[GAME REVIEW] PYRE - Action Game #10
Hi steemian wherever you are may be healthy always and remain in the protection of God Almighty. So still active as usual. In this afternoon I will kemabli review a game played doi PC is no less interesting than the games that I reviewed before. That is PYRE! let's see.
Mention the name of one developer that you associate strongly with quality! That no matter what project they are developing, you can always wait for it with a wave of strong optimism that it will meet almost all of your expectations. Most will probably throw answers in the form of a giant developer name with fantastic AAA game projects like Naughty Dog or Rockstar. But if you speak a smaller indie studio, no more developers are more suitable to bear the title in addition to Supergiant Games. This cool hand developer who gave birth to an interesting game from the side of the story, but also contains a fantastic presentation like Bastion and Transistor class in the past. Now they are present with the latest games.
Being one of the anticipated games in 2017, Supergiant Games finally released PYRE, their latest game project to the market. He was introduced as an RPG action game that brings mechanical gameplay that has never been offered before. On top of it, the appeal of Supergiant-blended games, visual cartoons so beautifully drawn and detailed, quite attention-grabbing characters, and of course, a world of pampering eyes and music ready to make your ears comfortably on offer. Almost all gamers who understand Supergiant power will understand what kind of experience awaits them at PYRE.
PLOT
Taking the setting of a fantasy world called Commonwealth, you act as a woman with special abilities called "The Reader". For no apparent reason, you are thrown into a world of exile from the Commonwealth called Downside. A vast super-universe where people are wasted gathered, whether disposed of for crime or just political prisoners and the like. A world that still opens a second chance for those who want to return to the Commonwealth.
You yourself are found by three outcasts who know your position as a reader, who is believed to have essential literacy skills to get them out of the Downside itself. These three outcasts are Hedwyn, Jodariel, and also Rukey Greentail. Having no place to lean back and take refuge, you decide to join in the struggle of these three comrades, to encircle the vicious and cruel Downside for a long-cherished freedom. As can be predicted, this will be a struggle that is not easy.
To be free from the Downside and return to the Commonwealth, there is a ritual that turns out to be done. Referred to as "Rites", your group must fight with other groups in a mystical sport to the end. Those who win the last bout will get a chance to return to the Commonwealth. With so many challenges you have to subjugate and skip, the struggle is not only adorned by competition and hostility, but also friendship and sacrifice. An attempt to seize the second opportunity for a better life. Of course, the story is not that simple. PYRE still keeps surprises in it.
Then, what kind of challenges should you face as a group of Rites called Nightwings? Can you win in the last Rites? Can these outsiders find their way back to their "home" at the Commonwealth? You must play this PYRE of course, to get answers to each of these questions.
As if to meet what you expect of them, reflecting on the products they produce before, Supergiant Games manages to produce a beautiful visualization of this PYRE. From the beginning of the game, you've got a strong impression and atmosphere that you're stuck in a fantasy world that does not make mercy as one of the major motivating it to keep turning. That in the world you're exploring, all the main activities are focused on winning and grabbing a second chance to live again normally at Commonwealth later on. Anything to get out of this Downside "hell".
The theme flows strongly from presentation via dialogue and, of course, to the existing world. Although you can not explore it freely ala RPG games in general, but the world that looks hand drawn has its own visual appeal. Each different world has its own theme, from swamp filled with harmful gas to dense forest full of tall trees and colors. In the middle of it, you are adventuring with a caravan whose animation also reminds you of the classic cartoon movies that are dynamic. A variety of visual effects that feel smooth like when fighting for example, are also well presented here.
Memorable characters are also one of PYRE's strengths. He is able to show that the Commonwealth you will not see until the end of the game later, is a plural world with so many races living in it. Everything is reflected in what kind of characters you find inside Downside, which even follows your adventure caravan. There is a kind of demon race with its horns, mad dogs capable of talking, a fast moving Medusa, to a one-eyed monster with a caterpillar-like body that might instantly make you think of the figure of Suezo of Monster Rancher. Each of them, not only have a unique shape, but also the characteristics of different personalities.
From the presentation side, like what happened with Bastion and Transistor, Supergiant Games does produce a fantasy world that feels magical and dangerous at the same time. But unfortunately, must be admitted imperfect. It is unfortunate that the world that looks rich and attractive does not accommodate the side of the gameplay to the maximum, and tipped reduced to nothing more than an option to choose a place to just look for a buff or trigger the story shown via conversation for the sake of a novel visual-style conversation. PYRE can actually look more perfect if like most RPG games, there is more free exploration space and cinematic cut-scene with the movement offered there. A novel visual approach like this is not impossible to close the appeal of gamers who are actually interested in the beginning.
