Okay people, riddle me this... where's the love for this game? I just finished game tonight, about 15 hours. I am still blown away and engrossed in the world. The narrative was incredible. The story so engaging. I know it came out in the middle of "GOTY" time pretty much, and the hot bed of releases but still...this game I feel deserves more. Though I suppose there's always game like this.

I loved the structure of the rites and the game play. The celestial basketball / spells hybrid of the game felt so unique to me and caught me by surprise but in such a good way. It was suspenseful, tense and the reward for victory always felt great.

I know it may have some turn offs for some... being narrative heavy and sometimes feeling like an adventure game. Perhaps it ramps up too quickly without time to feel you really "learn" the characters play style. Though I feel you mostly do by the end. (Though I never got great with Sir Gilman).

And the art style...man don't get me started. SO good. Its amazing. They knocked it out of the park. I loved Bastion, Transistor was enjoyable but not quite there...but this...yeah this is my favorite by Supergiant for sure.

I realize many have passions for one game and not others, and smaller ones sometimes get missed or pushed away. Though even our Giantbomb forums, only 9 topics? Last activity a month ago? What gives?

@maxszy: I fully agree, good games should be appreciated more. Pyre is Supergiants very best game as of now. Hopefully we will be seeing much more from them and I hope they're having success with it.

Pyre is awesome. Great music, beautiful world, and engrossing characters.

Yup. I started it a couple days ago after listening to the goty talks and it's pretty amazing with the way it establishes such a unique tone and style. I'm not too far into it yet, but it seems underappreciated for sure.

I will get to it at some point, I promise!

@dray2k Well said, they should be appreciated more. I hope so too.

@chrispaul92 yes! The music! Everything else too, but didn't mention that. So agree!

@jjweatherman enjoy it! does a great job establishing that unique style you mentioned. It does, I know Vinny showed love for it (it was his top 3 after all) but I wish some others got more into it.

@quipido :) enjoy it when you do! its absolutely worth your time!

Agree with all your reply's, nice to hear I'm not the only one thinking similar about it!

@maxszy: Thanks man, I am actually just waiting for my first 4K TV to arrive on Monday (LG C7 OLED) and I bet this game would look amazing on it, but I actually can not afford any games because of how much I spent on the TV! What a paradox. I will definetely buy it later this year though, I loved Transistor and Bastion so yeah, I will get to it at some point.

@kingbonesaw Hah. And there perhaps in lies the problem. *sigh*

@quipido What a paradox indeed! Nice TV though! That'll be really nice. Also yes, it probably would/will look great on that TV. The art style with the colors, man... what a great thing to look forward to later this year!

@maxszy: Yep. On the bright side, I went back to my games library and looked at everything, then made a list of games I never finished or even didn't start but always intended to. I was surprised to find out there currently 26 items on that list. I decided to work my way through that while I pay the TV up for the next couple of months. Then it's Pyre time! It's 4K native, but as far as I can tell it's not in HDR, which is a shame.

@quipido Haha! Yeah I definitely understand that with the outstanding unplayed/did not finish catalog. I have too many of those (yet I still buy more... can't rationally say that's a good system). Nice TV nonetheless though! I have an older 4k Vizio TV that was a budget mode a couple years back. Definitely doesn't have HDR though I haven't really seen HDR in person so can't say i know what I am missing.

Sounds like you've got plenty of games though for the time being no matter how good Pyre is. Have fun with those on the new TV and i'm sure you'll enjoy Pyre when you get to it! Maybe by the time it comes time for it, it'll be on sale!

@maxszy: I meant Pyre is not in HDR, not the TV (which is 4K/HDR), I looked on both PS4 and XB1 games list and many games are enhanced for the Pro and XB1X, but only a smaller subsection of those support HDR. I hope that changes, I am not a programmer or developer so I don't know how much work the implementation needs really. I haven't seen HRD in person myself either, I am frankly going with what I heard on various podcasts in the last year or so, everyone raving about it, which is another paradox that an audio-only medium was what sold me on my next display upgrade.

