Pyre

I LOVE SUPERGIANT GAAAAMES!

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.

Basketball. K thx bye.

A very unique and well rounded game, made with heart, passion and lots of fun.

The visual style and the music are undoubtedly the selling points of the game and are executed at the highest level. It's not just about the indomitably colourful and wildly creative artstyle, but also the character art and animations during the gameplay, that are a pleasure to watch. Darren Korb has outdone himself with the OST and listening to it weeks after finishing the game still brings up memories and pictures of places, characters and events from the game.

The more controversial aspects of the game are the actual gameplay and the story. The rites (core gameplay), while seeming very straightforward on the surface, are surprisingly engaging and satisfying and the game does it's best to nudge you towards experimentation. Same goes for the story. While it is quite simplistic, it brings a nuanced touch through the delivery, the lore and various character you meet throughout the game.

At the end this leaves us with a masterfully crafted, unique game, where every aspect works in harmony for a slightly unorthodox, but pleasant experience. And if you let the game to take you on a ride, you will long remember this journey.

This is one of those experiences that you try to tell people about and it just feels impossible to get the depth across properly. It feels wrong to just call this a "game" but every part of this game is my favorite. It is exceptional quality across the board. One of my favorite stories and scores of any games I have played. The only reason I am not giving it a perfect score is because I suck at it. 9.9/10 =')

Couldn't get past the tutorial battle.

Revolutionary fantasy basketball. Does it get any better?

I am absolutely smitten with this game! The art, the music, the writing... SO GOOD!

So I have been sleeping on this game for too many years. The developer is great, and I have enjoyed all if not all of their previous games.

The game just oozes character, it pleases in visual, story and game play. The game play is simple but refined, with RPG elements circled around a story I have just started. I wanted to get an early review out in the case that anyone picks this up during the 2025 Spring sale and wanted a quick take.

Do NOT pass on this game. It is excellent. For me, right now, 3 hours in, the game would have to derail to get anything less then a 10/10 that is already earned from me. What a gem.

Can we get Pyre 2? Or Bastion 2? Or something that is not roguelike/Hades... idk, Hades is great and all, but Supergiant were kings at making new and interesting games/IP consistently. Now it feels like we just will be getting Hades games from them. Hope I am wrong, but not like that is the worst thing in the world. This game is a gem and I feel like everyone missed out! Play it!!

i need a real version of that book also would love to play a game based off the actual legendary tales rather than following in their wake, still fun tho

Needs skill - I got filtered on the tutorial battle.

Incredibly fun moment-to-moment, really enjoy the methods used to keep you from spamming the same comp all the time. You can really feel the DNA in the controls and flow that would lead to Hades.

Fun characters and story, and the music is top notch. Gameplay may be divisive but I loved it.

Honestly up there with Fifa Streets and Rocket League in terms of really good fantasy sports. Has some great tunes too

Stunning art. Tons of text. Convoluted gameplay.

Pyre, another banger from Supergiant Games. A visual novel style-RPG meets some kind of "wizard" basketball tournament conducted through the rites -- it's very unique and I would go out of my way to say it's perfectly executed.

As with every other Supergiant Games title, the music is fantastic and the visuals are top notch. However, the writing, world-building, characters and lore(It's a true delight to slowly come to understand the world of the Commonwealth and Downside + watch the Nightwing's plan unfold.) has so much depth to it. There are countless styles of conducting these rites and it was very enjoyable to figure out what characters I enjoyed playing the most.

I was super proud of obtaining "Scribe's Champion" achievement in a legitimate rite (they hand you a freebie in Standard Mode).

My only complaint - which comes along with any game that makes you play the game twice or gatekeep's a difficulty until a normal play through is completed. The difficulty "True Nightwing" is a test to your patience and is extremely challenging. Couple head banging on that play through.

great game

It's unfortunate how underappreciated this game is in the Supergiant Games collection, but Pyre is a truly fantastic experience. It's difficult to explain in a way that makes coherent sense, containing many disparate elements and aesthetics that seemingly shouldn't really work together, but they do anyway by sheer degree of effort put into them. The Rites - the basketball-esque game at the heart of it is a brilliantly creative idea executed flawlessly. That's enough to make this game good. What makes it great is the placement of the characters you use in the Rites within a story where each of them is trapped with you, with the Rites being their only chance of escape, and only for one of them at a time. You have to level up characters and then let them go - it's tough, both mechanically and emotionally in a way that weaves them together amazingly.

Yikes. Story filled with a bunch of boring nps yapping about how knows what, sandwiched between a stupid sports ball mini game. Horrible game.

