Pyre, the jewel of SuperGiant
Pyre is a huge surprise. And to say this coming from SuperGiant, one of the indies companies that excelled with note years ago with Bastion and that was consolidated with Transistor , is no small thing. At a time when there are hundreds of companies looking for their place in the industry, it is not at all easy to stand out. There are many genres that have mul
tiple author versions on the part of small developers. The platforms, the RPGs, the walking simulator … But Supergiant is different this time. The role, the sports competition and a unique development, of macabre outcome, make Pyre its best game and one of the most outstanding titles of 2017. And to say this in a year like the one we are in, is no small thing.
Founded in 2009 by Amir Rao and Gavin Simon , they were quickly put on the map thanks to their first work. Bastion was not at all a revolutionary title: it was an Action RPG with action mechanics quite common and simple but had in its favor something that in the indie world is trying to enhance to differentiate: the author’s touch at the audiovisual level. both
the fantastic finish and the narrator who followed our steps brought a different point of view to a well-known game mechanics. The great merit of the game was to tell us a video game as if we were in a story. Transistor was different. It changed the fantasy world for a cyberpunk universe, technology as the main theme and a perfect fit between characters, narrative an
d gameplay: action and turns were held hand in hand. Also, in a different format than the previous one. Here, to finish the four-five first hours was
really to start the game, because the second round made you face from the beginning harder enemies where the use of all the skills learned was obligatory. Who has not given more than one turn to Transistor, does not know what the game is.
In Pyre the authentic revolution of SuperGiantIt is complete. When one begins to play the third title of the North American company
, he does not know how to translate what is found. A game of cutting RPG in which advance, improvement of personages and management of group talks about … But a sport title in which pure and hard jugabilidad concer
ns us. It is a surprising mixture, that if someone has not followed at all what the game is going to be able to crash, but that it starts to fit right from the start and ends up becoming one of the best experiences that are remembered in a long time. Once you fin
ish it (about 10-12 hours depending on what you have entertained in extra tests and reading the extensive narrative and context content), you do not know what has amazed you the most. Whether the competition itself, the unique connection with the characters or the disturbing development of the plot.
The reader, purgatory and freedom
It all starts when the Reader , that is us, awakens in an unknown world near a caravan. That’s when three characters come to us: Hedwyn, Rukey and Jodariel . A human, a kind of talkative wolf and a demonic woman with enormous horns and wingspan. This supposed fortuitous encounter that as we advance in the adventure does not seem it so much ha
s a reason of being. They are part of the Nightwings, a triumvirate of the many who are scattered around Downside, a kind of purgatory where convicts, enemies and condemned people spend their last days. After engaging in conversation with them they realize our gift as a reader,the one who can elicit the meaning of ancient texts. A
nd together we embark on a journey in which we try to decipher the truth behind the rites that seek freedom: to return to Commonwealth. The purified region, where everyone once lived before falling into Downside.
The first bars of departure are very powerful for several reasons. The first because the protagonist, us, does not appear on the screen. All the characters question us as if they were looking outside the television or the monitor. The seco
nd, because the profile of the members of the Nightwings is tremendously powerful. Hedwyn is posited as the noble and close human, but Rukey has shrillness and a wild attitude and JodarielIt is simply disturbing. His design imposes, his speech also and is totally intransigent. As we get to know them, the game takes care of each one of t
hem, to show us their strengths and weaknesses, their doubts … And you end up connecting in an extreme way with the characters. Not only with these three, but with the others you are getting to know. A score of exiles pass before us: some are playab
le and part of the Nightwings team. Others are enemies or rivals of other triumviratesspread around the world. Others, simply, are part of the plot and come and go. But Pyre stops at each and every one of them. They present them
with details, they offer us lines and lines of dialogues and, unless we skip the conversations – a huge mistake for a game like this – the player can not look the other way. He knows exactly what happens to each one of them. And you even end up connecting wit
h the enemies of the rites because, in reality, they are not enemies but other teams that yearn for the same thing that we do: freedom.