I am sorry for hijacking this thread with technical stuff. I am really looking forward to playing Pyre, it is on sale right now in my region (50% off) but I can not buy it on principle alone, I must save money now even though the price is really not very high. I am replaying the other timeline of Wolfentsein 2 instead.

Also, when Pyre came out I bought the soundtrack and - as the previous two - it's pretty solid. I am curious if it will be weird to know the music before the game itslef, I have never done that before, buying an OST before getting to know the work it was made for.

I feel like I really missed something with this game. I loved Bastion and Transistor, and there's things I like about Pyre like the art, music and world. But the rites really just did nothing for me. I got to the point where I think the challenge was supposed to ramp up but I still didn't really have much trouble. (A bit past where the you send your first person away and the world opens up.)

I also had trouble getting attached to any of the characters, dialogue seemed pretty limited?

I'm aware I'm in the minority and wish it had hit harder for me. I didn't complete it and probably never will :/

I still don't even know what Pyre is. I need to watch the quick or something cause so many people have enthusiasm towards it.

I really want to like this game, but sometime about the art style just kinda...turns me off to the game.

I’m enjoying it but I can’t play it for more than around 30 minutes at a time without wanting to stop. I don’t know why.

I liked at lot of aspects of the game, but they didn't come together for me. I think the biggest issue was that I couldn't get very good at the spiritual basketball part, because I had ten minutes of visual novel between three minute matches. I just never felt comfortable with the controls and beating the AI felt more like luck and exploitation than skill. The way pages were added to the book in random chapters was frustrating. I would get totally lost by the time a new page came and I eventually gave up on trying to understand it. I still liked the game, but it's my least favorite of the Supergiant's releases.

It's half visual novel, half supernatural basketball/hockey game...it's hard to describe until you play it, but I can assure you: it's very, very worth playing.

@undeadpool: Wow, that does sound very interesting. Thanks for the synopsis.

Just picked it up last week but haven't started. I loved Bastion but was let down by Transistor's gameplay, so I took a wait and see approach for their next game. The lead up to this one was so confusing that I skipped it altogether.

Love the style and the soundtrack. Only got about 4 hours in so far; the visual novel style is well done but off putting to me personally though I want to try to press on through that and try to enjoy the game and story. I'm also hung up on the still shots as they mentioned on the bombcast, but more my problem than anything and I understand they can't have animated everything as lavishly considering they're a small studio and from what I hear it's their longest. Loved Supergiant's previous two to bits.

As someone who isn't into visual novels, this game hooked me. The style and world they built managed to hook me pretty quickly, and I loved the way the rites played out. Playing against a friend locally is also a blast!

@fightingfalco I haven't played against a friend locally! I'm excited to try that out eventually as I really did like the rites.

@undeadpool That's a great way to explain it!

@j-mack Yeah that makes sense. It took me a bit to get good at the basketball (the retry option in the menu during a rite was a great way to practice a bunch! heh) but once I did, I was hooked. Its a weird combo of basketball, hockey, lacrosse type gameplay I felt. I really enjoyed it, but I also like some sports games so maybe that's where some of that enjoyment really came from. I can see if you couldn't get into the rites how the rest of the game must drag on. I loved the story, but the rites were so fun that they added a nice break between the two.

@ripelivejam While the still shots didn't bother me, I can understand how that is something that could not be everyones choice. I do recommend and hope you keep going, because the story does get really interesting! The rites also only get more rewarding a bit more complex but the payoff and fun is huge. It did take me about 15 hours to complete, so I would say its for sure a decent length too and also Supergiants longest. Definitely work your time!

I bought this game because of this thread (and also because of the talk about Falcon Ron) and then proceeded to go through nearly the entire game on Sunday. It hooked me in a way I wasn't quite expecting. I played it in an ironman-like way where I refused to restart any of my matches which led to a nail-biting last rite (I barely won with 16 left on my pyre) and only losing two matches total (though one was a liberation rite and the other was the first rite against the True Nightwings.)

