Much has been stated about how good this yr has been for video games.
From already launched titles like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Final Fantasy XVI, Street Fighter 6 and Baldur’s Gate 3 to imminent heavy hitters like Starfield, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the 2023 launch calendar has been completely stacked.
In a sense, although, that’s a bit exhausting, particularly for somebody who has to comply with the trade. (First world downside, I do know.) It’s for that motive that I’ve taken to developer Summerfall Studios’ Stray Gods: The Role-Playing Musical a lot. I used to be already within the sport, however its tighter six-ish-hour narrative-heavy focus is precisely what the physician ordered proper now. It’s a breath of contemporary air in a sea of huge video games, and it’s a remarkably distinctive and compelling choose-your-own-adventure title in its personal proper.
In Stray Gods, you comply with Grace, a younger lady who lives in a trendy metropolis occupied by hidden Greek gods. When one in all them is killed, Grace finds herself accused of homicide, main her to race to clear her identify. It’s a stable premise that instantly will get you invested in Grace’s journey, as you concurrently really feel unhealthy for her circumstances whereas additionally grounding us in her fish-out-of-water state of affairs among the many Greek pantheon.
The script, penned by Canadian author David Gaider (BioWare’s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Dragon Age video games), deftly balances the colorful and sometimes quirky personalities of the forged with heavier themes of trauma, loss, and love. Gaider additionally takes his time with some meticulous world-building, significantly in all the interpersonal relationships between the gods. The deities themselves are all memorable in their very own methods, from the suave, Lenny Kravitz-esque Pan to the hunky emo Apollo. Given that the sport is offered by means of a sequence of static photos, it was particularly essential to have interesting character designs, and Stray Gods, with its sharp comedian book-esque artwork fashion, has these in spades.
It additionally helps that Stray Gods has one of the stacked inventive groups I’ve ever seen in a sport. On prime of Gaider, Stray Gods has a staggering voice forged that features Laura Bailey (Grace), Troy Baker (Apollo), Ashley Johnson (Calliope), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Persephone), Janina Gavankar (Freddie), Khary Payton (Pan), Felicia Day (Athena) and Merle Dandridge (Aphrodite). Everyone concerned delivers a robust efficiency, particularly Bailey, who deftly goes from playful and sassy to susceptible and tender.
But after all, this is a musical, in order that a part of the expertise must be particularly robust. Thankfully, Summerfall has introduced on Grammy-nominated Journey composer Austin Wintory to work on each the rating and total course of the sound. This meant taking Gaider’s branching script and guaranteeing it weaves seamlessly into the catchy musical sections, and the outcomes are actually spectacular.
At many factors throughout a tune, you’re given one in all three dialogue decisions (typically involving siding with a explicit character), and that can have an effect on the move of the piece, all in actual time. What’s extra, songs can typically differ in style and tempo, so it’s all of the extra commendable that Summerfall has managed to mix the whole lot collectively so easily as you play. In this fashion, the standard timed selection you’d face in different interactive fiction works feels rather more distinct. Here, you’re serving as a de facto stage supervisor of an engrossing manufacturing, and it’s immensely satisfying.
The solely space through which Stray Gods falls brief is in its explorational components, or lack thereof. At sure factors, Grace will arrive at a place of curiosity and have to analyze for clues, like individuals to speak to or looking out a room for objects. However, the sport presents these in a easy listing that you must scroll by means of and make sure your selection. It’s a profoundly boring selection that additionally removes any capacity to truly really feel such as you’ve found something your self, since the whole lot that may be interacted with is simply plainly seen within the upper-right nook. Thankfully, these moments don’t occur too typically, however they’re nonetheless disappointing once they seem.
Because, on the entire, Stray Gods: The Role-Playing Musical is way more inventive than that. It takes well-worn territory like Greek mythology and infuses it with an distinctive quantity of favor, wit, and emotional depth, because of a few of the trade’s prime writing, performing and musical expertise. And as a result of the sport isn’t overly lengthy, the replay worth as a substitute comes from the mind-blowing variety of variations of every tune. I’ll undoubtedly be coming again for an encore.
Stray Gods: The Role-Playing Musical is now out there on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox consoles, Nintendo Switch and PC.
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