Pyre. The path will be indicated by stars

Unlike large companies, indie developers like to produce unusual creative projects. And if this is not the first game of the studio, then there will be a minimum of similarities with the previous ones, if it is not a direct sequel, of course. Therefore, I always captivate the approach Supergiant Games, each project is new, not like predecessors, but at the same time recognizable.

Bastion And Transistor cannot be called ordinary, so fans were looking forward to that for the third time they were prepared by the developers. In front of gamers appeared an incredible hybrid of a sports game and a visual novel plot mode in FIFA 19 called Pyre.

All the events of any work take place according to the rules of his world. It doesn’t matter if this is a fantastic adventure or historical drama – the environment defines the laws that follows the narrative. Their violation causes at least bewilderment.

So in the Commonwealth – the main state of the world Pyre – the laws are very harsh, and for their violation the link is relied directly in the lower. This place is very cruel, someone has been surviving it for several days, and some manage to stay for many years. You can leave this inhospitable territory in the only way – participating in the rites conducted with the blessing of eight scribes. They are revered as gods, because they sacrificed their freedom so that the rest could be found.

Our hero (or heroine, depends on your choice) just one of the criminals, according to the Commonwealth. And he was guilty of what he knows how to read, for which he was sent along the river straight to Nizhnekrai. The gap of the protagonist is not given by the nightshells – representatives of many local detachments, which are also called triads. And only one of them is a person, although there are, in principle, there are few people here. Nizhnekrai is inhabited by representatives of various races: anthropomorphic dogs, huge demons, tiny demons and others.

The hero fits quite easily into the company of the nights: he is immediately called a reader and handed a book of rites. Now it’s time to stop the retelling of the introductory section, because then the territory of the spoilers begins. Everything mentioned above is a drop in the sea of ​​information about the game, the main source of which is the above book. She will tell in detail about the background of the world, the formation of the Commonwealth, eight scribes, all triads and other. And if you suddenly are not enough for you, dialogs will come to the rescue, around which Pyre is being built. There are many characters, everyone is distinguished by their characters and store at least one skeleton in the closet, which most often causes exile. Some heroes do not particularly hide their “crime”, others, on the contrary, are silent to the last. Moreover, characters like to communicate not only with a protagonist, but also with each other, which is why they look more lively.

In order to avoid confusion in a huge number of own names, Pyre has interactive tips. The name of the terrain or the name of the character is highlighted in color, and when the cursor is brought to it, a brief description will float. Such hints significantly lower the threshold of entering this world and will be useful if you play very often.

The plot causes mixed feelings directly. On the one hand, the story turned out to be fascinating, with sudden turns, the disclosure of the background of characters and the world. But the endings of the entire action are the same and differ slightly from each other. But as an epilogue, they will tell you how the life of the heroes familiar to us changed: both the nights and their opponents, thereby the game puts a fat point in this story.

Pyre stands out greatly against the background Bastion And Transistor: They were about gameplay, neatly framed by a good plot. For the third time Supergiant Games made a bet on the story, which is why the gameplay suffered. It was not that it was crooked or too simple, rather, ill -conceived.

The rituals look as follows: three participants from each team are selected, they have their own bonfires with an indicator of the level of fire;The wins are the one who extinguishes the enemy’s flame faster “. You can win in two ways. First: throw the sphere for which the struggle goes to the enemy bonfire. The throw is charged for a while, while your character should stand motionless, which makes it extremely vulnerable. Second way: to grab the sphere and jump with it into the bonfire. In this case, the character will be excluded from the game to the next “goal”, but it does not require preparation and inflicts the maximum “damage” of the opponent’s fire.

Also, each participant in the ritual has an aura, the size and shape of which depends on the race of the carrier. In demons, it is huge and perfectly round, the dogs are small, and the harpies are irregular in shape and medium size. Moreover, combat skills and ability to move depend on the race. The former are responsible for the use of aura for long -range attacks: collect energy and release a strip in the direction of the enemy. Length, width, speed and other characteristics depend, again, on the race. The second type of abilities includes various jumps, jerks, acceleration and other skills that help to quickly get to the desired point. Endurance is spent on their use, which is restored quite quickly. Since there are nine races, then with diversity the full order.

In addition, your fellow travelers can be pumped. Heroes have two branches of abilities, four skills in each. The maximum level is fifth, the total skills can be obtained as much, so that everything will not work out to pump. Abilities are almost always useful, but it is quite difficult to remember who has pumped something, so before each ritual you have to check what this or that character can do what this or that.

I was pleased as they worked Supergiant Games with characteristics of the characters. Instead of boring and standard forces, dexterity and intelligence, heroes have indicators of glory, mobility, presence and hope. The first determines the enemy inflicted on the enemy’s bonfire, the second – the speed of movement, the third is the size of the aura, and the fourth is the duration of the removal. It turned out unusual, but interesting and quite intuitive.

