tough choosing who should stay or go in the first place, because who am I to decide who should be free and what someone's freedom should be? The game I feel steered me to the best possible choices I could have made, with only a few big regrettable ones.

@dinosaurcanada: Thanks! I had a few moments in Pyre that hit me pretty good, that Sandalwood moment was one of them. What I like about it all is that it never felt forced or contrived. They did a good job at making these characters and their plights feel "real," despite the fantastical setting. That makes it easy to relate. Choosing who to send back and who to keep in the Downside was also tough, and got tougher as I went. Learning more about these characters and their wants only furthered my feeling that nothing's that cut and dried.

I'm sorry to hear you feel like you're in a slump. I've been in and out of some slumps lately myself. This life thing's not always so easy, we try to live it the best we can. Best of luck :)

@majormitch: Thanks and you too!

Good job touching on the things I loved about this campaign too. I finished the game with a perfect win record and all these elements filled me with more ennui than satisfaction for playing that way. It's a really remarkable thing for a game like this to accomplish in it's writing. The liberation rite with Tamitha is a good one to reference because it was certainly one of the moments that made me think it might be better to throw the match. Alas I soldiered on feeling more and more guilt for denying people 'freedom' while simultaneously stoking the flames of revolution. I felt pretty good about the party members I was left with by the end as we all seemed to share the lack of motivation at the thought of liberation. All things said there was enough of a hook by the end of my playthrough that make me genuinely consider playing the game all over again.

@mezmero: Thanks so much!! It really is remarkable how good of a job Pyre does at making "winning" every rite not feel like something you need to strive for. It goes against the traditional gaming mindset, but it's narrative hooks are so strong and embedded into those results in a way that makes you (or at least me) consider valid alternatives. Not many games make "losing" as valid as "winning," and certainly not with this level of execution.