Action Sports RPG Game
With a beautiful world divided into a variety of exploration options without the mechanical support to freely explore them at will, one of PYRE's attractions lies in its main basic mechanics - Rites. As we discussed above, Rites is a ritual that must be taken by your main character to get away from the Downside and return to the Commonwealth. It turns out to be like a basketball game that fuses with the Rocket League in the RPG action game format. Rites is a two-team 3 vs 3 competition with one main goal - turning the fire of an opposing team that is also defined by a certain number of HP.
The core of the game is very simple. You must seize a special Orb (think of it as a ball) and then take it into the enemy's fire. Any Orb that enters will reduce the number of HP, where the victory will be achieved if you managed to reduce it to point 0. But of course, not easy. To maintain fire alias your goal, there are several defense strategies that can be taken. Each character has a long-range projectile attack called Aura to "destroy" any enemy and throw them in countdown before they can live again. Not only that, any character that does not hold the Orb / ball also has a passive aura beneath their body that is ready to blow up enemy characters if touching.
So like a basketball game, strategy becomes essential. Absorb the mechanism just like an RPG game, you will be asked to bring 3 characters of so many choices into this match. Each character will have different characteristics and abilities. There are characters like Jodariel is great, but have a slow motion. The big aura on its body makes it ideal to survive, but if you manage to optimize it for offensive action, it will produce above average damage to enemy fire. Of course Jodariel also has specific actions, such as the ability to hit the ground and push the enemy temporarily. We just talked about Jodariel, and you will have about 7 extra characters that can be utilized for your tide action which each have different effects.
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Caracter
There is a small character like Rukey who is very quick to run and jump, but has no great aura to be ineffective to survive. There are characters like Volfred Sandalwood - the timber man who can not move fast, but can plant a kind of flower that will give birth to the aura survive outside himself as well as the ability to teleport to move. You also meet a character like Shae - the vagabond girl who, although seen "standard" at the beginning, apparently has the ability to make a jump charge that makes it able to jump further. Until the character is more absurd as the bird man is also reinforced with the ability to fly for a while, for example.
Believe it or not, the combination of heroes you bring to the battle will determine what style of gameplay is there. Not to mention, there are some extra challenges that await you, including the level design itself. There are levels that are filled with holes that require an extra navigation process or a variety of barriers that make your long distance shots ineffective. If you feel the level of difficulty offered is not high enough, there is a level modifier also called "TITANS" before a level is tasted. Every TITANS you activate will produce effects that benefit the enemy team, from adding their flame HP to make their defensive aura faster. The good news? It also offers the advantages of a great EXP that you can get after winning.
True, as with any RPG game in general, PYRE also carries experience points and equipment systems. If you are diligent enough to use one particular character, they will actively gain an EXP and eventually, the chance to move up to a higher level. Each level increase (up to a maximum of level 5), there will be a skill tree that you can activate, which usually splits into two big branches. In addition, there is also a Talisman system that works like accessories in RPG games, which will give you an extra advantage on the characters you use, from better attack effects to "just" increase the speed of motion. Talisman can be obtained from exploration prizes or just shopping from one of the merchants who will be actively waiting for you. But keep in mind, the money here is not an easy resource to get. You have to find and find items that can be sold considering Rites do not give extra money at all to use.
In the end, it's no exaggeration to mention PYRE as one of the most innovative games in 2017. Who would imagine that Rocket League-style sports games combined with basketball turn out to be inserted basic mechanics RPG action and gave birth to a super cool game foundation that also has a solid story counted. This is what Pyre has to offer.
Unfortunately, when compared to what they managed to accomplish with Bastion and Transistors in the past, we seem to have called PYRE the "weakest" title of the extent to which they were racik. We did fall in love with the presentation or music, to the stories and characters that he offered, but on the other hand, it was hard not to admit that there was a design choice that ended up making it boring and repetitive. Experience that willy-nilly, will you feel later.
The first problem, as we talked about earlier, is a design issue. Too similar to the novel visual games that rely on stories in line of text by line text, the exploration side of PYRE as an RPG game is completely untapped further. The beautiful world that the Supergiant Games has to offer ends up with small route choices with the consequences and accompanying automated caravan moves, rather than opening up opportunities for gamers to explore and discover their own secrets. No surprise battles, no secrets you can look for, no side quests to enjoy. It is a linear game with a choice of minimal consequences, except in the end of the game. This world culminates in being an option for the options you need to take, nothing more.