If the indicator of some characteristic of the hero does not suit you, it can be corrected. Spent potions with constant or temporary effect and talismans will come to the rescue. The latter are also an interesting layer of local gameplay. Talismans can simply improve some kind of characteristic of the hero or give a new passive skill. In addition, they can also be pumped using special items.

In order for all this diversity to find application, and not just remains on paper, Pyre can be quite flexible. When clicking on the New Game button, you will be offered four difficulty levels, the last of which is available only for NG+. And during the passage, the constellation mechanics will open. There are twelve of them in total, and the activation of each makes the game more difficult: then your bonfire will burn weaker at the beginning of the ritual;then the enemy, throwing the sphere into your flame, will restore his;then the characteristics of opponents will increase. Accordingly, turning on everything, you will turn a rather peaceful and simple walk into a new branch of hell.

Artificial intelligence also pleased. It is difficult to call it a genius, here and there he clearly makes not the best decisions. But the ordinary pear for whiting AI is not, moreover, with increasing complexity, it begins to behave adequate. And with the inclusion of one of the constellations, it completely acquires a mongoose reaction, evading almost all your attacks.

But still there are questions to the gameplay component. During the ritual, while you control one character, others will stand idols. There would be nothing wrong with this if II did not sometimes try to quickly endure them with a pair of Aur shots. Fortunately, the same restriction is superimposed on computer opponents. Why the developers did not endow the inactive heroes with intellect, so that they depict stormy activity, is not clear. In Pyre, the introduction of such a function … or a tactical pause, or it was necessary to make fights with step -by -step. Any of these options would look better.

On the other hand, perhaps the developers simply did not gamesnotongamstop.co.uk/ want to make a comprehensive gameplay that would distract from the narrative. In any case, the result is also not bad: during the first passage, such a combat system does not irritate, although it does not turn convenient to name its language.

Otherwise, characterizing pyre simply fails. The design of everything – from characters to backgrounds – is incredibly cool. Heroes are drawn in sufficient detail, and their appearance perfectly emphasizes the characters, in conjunction, creating vivid images. The characters will forget, even secondary ones, far from immediately.

By the way, about brightness: almost all the paints in Pyre are exactly the same. Catchy, attracting attention, forcing you to look at the picture in dumb admiration. At the same time, visually the game does not look too, on the contrary, all bright colors are in perfect harmony with each other, which is why they create a truly unforgettable sight.

The world also looks amazing. Given the history of the lower, there are many interesting places, each territory stands out against the background of others. Although some of their areas look surreal, there are reasons for this and they do not cause any dissonance.

Fields for rituals, unlike the rest, are made minimalistically. And here in some places the eyes cling to bright flashes, but they do not distract from gameplay. That is why the arenas are quite simple: the abundance of details and vivid effects with local dynamics of “battles” would hurt to enjoy the game process.

And of course, I cannot help but mention the van in which the heroes travel. At the beginning of the trip, he looks like a rifle on four wheels, ready to break on the first bump. However, over time, both the appearance of the van and its interior will change. The latter will regularly be replenished when visiting new places or finding new satellites. No one travels empty -handed, so that a very quickly moving demonic strong misunderstanding will turn into a cozy house on wheels. The van is here and carries the lion’s share of the tube atmosphere.

Well, what a journey without good music? Do not worry, in Pyre they will not leave you without it. Still not tired of singing praises Darren Korbu, composer of the game. He is clearly not just a musician, but a real wizard. With a variety of melodies is more and more in order, they do not bother even after two passages (and this, for a minute, is more than 20 hours).

I would like to note that there are much more songs: now there are not one or two of them, but not less than five. Ashley Barrett stood in a pair of Darren, with which they performed Build That Wall and Paper Boats, closing topics Bastion And Transistor. And again they in pairs created songs that make their way to trembling. What are the nine versions of Never to Return, sounding during decisive rites. And the Bound Together, playing during the credits, causes a storm of emotions.

And although the original of all melodies firmly took a place in the heart, not to note the work of the guys from Gamesvoice I just can’t. Their cover of the composition “never come back” sounds almost at the original level. My low bow to Mr. Canaev and Mrs. Kovalskaya, as performers.

Assessing pyre is actually very difficult. After Bastion And Transistor Everyone was waiting for the same polished game. However, the game came out not without flaws in the gameplay component, which, however, does not particularly spoil the impression. Great story, charismatic characters, excellent visual component and bewitching music. And most importantly, Pyre, like its predecessors, gives a storm of emotions, for which not to love creations Supergiant Games It is simply impossible.

Many thanks to the master Shanti For help in editing text!

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The best comments

PRub through TOSharp, not in them. This is less harmful to health.

Decent text. I agree about music and ENT, but how did this game not go at the start.
I sincerely adore the Bastion and quite respect Transistor, but Pyre managed to catch up with wild boredom. Perhaps the whole point is that I did not know anything about the game before launch and did not expect a fantasy rugby at all.

