Pyre

Это наверно точно самый неоднозначный и необычный проект от Supergiant Games, лично меня игра точно удивила в хорошем смысле этого слова. Постараюсь вкратце описать сюжет без спойлеров, он здесь достаточно интересный, важно только дать ему раскрыться так как развитие основных событий будет происходить после 4-5 часов геймплея. Возможно по началу у вас появится желание закрыть игру, и написать негативный обзор, но если проявить чуточку терпения и дать игре шанс, она покажет на что способна и вы точно не останетесь равнодушным. Нам будет отведена роль изгнанного всего лишь за свою грамотность персонажа у которого даже нет имени, которой потребуется решить свою судьбу и своих друзей, которых, как и вас по воле строгих законов, изгнали из города, в нижнекрай(проще говоря нижний город для преступников и неудачников), но есть шанс вернуться в старый город(Содружество) и восстановить репутацию, для этого нужно будет собрать и прокачать свою команду, впоследствии они станут вам верными друзьями, и в процессе игры вы постепенно будете общаться и узнавать о них всё больше, а также делать нелёгкий выбор... А вот, чтобы попасть в Содружество необходимо будет провести множество обрядов, обряды по большей части основа всего геймплея, представляют собой очень похожую смесь американского футбола с элементами рпг, знаю это звучит очень на любителя, тем не менее геймплей реально доставляет удовольствие лишь, стоит привыкнуть и выбирать правильную тактику. На протяжении всей игры вы будете путешествовать по различным местам, на своём трансформер фургоне и набирать себе спутников. Исследовать этот мир приятно, также если разобраться в лоре и внимательно читать все диалоги, которых немало, получается прочувствовать всю глубину сюжета, именно так рекомендую играть в Pyre, с виду бы в простой игре заложен глубокий смысл, и могу с уверенностью отметить здесь сюжет намного интереснее чем в некоторых "АААА" проектах. В игре также имеется выбор от которого будет зависеть концовка игры, (как я понял здесь точно не одна концовка) вариативности в принципе тут немало, по мере прохождения игры вы сможете закупиться полезными предметами и прокачивать свою команду. Игра имеет среднюю продолжительность, примерно на 15-20 часов, проходил на средней сложности, и в принципе не могу сказать что игра сложная, лишь изредка были моменты когда приходилось немного попотеть. Лично мне Pyre очень даже понравился, нет такого чувства, что ты уже во что-то подобное играл. Хочется похвалить Supergiant Games за их смелый подход, прошёл практически все их игры и пока ещё ни разу не разочаровался не в одной. Графика достаточно приятная, красивая и яркая, и, несмотря на то что в игре чувствуется скромный бюджет, сделано это всё со вкусом. Немного слов о музыке, каждый трек написан качественно, и музыкальное разнообразие тут точно присутствует, что определённо радует. С большим удовольствием прошёл и могу сказать не капли не пожалел, рекомендую!

a once-in-a-generation wonder; there's truly nothing else like it and that will alienate people, but if you pick up what Supergiant is putting down then it'll live in your heart until your heart stops beating

Pyre is a game that asks the important question: "What if sports were a metaphor for spiritual redemption, and also involved a magical talking dog?" You play as the Reader, a banished exile who assembles a team of equally banished weirdos to compete in the Rites, a series of mystical competitions that are, essentially, fantasy basketball with fire. The world of the Downside is a vibrant, hand-painted fever dream. Imagine if someone crossbred a medieval tapestry with a prog-rock album cover, and then populated it with a cast of characters that are equal parts tragic and hilarious. You've got giant, stoic tree-bearded dudes, sassy harpies, and of course, the aforementioned magical talking dog, who is probably the most well-adjusted member of your entire crew. The Rites themselves are a blast. It's a unique blend of strategy, action, and sportsmanship (sort of). You hurl an orb into the opposing team's pyre, while also trying to defend your own, and occasionally banishing your opponents to the astral plane. It's fast-paced, it's frantic, and it's surprisingly tactical, requiring you to balance offense, defense, and the ever-present threat of getting your face dunked on by a winged fury. But let's be honest, the real joy of Pyre comes from the characters and their interactions. Your team is a motley crew of outcasts, each with their own unique backstory, personality, and reason for being banished. As you travel together, you'll forge bonds, engage in witty banter, and maybe even develop some unexpected rivalries. It's like a really weird, really heartwarming road trip, but with more chanting and fireballs. The story is surprisingly deep and emotionally resonant, exploring themes of redemption, sacrifice, and the nature of freedom. But it's also punctuated by moments of levity and absurdity, reminding you that even in the darkest of times, there's always room for a good joke (or a well-timed dunk). Pyre is a game that's hard to describe, but easy to love. It's a sports game, it's an RPG, it's a visual novel, it's a fever dream – and it's all of those things wrapped up in a beautiful, hand-painted package. Just be prepared to explain to your friends why you're so invested in the fate of a magical talking dog and his quest for spiritual enlightenment through competitive orb-dunking.