Truly one of my favorite games ever. It plays brilliantly, looks beautiful, sounds gorgeous. The writing is fantastic and you really start to feel the burden of your choices as you progress through the game. Do you send someone back up because they deserve it or do you keep them because they're one of your fantasy b-ball aces? The strange marriage between an RPG and an NBA Jam-esque sports game not only works but it is one of the most unique experiences in gaming you'll ever have. Highly recommend.

There are many elements of this that I feel like don't work - the gameplay is repetitive and the story is presented very plainly, via dialogue alone, but by the end the game won me over with its characters, art, story and emotion. I might replay this one day to see if I feel differently. If you're in it more for the story than gameplay, give it a chance. Still prefer the other Supergiant games, but along the other masterpieces, this one is just good.

too much yapping

Until I played this game, I hadn't known the triumphs and defeats, the epic highs and lows of slam dunk football.

Incredible game, the people at Supergiant never miss.

(Played 18 hours on PS, platinumed)

While it may appeal to a different and smaller audience than their latter effort "Hades", I argue this is better. Supergiant is talented enough to make you care deeply about whole teams of characters in <15 minutes. On top of the excellent character building, what makes this better than Hades is the team-based tactical decision making that is both fun, challenging, and consequential. Specifically, the game lets you know early that a victory will carve consequences towards the rest of your teammates or your opponents, who may deserve a win more than you.

In other words, would your decision-making change if you knew your star player would disappear if you won the game with 7 more games to go this season? And, each game could let your teammates leave purgatory. Ranks as the most underrated game in the last 10 years to me.

Pyre is... interestingly different.
Gameplay might not be everyone's cup of tea, but the writing, character depth, soundtrack integration, are top notch, as usual from Supergiant Games.

It's a very unique and interesting game. I can see why some people may not like it, but overall I think it's worth giving it a shot.

I love everything about this game and wish it wasn't so underrated amongst Supergiant's titles. I understand how the visual novel style-RPG meets magic basketball tournament structure could throw some people off but to me that's the whole appeal and charm of it -- it's so unique, there's literally not another game like this that I'm aware of, and it's perfectly executed.
while I do adore the gameplay of the Rites, to me, Pyre's strength lies in the writing, worldbuilding, and lore, and the depth and complexity to each character and the narrative overall. The rich fantasy world is so well developed without being presented as overwhelming, and it's a true delight to slowly come to understand the world of the Commonwealth and the Downside as the story goes on, both through the interactive tooltips and the different exile's stories. I have not felt this engaged with a fantasy world in as long as I can remember (Supergiant truly living up to its goal of making games that spark your imagination!) and I can't wait to try multiple playthroughs to see so many of the possibilities that the different outcomes offer. not only that, the story's themes of corrupt governments, revolution, and criminal justice reform are ever-pertinent, and the narrative tackles these themes with a wonderful amount of hope tempered with realism.
as with every other Supergiant title, the stunning visuals and outstanding music tie it all together -- and the music design is truly astounding in Pyre, especially with how certain songs change depending on your choices in the game.
there's so much more I could say; this game has sparked my creativity and passion for writing in a whole new way, and I will carry the Nightwings and their journey with me, with utmost fondness, for the rest of my life.

:)

I respect Supergiant going for a non-traditional game, not your usual fight enemies and bosses till you win. As usual for them the art and music and setting are just spectacular.

Very good game

Excelent art, music, plot and unique gameplay. Definely a form of art made into a videogame.

To this day, I think the experience I had playing Pyre was the absolute pinnacle of all of the gaming I've done in my 50+ years. I literally only played a single playthrough (hence my few hours), but it was such a pure, beautiful experience that I never touched it again out of fear of lessening the impact.

The music, the story... God, these folks know how to make a GAME.

Never played a SuperGiant game I didn't like but this one is probs at the bottom of the list. Still great though! 7.5/10

I think this might sneakily be Supergiant's best game to date (including Hades). The characters in this game are incredible, and the choice you have to make between keeping your favorite characters on your team versus giving them their happy ending was always gut-wrenching. The voice acting is superb, and it easily has the best soundtrack of any Supergiant game.

I can see folks being put off by the gameplay, though. It's very bizarre. I've heard it called "Wizard Soccer", and I don't think that's unfair. Personally, I enjoyed it, but it can be a hard sell to someone looking at it and saying "I don't know if this is for me"

Art

Pyre is the weakest entry in Supergiant catalogue. Every single part of the game feels like a step back compared to Bastion or Transistor and I'm glad Hades didn't follow this game. Pyre is a visual novel which I'm fine with, but almost none of it is voiced while Bastion/Transistor/Hades are fully voiced. Controller scheme isn't that good, really I have to use the stick to simulate a mouse? And lastly the "gameplay". It's just not good, it's a sports game for some reason and a very uninteresting one at that.