I was actually really happy with how those two losses shaped my game's story differently and made it feel like my own unique ending. The liberation rite I lost was against Tamitha, so she went away and I liberated Pamitha the next time and it felt nice to read up on their story in the epilogue, and the final liberation rite felt like I got to upstage the True Nightwings after they beat me the first time.

I don't know if I'd say everybody needs to play this game, but it did a lot of things that I like in games and I was happy to gather more information on my team's backstories as well as give a big ol' middle finger to The Voice every time I won. Also the music is amazing and the little flourishes they cut in when the song needs to transition to something else were always cool to me.

I think you're absolutely right, as Pyre is probably the game I most regret not playing more of from last year. I do think it can be a little dry in places and forces you to labor through a few sequences that didn't do a ton for the narrative, but it's overall a fantastic package and doesn't get enough credit. I just think it's missing some minor element that would help its world get its hooks into a larger audience, though I couldn't tell you exactly what that might be.

@rainbowweasel that's absolutely awesome! That's so cool to hear that this thread helped inspire you to really check out this game. The music is absolutely amazing, and worked so well with the game. I also experienced those hooks that I wasn't expecting, its cool to hear someone else experiencing it the same way. It absorbs you in and you just want to keep playing till the next rite, and then then next and so on. Its also really cool to see how your story went so different than mine, and what those end stories may be like.

Also you're probably right that not *everyone* needs to play this game. It is a specific style and I think if one just can't really appreciate that aspect, they may not appreciate the game at all. I think many should play it, though I can see how it may not be for everyone.

@mundanesoul While I disagree about the narrative as I really enjoyed all of it and all the side stories that is more of a personal connection than anything else. I do see how some of the stories were a bit weaker than the others. I think its just a very specific style. I think because of that, some people may be immediately hesitant about giving it a shot because its unlike what they normally gravitate to, and don't realize that they would really enjoy it. Breaking down those barriers is the key question, one that many I'm sure ask and few can answer.

@kingbonesaw I think this is definitely a game that benefits from playing on a difficulty level that will hand you a loss or two. For me that meant Hard, but have you tried True Nightwing / activating a lot of the constellations? I don't know that you want to constantly be getting stomped (although that could be interesting too) but it made the game way more compelling for me when I never knew if I was going to pull off a victory or not (and either outcome was usually intriguing).

@kingbonesaw I am not sure on the second play through aspect either, but I feel if you enjoyed rites it probably would be okay going back for a second time. I also second what @mundanesoul stated about the difficulty. If you didn't ramp it up, that may be something that is worthwhile doing. I left it on normal and that was fine for me personally (though I got much better toward the end)... I would say if you didn't feel challenged moving it up would be a good way to do it. Sports games definitely help I think.

I also didn't use Sandalwood for the same very reason you didn't and wish I had. I really thought he was going to turn on you at some point. Especially considering the way he just "announced" himself as available to play. I am happy I was mistaken but it took me by surprise at the end. I did end up using him toward the end as my other go-tos had gotten sent up to the Commonwealth. I actually got really good with him and wish I had used him more because his abilities were really unique and the play style allowed for some really good games. If I do go back and play again, I will definitely be incorporating him more once you can play as him.

I definitely think it helps to be somewhat familiar with either soccer or basketball sports games in general. Especially if you prefer playing NBA 2K on the Broadcast camera rather than the 2K camera (I'm still amazed the game defaults to Broadcast considering how little of its player base insists on using it) or play a ton of FIFA you'll likely have a better read on the playing fields as courts of a sort. Initially, the game feels a bit awkward until you realize exactly what the auras are useful for, and that passing the ball frequently between characters to adjust the angles of the field and move friends out of harms way a fraction of a second before their banishment, you begin to see that the game is actually super active and twitchy. The struggle is that most of the first round of Rites, which is also the longest round, doesn't necessarily make this clear, and it's only as your enemies gain their own special abilities and the A.I. gets smarter that you realize slowly meandering across the field A) is kind of no fun and B) really limiting your potential for big plays.