The second problem, there is in the design of the story itself. If most games offer straight lines to build conflicts, climax, and then conclusions, Supergiant Games offers a step similar to what Yoko Taro took with NieR: Automata. An endless cycle to justify the small and limited world they offer. That to get the real ending, you have to go through these rituals over and over again, stopping in a world you already know, and fighting with real enemies, you have been fighting in the past. Until at that point, the cycle that happened quite a lot of times this finally pushed the progress of the story and ended it completely. Each of these cycles is influenced by your decision in the previous cycle, but it does not seem so significant.
The third problem lies in the side of the gameplay itself. Enjoying the unique basic gameplay mechanics is refreshing at the beginning, but once you've tested it for longer, then discovering that nothing new can be anticipated from is arguably disappointing. That the only way to make it feel more difficult is to enable a variety of existing TITANS modifiers. Meanwhile, if only move according to the story, the situation, the arena, until the course of the battle will feel the same from one cycle to another cycle, like tasting similar scenarios repeatedly. Believe it or not, of all the Rites you have to deal with, only one Rites that feels different because it contains a variety of falling meteors that can kill characters instantly. Of the twenty more Rites, only one thought to have something new and different there.
Believe it or not, this weakness actually makes PYRE difficult to enjoy as the game progresses. That the many new and refreshing things he pursues ends up no more than just the duty and responsibility to achieve the real ending of the real, without being able to offer new and different sensations. Indeed, it is quite sad and also, disappointing. The presence of multiplayer mode "Versus" which can not be accessed online also seems to be an extra spice to reinforce the weakness.
Music
The good news? One of the main strengths of the game Supergiant Games concoctions, namely music, re-appear phenomenal in this PYRE. That characteristic of music that you can get in Bastion or various transistors, including those that contain vocals in it, is also offered here. Coupled with an appropriate and emotional scene, it contains dozens of songs that have the rightness to end up in your everyday digital music player without hesitation.
There are songs with vocals like "In the Flame", "Vagrant Song", and "Bound Together" which makes your adventure sensation strong. The right kind of OST companion to accompany your action to explore a world of threats and struggles. But not necessarily with vocals, not a few other music variants are ready to encourage you in the various situations. There are louder music like "Trash Pack" that makes you excited, there is music full of strains of heroism like "Knights of the Sea", to the more active such as "Path to Glory" for example.
Supergiant Games also seems to understand that music has become one of the strengths of their products so far. Not only to distribute it as a bonus for the pre-order digital variety available, including in Steam, they also decided to officially release all these songs via their official Youtube channel. Amazing!!!!!
Conclusion
PYRE is a great game, there is no longer a better word to explain this one game. Continuing the tradition of quality releases from Supergiant Games, it meets all the expectations you expect when talking about the big name of this one indie developer. A solid game of story side, visual presentation, accompanying musical elements, to innovative gameplay that you never thought would be executable before. Everything is wrapped in a duration experience of about 7-8 hours for normal difficulty levels, with extra challenges for you who are ambitious to master it outside and inside. This is a story of wandering people who are wrapped up like a fantasy story that you will not hesitate to enjoy on the big screen though.
However, this game is not exactly perfect. Even if it should be compared with Bastion or Transistor, we should call it the release of "weakest" Supergiant Games so far. The decision to justify a narrow world through a cyclical game system to reach the ending end produces a repetitive gameplay sensation, let alone remembering that not many modifications are nurtured in the Rites process to make it feel interesting. A novel visual-style gameplay approach to present a story that is in the middle of a "booming" character will also end up making many gamers raise their hands for it.
But beyond that weakness, PYRE still prove itself as one indie game that you must taste in the year 2017, especially considering the price of the original version is quite affordable in Steam. A powerful game of the various elements that he offers, a product that is indeed worthy of bearing the flag of the giant Supergiant Games behind it.
Advantages
- Visual presentations, including world design and character.
- Unique gameplay that combines sports and RPG action.
- The music is still phenomenal..
- The difficulty level is quite challenging by enabling Titans.
- The story is quite curious.
- A "term" dictionary that can be accessed instantaneously from a conversation until you always know clearly what kind of story is going on
Deficiency
- Stories are presented without animation / cut-scene.
- Easy to feel repetitive.
- Progress in cycle form.
- The difficulty level is too easy without activating Titans.
Written by @anwarunsam
Langsa, Aceh, Indonesia, 30 January 2018