Overall I'm very disappointed by Pyre. It was the last game from Supergiant I didn't play and I was hoping it would be as amazing as all their other titles. I understand they were trying something new, but it didn't really work out well.

I love this game so much its my Pseudonym now.

Pyre is a good game, but feels experimental and prioritizes breadth over depth. So it's understandable Pyre has the lowest rating (compared with other Supergiant games) on both Steam (3% lower) and OpenCritic (2 score lower) and far lower total reviews on Steam.

Story

It's true that Pyre has a branching story with lots of permutations. I don't even bother to read all possible outcomes for the casts. But there are some things I don't really like,
1. You may not know the character well enough before they are freed from exile.
2. It's great to see that there's no clear line between good or bad on outcome of your casts and some casts. But for better or worse, if you intentionally lose all battles, the ending is considerably more positive than I or you would imagine.
3. It's somewhat disappointing that the ending (that shows the outcome of our choice) is presented only using text.

Gameplay

The battle system is somewhat good. But it took some time until you have access to more characters, items and upgrades, which makes people assume the gameplay is shallow or only on mobile-game level. I don't feel much difficulty playing on easiest difficulty, but I think several casual or story-only players would find it's not easy or relaxing enough. Outside of the battle, all you can do are:

1. Choose one of the paths to the destination, which only has a little impact on the story.
2. Choose which enemy to fight.
3. Choose either finding resources, gaining shared buff or gaining EXP for one of the characters.

Misc

As expected, Pyre have superb art style, animation and soundtrack. I also appreciate the existence of native Linux and Mac OS version, where the native Linux version works without any problem/bug on my device.

[hr]
It's another case where I would choose "Informative" or "Neutral" if Steam provides such an option. If you're a huge fan of Supergiant Games, go ahead and buy this game. But for everyone else, please read more reviews and watch some gameplay videos before deciding whether to buy this game on sale.

The first time I played Pyre, I liked the story well enough, but I didn't really get the game in itself, so I left it at that.
I went and tried it years later, and I became entangled in it. Super fun to play, super enjoyable storytelling. It also helps that its design and music are beautiful.
It's not the type of game I usually play, because it is kind of a sports' tactical game, but it's a really well thought one.

Pretentious storytelling lathered over a glorified mobile game.

Be warned that this is 90% reading and 10% gameplay, and the gameplay is tedious at best.

Not what I expected, but I loved it anyway!

Everything Supergiant Games does is a 10/10, including this, but it seems like this one goes under the radar alot. if you liked any of the other games they have made PLEASE try this. it is hardcore underrated.

drop

Recommend. Soundtracks, VAs and world design are fantastic

Stop reading this and buy the game already

Amazing game! Mad I didn't pick it up sooner

VERY strange game. Where Supergiant has devolved into the rather formulaic with Hades Pyre is the polar opposite. Both have merit in their own way, but I would have like to see this game developed much more than I care for Hades.

The concept of this game is straightforward: most of the game is played like a visual novel with minor strategic decisions in the form of "go A or go B". The actual gameplay is a game of cosmic handball (I kid you not). I like games that take pride in being simple, and Pyre's concept is exactly that.

Unfortunately the game prioritizes the narrative aspect over the gameplay and as a result the whole thing plummets into inconsistency really fast. It had to have a large character roster. It had to have items that break the game. Because more is better apparently. Exploiting these options moves the goalpost from mastery to theorycrafting and the latter is neither satisfying nor deep as the NPC driven opponents are very vulnerable to just repeating the same strategy over and over. It's very painful to see another game fall for the misconception that quantity trumps quality.

Had this been a better, more consistently designed game perhaps there would have been something here that could stand the test of time - but alas, it's mostly just a very novel idea presented quirkily. Speaking of the presentation: I like the abstract feel of it, even if noticably less consistent than other Supergiant titles. The OST is the true standout. The voice acting is really good.

Recommended even though another highly disappointing title. I think this is, against all expectation, perhaps Supergiant's closest attempt to being a very good game in my book.

More reviews at https://piepscave.com.

Fantasy basketball/soccer with pseudo-RPG elements.

Oh yeah, it's absolutely effing gorgeous and has the most tonally resonant music it could possibly have. Super fun gameplay, interesting interactions with characters you can straight up lose, and actual stakes based on how well you play. Gotta give the devs credit on this one - unique beyond words and highly, highly polished presentation. It's like a visual novel at times and will switch to a sort-of action RPG.

Weird and cool. Get it.