Tag: Pyre

Steam Sales!!

Steam’s Summer Seal is raring to go once again, much to the dismay of backlogs everywhere. I haven’t taken any damage to mine yet (although I am eyeballing 3 or 4 different 50+ hour RPGs…), but here I am nonetheless to encourage you all to take a lot of damage to yours, like I did last year.

New here? Read this and join the fun!

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Pyre

Pyre! Pyre, get Pyre. Get it. Go get Pyre right now. I’ll wait.

Congratulations! You just bought what is currently my GOTY, and one of my favourite games of all time. The cosmic basketball might not be to everyone’s tastes (as someone who shirks sports games entirely, I actually really enjoyed the Rites), but the real treat is in the family of misfits you find and, hopefully, liberate. It’s beautiful, and I’m not just talking about the visuals. Even weeks after finishing it, thinking about the ending has me wailing. I’m an absolute sucker for found families- and I’ll never forget the time The Nightwings welcomed me into theirs. (Steam / BBLC)

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Invisible Inc.

I so nearly binned this, but something told me to just give it one more shot… and it swallowed me whole. Fantastically tense strategy/stealth game, it’s a little bit rogue-like which is what turned me off to start with. You have never before, nor will you ever again, be so aware of doors being left open. Story gets kinda weird, but as long as you have a passing knowledge of cyberpunk tropes you’ll have a good time here. (Steam / BBLC)

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fault

Official word states the title of this series should be presented in lower case. I don’t like it, but fault’s earned enough of my respect that I’ll acquiesce. Holy crap, it’s hard to explain without spoiling anything, but if you have any tolerance for visual novels at all, and a strong stomach for terminology, these games will blow you away with their presentation alone- and you’ll stay for the plot. First five minutes of milestone two had me staring agape at my screen. Next level stuff. (Steam / BBLC)

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Wonderboy Girl: The Dragon’s Trap

A gorgeous refreshening of the Master System’s best game (controversial!), I already gushed about this at tedious length in my original post. It’s got some retro trappings that are moderately eased by optional difficulty settings, and the inclusion of Wonder Girl is handled with absolute elegance. (Steam / BBLC)

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Hopefully I haven’t done too much damage to your backlogs, but also I really hope everyone checks these titles out and gives them a chance!

Pyre

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Supergiant Games created Bastion, one of my all-time favourites, as well as Transistor, which was also fantastic, if a little less my kind of thing. Pyre has some significant pedigree to live up to as their third title, and also I’d bet pound to a penny that it’s gonna make me sob.

All the Supergiant hallmarks are here- the artstyle and somewhat eccentric presentation, the soundtrack, and hundreds of little snippets of lore that can be happily ignored if you so choose. Conspicuously absent is the narration of Logan Cunningham, who insteads takes the role of whoever it is overseeing The Rites- a kind of spiritual soccer where a player’s aura can temporarily knock an opponent out of the game.

There’s a lot of controls and I’m currently getting a little overwhelmed by my options during matches, where a split second decision counts for a lot. It’s all very responsive however- that’s certainly user error, and a learning curve is to be expected when freedom is on the line.

Fin or Bin:

I was a little dubious of the direction Pyre took during development, sports games not being my thing at all. But, the Supergiant-ness of it all is more than enough to keep me going until the Finish.

(Steam)