I bought this game during a recent sale and just finished my third round of Rites and I'm totally hooked on this game. It's a blend of a lot of lesser versions of games I've loved in the past: Banner Saga (1, for some reason I never played 2), NBA Street, Transistor. The consequences of the story aren't as dire as Banner Saga, the flair isn't as Chotchkie's as NBA Jam and the narrative thrust isn't as smooth as Transistor nor the combat depth necessarily as obvious, but it all comes together in this way that is incredibly propulsive. I wouldn't even say the story is good, necessarily, but in fact its vagueness and lack of coherence via the out-of-time dropping of pages in the book adds to the mysteriousness nature and makes the big reveals hit harder than I think they would if these characters spoke more specifically than they do, or animated more than the not-at-all we have here.

Again, I'm not finished with the game yet, though I predict I'll finish my first (of at least two) play-throughs today. But to get back to my Transistor point, this is an interesting feeling I have about Supergiant Games' games: Bastion was a lot of fun, and it felt complete. It had a loop, as it's now apparent these guys want their games to have, but it felt like it had basically expressed itself by the time the first run was done. Transistor, on the other hand, I presume was off-putting to a handful of people because its first run was either needlessly complicated or awkwardly simplistic depending on your aptitude for its systems. That was a game implicitly designed to be played twice. Likewise, in that vein, Pyre is beginning to feel like a game that might not allow itself to actually get going. I find myself emptied by the team standings page and the slowing drip of new characters, curious what this game would look like with longer seasons, in-season trades, financial (or whatever) budgets, rivalries that build over real, true years rather than these oddly accelerated timelines.

In short, I'm finding myself wondering what Pyre would've looked like as a straight up sports game, in which the salvation aspect were disregarded in favor of a weird world full of disparate factions looking to claim the title of Greatest Ritesballers on the Planet, slowly coming to the realization that teams were more interesting and competitive if the specific factions split up and found the best versions of themselves by working together. But I mostly play MLB The Show and NBA 2K, so of course I would wind up most curious what this game would've looked like with less of a story mode and more of a GM mode.

I know I'm coming to the conversation late, but just finished the campaign. I'm mixed on the experience overall.

The art and most of the music were very impressive in my opinion. The extensive and intriguing lore was fun to explore. The gameplay was also pretty intriguing as far as the strategy of who to bring into a match and how to equip them with... artifacts (I think that's what they were called). And then the tactics once in a match of positioning and adjusting around enemy actions was engaging, for a while.

The story was definitely the most engaging of any sport simulation game I've played, but it ended up falling flat for me at the end, which really diminished all of the setup and character investment the game had built up over the 10-ish hours I spent. Just too much undercutting the rules of the world making everything feel inconsistent. Stuff like only the anointed can return from the downside, except now it's open to everyone, but also the portal is weak now, so it can still only be one person, but ANY one person, as long as they're chosen by the anointed, or by the person who... something, something. And the way that the exiles to the downside have no hope of ever returning unless they succeed in the rites, but at the same time messages, goods and some creatures can travel back and forth with moderate effort...

I also started feeling that actually performing the rites became kind of a slog, with the balance of the AI never feeling great, fluctuating between being no competition to frustratingly exploitative. About 2/3 of the way through the game I was ready to just see how the story wrapped up.

Also, the ballad-ish, folk songs performed at multiple points in the game never landed for me. The final song over the credits was such a cool idea, and I was really interested to hear it through, but was under-whelming. I think these tracks felt especially disappointing when compared to the other musical tracks of the game which bring so much more life to the world, without distracting from the rest of the experience.

So overall, the game was not quite what I was hoping for, but I want to stress that I am really happy that it exists. Inventive game design ideas like this are what keep the gaming space interesting, and SuperGiant in particular always do great aesthetics for the worlds they create, both in the design, art and world-building. Looking forward to the full release of Hades.

I know it's not popular opinion but Pyre is my favourite Supergiant Games game. It's beautiful, actually tactical and the world and characters they've build is just amazing. Not to mention music which is just superb.

Only gripe I have is replay value. Dunno what exactly you can change except which Exile is liberated and dunno if it really affects the ending. Dammit... Guess it's time for me to replay it.