But personally, on the contrary, the gameplay component seemed to me a competently tailored. That is, for me the phrase

Why the developers did not endow the inactive heroes with intellect, so that they depict a violent activity

Sounds like “why on into the into the Breach the upcoming actions of the opponents made visible”. Yes, because it is an important component, without which the general formula would fall apart in two seconds. All these “Stones, Scissors and Papers” arranged by the developers would not have worked trite, with the existing AI for two characters uncontrollable by the player or with a step -by -step system. That is, the current system is not some kind of rudiment, but the basis, when replacing which I would have to redo almost the whole game.
But the little that can be called the main plot in the game somewhat disappointed. This is a much more subjective look, but
The main Conva about just the bad guys we overthrow are quite banal. Then what turned out to be the commentator and his motives – banal. Suddenly broken horned dude – also banal.
I am not a fan of excessive ambiguities and other “gray tones” – for me this is more often used to disguise the lack of conclusion, statement, morality. Yes, and I love stories with a happy ending 🙂 But specifically in the main Pyre line, I saw unsolved potential-there was a space for a greater depth, which remained not used.
But everything else in the game, as for me, is fine 🙂 I myself was thinking of writing a review Eh, what I just did not think about, But I wanted to do this after I will go through the game on the maximum complexity (the one who, with constellations, beastly opponents and one saving slot), but after I, with difficulty, but went through the dry one cycle and found that with each circle of the required constellations increases, decided to postpone this business until my computer will pull the game without brakes without brakes.

In fact, the arrangement of all pillars around the field and competent switching between them opens an interesting space for tactics. It is far from always more profitable to leave the rest around the fire, although it feels, of course, safer 🙂
Well, naturally, the tastes and preferences are different for everyone and the gameplay may bother or not come in (especially since it is generally quite reconstructed). In the same Moba-x/gamer sports simulators, gameplay can be as deep and thoughtful, but this does not mean that for everyone it will come in for many hours.

Well, therefore, I was not in vain emphasized what exactly I say about the wording “The little that can be called the main plot” 🙂 building a connection with the characters and creating a space for generating questions and a dill related to them – it was perfectly done.
By the way, I have as such problems with the definition of those who to let go and who were not left, somehow everything was quite quickly and clearly determined who would be better than where it would be better. For me, in this regard, the factor “when” was more interesting, because, as you recall, during the battle with different teams, a certain character develops. And it is felt somehow unfairly deprived of a character of this development, especially the one you are going to let go 🙂

Regarding the last difficulty, I made it more cunningly: the first passage finished almost without defeat, and, suspecting that I was waiting for me on True Nightwwing, I decided to go with continuous losses, at the same time see how the ends of the global plot are different.

My hand would simply not have turned to lose: D I, on the contrary, because I purged once at the first passage, True Nightwing decided to try to overcome without defeat … Well, actually postponed the passage to the best fps: D

Purely technically – yes, there are no questions for her, she works fine. But because of such a construction of gameplay, I personally got the feeling that playing is simply inconvenient. You need to constantly remember the two pillars standing at your fire. And opponents themselves are either killed about them purely by accident, or remove them from afar with throws aura. It looks very strange.

But the little that can be called the main plot in the game somewhat disappointed. This is a much more subjective look

So the game is not about this “global plot”, it is needed exclusively for background. The real story here is the fate of all those characters that we meet on a journey. Even in the song Bound Together, which plays during the credits, all nights are mentioned, but not a plan. So I can’t write the story to the weaknesses of the game.
I got so used to all the characters that every time to choose the one who is worthy of freedom was painful. I didn’t want to let anyone go.

And the very side line of Sandra, which not everyone will see, a very cool, beloved character of the game)

Immediately after the Encyclopedia of Blogs SG?)

Regarding the last difficulty, I made it more cunningly: the first passage finished almost without defeat, and, suspecting that I was waiting for me on True Nightwwing, I decided to go with continuous losses, at the same time see how the ends of the global plot are different.

Yes, there is, but I do not see any value in it. These are all the same rituals, only one computer with a friend, and the game is primarily about the plot. Therefore, he did not mention that there is a duel regime at all.

We received more pleasure from these duels than Mortal Kombat. Whole tournaments in the apartment were arranged. And already what is the scope for the formation of various compositions and tactics – where it is wider than in the plot campaign.

And I practically did not receive a fan from the gameplay itself, so I passed by. This is far from the most important part of the game, as for me.

I would generally release almost everyone, including partially opponents. The same Dalbert, for example. And there are only seven places) well, and the development of the character – yes, I agree, another reason why I did not want to let anyone go.

So the loss is a great tool. If you want to free someone not from the nights, then you beat their rivals, you give in to. As a result, they will come to the decisive ceremony. At the first passage, I did this with Tamita, I thought, it will help to realize the plan to life) and in order to soften the consequences of one of the following, I released Pamit
I was still wondering how the game would cope with the narrative, if it is not possible to conduct rituals. As it turned out, very good.

P.WITH. On the last cycle, Pyre requires activating something about ten constellations from twelve, if I am not mistaken. I can only wish good luck) I tormented six with six while I knocked out Achivka.