I don't recommend playing this game on Medium difficulty, because then I think your choices don't really matter. You'll win every fight and get the super goody good ending that everybody else got. Then you'll forget about the game and move on to your next dopamine hit. But the game could make you feel so much more than just empowerment and satisfaction that you can get from any other game. I recommend playing Pyre like so: - Start on Medium difficulty. - When you meet a new friend, increase the difficulty to Hard. - After each win, enable a Titan other than Yslach. - After each loss, disable a Titan. The fact that losing a fight in this game doesn't result in a "Try again, go back to checkpoint" is the unique selling point of this game. You can lose, and the story will move forward, taking that loss into account. The fate of your allies and enemies will go in different directions, and that's amazing to watch. THIS is the unique thing about this game. But if you win every Rite because the game is too easy, you miss out on this whole aspect! I wish there was no difficulty selection, and no manual restarting of Rites, but instead an automatic difficulty adjustment happening sneakily in the background as I play.

Fine art and presentation and there's a semblance of interesting world building and story but... the gameplay itself is just not that interesting or entertaining to engage in. What a shame.

Imagine waking up amnesiac in a comfortable wagon in the middle of a desert, surrounded by a man, a demoness, and a talking dog. They tell you that you are a prisoner like them at the bottom of a vast pit, and that the only way to surface and regain your freedom is to participate in a team competition. It doesn't take long for you to agree to join them in this daunting and spiritual competition, as the other option is to die on the spot. Pyre is an epic adventure game with a hand-drawn graphic style. The game has two phases of gameplay. The first phase involves moving the wagon across a map, with well-written, multiple-choice dialogues that have real consequences. During this phase, you can manage the skills of the characters you meet, their inventory, and assemble the best team of three members based on availability to face the opposing team. There are different archetypes with complementary skills. The second phase is the match itself, where you need to win by placing an energy orb in the opposing team's circle. It is important to be fast, precise, and make passes, while temporarily banishing the rival team members. This game reaches perfection with its sublime music that accompanies you throughout the adventure. Nitpicking, the only flaw I find is that, during the dialogues, the silhouettes are not animated with emotions, gestures, or even simple eye blinks or breathing. The story is grandiose and the competition becomes increasingly stressful over time, as the stakes feel more and more important. It’s magnificent! There is also a two-player mode that can greatly extend the experience after finishing the solo mode. For those aiming to achieve 100% of the challenges, it is moderately difficult. It requires training and understanding the subtleties of the game mechanics, and sometimes using dialogues and situations to your advantage. A note to the developers: your work is remarkable, and it’s clear that you are passionate artisans! You are perfectionists and pay attention to details. It’s incredibly generous. We hope you will continue to produce other gems like this one.

A beautifully-told and engaging story about unlikely allies embarking on a journey to achieve salvation and enlightenment through the ritual power of 3-on-3 basketball

