281. Pyre (Supergiant Games, Playstation 4, 2017)

After enjoying Bastion at a surface level, and then earlier this year being intrigued but not completely enamored with game #42, Transistor, I was excited to try Supergiant Games' third release, Pyre. Then their newest game, Hades, started winning a bunch of awards, and I decided that the time for Pyre was now.  Based on the pedigree of the studio (especially the jump in quality between Bastion and Transistor), I was expecting to enjoy Pyre, but I wasn't expecting it to turn out to be one of my favorite games I played this year.

Pyre casts you as the leader of a ragtag group of exiles banished from a huge city down into a kind of fantasy purgatory. The only way they can get back is to prevail in a series of sacred rites, which here take the form of a 3-on-3 kind of football-basketball hybrid where your team attempts to extinguish their adversaries' flame before they can do the same to you. In between rites, you explore the world, collect trinkets and train your team in visual novel-style interludes. 

It's not often that I have a game where I'm excited to continue playing because of the story, but Pyre drew me in with its gorgeous art and excellent world building, which is pretty much all I want from a visual novel. There's even a very welcome lore explainer that will expand on key terms if you hover over them. The pacing of the story is excellent, and it’s a road movie, AND it feels like your team is made up of your buddies who depend on you, so I was hooked from beginning to end. I will say that the ending was nice but didn't blow me away, I think Pyre could have been extremely high on my 2020 list if it stuck the ending like it stuck the rest of the plot.

In addition to the story and characters being a joy to experience, Pyre's gameplay is a blast. Flinging my exiles into the pyre never stopped being a technical joy even 10 hours in. Like every Supergiant game, there are lots of upgrades to consider and crucial, interesting decisions to be made. I like that for the most part, Pyre keeps the numbers small, making abilities and buffs feel more game-changing. My biggest gripe early on was that it starts a little too easy, though the game opens up about 6 hours in, and starts to get more interesting in terms of how it challenges you. That said, the world and characters make it a great ride the whole way, and the story keeps going whether you win or lose, which is a nice touch and means future playthoughs could go completely differently.

5/5, a visually stunning and mechanically tight fantasy sport with an enrapturing story