Pyre might not be the most popular Supergiant game, and it might not be as well reviewed as the others. Even so, I would go as far as to say that this is my favorite Supergiant game. I played Bastion, Transistor, and Hades, yet, this is the one game that I can't get out of my mind. It's so underrated, it hurts. I just adore everything about it, be it the story, world, characters, gameplay, art, soundtrack, voice acting, and everything in between. Pyre itself tells the story of yourself, who was exiled from the country of Commonwealth to the bleak, extreme, nearly unlivable region of the Downside. Criminals from the Commonwealth are sent here, and they are all handed a life sentence. One day, your injured self was saved by the triumvirate of Nightwings, and you would soon help them back by guiding them in the Rites, an ancient basketball-like competition where the champion can get the chance to be liberated, back to Commonwealth, all sins forgiven. In this competition, three characters in the Nightwings triumvirate would compete against three adversaries from various triumvirates, for example the Fate triumvirate led by the old wise cur named Dalbert Oldheart, or the Essence triumvirate under the orders of the war orchestrator harp called Tamitha Theyn. Both teams have Pyres, which is similar to a basketball hoop. And your job is to control one character at a time, to move them while holding the ball (or in this case, Celestial Orb), use your skills (which differs between characters) to fend off the adversaries, and either jump into the Pyre or throw the Orb into it. Once you get the point, the scoring character will be banished/out of the game for several seconds. Not only different skillsets, your characters also have different stats, like Glory which decides how many points/damage you deal to the enemy's Pyre, Quickness which decides your speed, and Aura which decides how big the circle of aura that surrounds you is. Whoever touches your Aura is banished for several seconds, but your Aura will be gone if you're holding the Orb. You can also level up your characters to learn new skills, and use talismans to strengthen your character based on your playstyle. I truly enjoyed this gameplay loop. It can get repetitive for sure, but I didn't mind it one bit. To make it more refreshing, I usually just turn on the gameplay modifiers (sort of like Hades' Heat system and Transistor's Limiters), which can increase the adversaries' Pyre health, decrease yours, make their Aura bigger, and many more. The other half of Pyre is basically a visual novel, where you get to read interactions between yourself and the well-written members of the Nightwings, like Hedwyn the nomad, Jodariel the demon, Rukey the cur, and Ti'zo the imp. I loved getting to know them and their backstories, on why they were exiled to the Downside. You will also learn more of the world's lore by accessing the Book of Rites ingame. If you like reading, you're in for a treat! For me, the best part of Pyre is the fact that your journey continues even if you win or lose the Rites. This part is so good when combined with the mechanic of Liberation Rites, which is the ultimate rite to liberate your teammates. Only one of your teammate can be liberated at a time, and if your adversaries win, one of them will get liberated instead. This will definitely make you think. First off, if you lose a Liberation Rite, that's one less chance for your teammates to be liberated. Second of all, you can liberate your favorite character, but once they're gone, they're gone. You can't use them again in the Rites, and you can't interact with them ever again. And then, you also have to make sure that your team is balanced, and if you liberate your strongest ones, you might be left with the ones you're not familiar with gameplay wise, which can lead to a loss streak. There is no right or wrong answer. Once, I had to pause a Liberation Rite because I really liked this one triumvirate, and I did consider to throw the game so they can be liberated instead of my teammates. With this many possibilities of who gets liberated and who doesn't, it will make your playthrough personal. You might have a wildly different playthrough than mine. Lastly, the art and soundtracks are truly gorgeous. When it comes to soundtracks, I adore "In the Flame", "Path to Glory", "Vagrant Song", "Never to Return", and "Bound Together". Darren Korb and Ashley Barrett just never miss. With all the points I've made above, I can only hope this might at least spark an interest for you, the Reader, to give this game a go. It's absolutely worth it.

[b]Pyre.[/b] Для тих, хто читав опис гри, дивився скриншоти, але досі не зрозумів, про що вона — це баскетбол. Захопливий, драйвовий та веселий фентезі-баскетбол 3 на 3. Тому якщо вам таке заходить думаю, я вже вас переконав. Сюжет виявився набагато цікавішим, ніж я уявляв і дуже органічно переплітається з ігровим процесом. Ми граємо за Читача, людину, яка опинилася у вигнанні в загадковому світі Downside. Це така собі чарівна глушина, куди зсилають усіх «небажаних». Читач уміє читати книжки (чи зірки, бо я читав і те, і інше), а це у цьому світі злочин, бо освіта для еліти. Нас знаходить тріо вигнанців, які пропонують долучитися до участі в Ритуалах, магічних матчах 3-на-3, де перемога у фіналі дає одному з команди шанс повернутись до цивілізації Commonwealth. І на цьому базується весь прогрес гри: ми, як Читач, стежимо за зірками, дізнаємось, коли й де відбудуться наступні Ритуали і поступово просуваємось турнірною сіткою до фіналу. Мені особливо сподобалась головна сюжетна фішка: ми поступово збираємо команду вигнанців, кожен з них має свою історію, біль, мотиви. І от прикол: вигравши фінал Ритуалу ми можемо відпустити когось додому… назавжди. Але це означає, що ми більше не зможемо використовувати цього персонажа в наступних матчах. І тут виникає дилема: [list] [*]Відпустити найсильніших — і ослабити себе? [*]Чи залишити їх, щоб вигравати далі — але позбавити шансу на свободу? [/list] Механіка самих матчів доволі проста, але затягує: є потужні, але повільні гравці, є малі й прудкі, є такі собі «універсали». У кожного є унікальні вміння. Хтось краще закидає м’яча, хтось краще захищається чи обманює супротивників. І ці вміння можна прокачувати, підвищуючи рівень персонажа. Загалом гра дуже цікава й реально втягує. Якщо вам подобаються нестандартні ігрові концепти, і Supergiant Games у вас в повазі, вам точно зайде. А ще тут можна грати з друзями 1 на 1. [b]Рекомендую, а тепер пішов закидати триочкові.[/b]