I’ve performed loads of video video games through the years which have each rewarded and punished me for the alternatives I’ve made, creating this highly effective sense of company within the narrative. These video games really feel like I’ve a hand in shaping the end result of the story, one by which efficiently navigating a tough dialog is empowering and never fairly discovering the phrases for a troublesome heart-to-heart is devastating. Stray Gods: A Roleplaying Musical builds on that sensation however throughout the three-act construction of a musical. This mixture is a formidable accomplishment, and it is unimaginable to look at how all these decisions can construct on each other, culminating in a finale that you just helped form. Collectively, it makes Stray Gods one of the vital memorable gaming experiences I’ve ever had.
Set inside our world–but one by which there’s an oz of reality to the myths surrounding the Greek gods, titans, and their multitude of offspring–Stray Gods begins off like your typical visible novel. Conversations pause so as to current you with a mess of dialogue choices, a few of which let you acquire extra perception into different characters whereas others push the story ahead to the following scene. Nearly instantly, you’ve gotten an opportunity to flirt along with your cute finest buddy and kickstart one in every of a number of completely different romances. There’s consolation on this familiarity. After which the sport rapidly reveals what separates itself from its contemporaries: the music.
You actively take part in each musical quantity throughout Stray Gods runtime, of which there are lots of throughout its three acts. Like conversations in choice-driven visible novels and RPGs, every music can department, and the consequences of your decisions impression not solely the route of that individual music however each efficiency that succeeds it. Selections are divided into three categories–Kickass, Intelligent, and Charming–informing each the tactic by which you are making an attempt to persuade somebody of one thing, and the way a music can rework. Kickass decisions are aggressive and confrontational and make songs tackle a extra punk rock vibe, whereas Intelligent decisions are considerate and strategic and lean into jazz. Charming decisions, however, are empathetic and caring and create a extra melodious tune. Although all the songs may start a method, they will drastically change relying on what you select.
So far as I can tell–there are a whole lot of decisions to make on this recreation and I solely replayed every music so many instances earlier than transferring on–every route a music can take flows collectively. I can’t fathom how tough a process that’s to drag off (we’re speaking completely different genres and tempos but it nonetheless has to all really feel like the identical music) nevertheless it’s all tightly woven collectively into this stunning symphony of sound that leans into the transformative qualities of music to discover every part from fated heartbreak to lingering trauma. It additionally helps that this formulation works wonders narratively, as the sport sees you tackle the function of the final Muse throughout the Greek pantheon as she explores the therapeutic powers of music.
In Stray Gods, you play as Grace, a traditional human thrust right into a dying sentence when the management of the present Greek pantheon–Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo, and Persephone–mistakenly condemns her for the homicide of Calliope. Grace was the one one current through the ultimate moments of the Muse’s life as she bleeds out from a stab wound, resulting in the false accusation. Grace is allowed every week to show her innocence, looking for solutions and chasing down leads with the assistance of her finest buddy Freddie.
Inside the world of Stray Gods, the members of the Greek pantheon cross their souls, or eidolons, to the closest particular person to them once they die, and so Grace inherits Calliope’s skills and turns into a Muse, giving her the ability to assist anybody reveal their true emotions or absolutely specific themselves by music. She additionally inherits Calliope’s household as nicely, placing her within the orbit of Hermes, Pan, Eros, and different entities of fantasy, a lot of whom have their very own motivations for wanting to assist Grace monitor down Calliope’s killer.
It is a unbelievable story with a rewarding sense of company in the way you strategy conversations and your general investigation. Very early into the sport, I began to suppose that I wasn’t going to unravel the case or that I would even take the autumn for who I suspected to be the true killer as a result of I did not need them to die. So I figured my finest probability at survival was accruing allies and being good to essentially the most highly effective members of the pantheon so when the week ended and Grace’s trial rolled round, I might have folks to face by my facet and say I should not die anyway even when I used to be responsible. As extra was uncovered and I stumbled into more and more troubling revelations, I noticed I doubtless wasn’t jetting towards both conclusion I initially thought I used to be. However my determination to assemble as many allies as doable nonetheless got here in clutch by serving to me circumnavigate a number of points within the late recreation. There have been lots of people who felt indebted to me, they usually allowed me to go to locations and speak to folks I should not have in addition to stood up for me in moments the place occasions may have gone south very rapidly. My decisions have been honored.
The Greek pantheon–now calling themselves the Idols–is a messy bunch, struggling to outlive a whole bunch of miles away from house in America with a lot of their quantity (together with the massive three of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) gone, both as a result of they walked away from the Idols or as a result of they died with nobody close by to soak up their eidolon. Grace, approaching them with the recent perspective of somebody who has solely not too long ago grow to be a god, is ready to assist them sort out their points with the extra fervent immediacy of a mortal, wielding the ability of music to assist these gods delve into no matter drawback has been ailing them for many years, typically centuries.
However music is such an interpretative energy. When Grace invitations somebody to sing along with her, you are normally not being advised how somebody feels. And so every music turns into this balancing act of individuals, utilizing music, rhyme schemes, and playful wordplay to attempt to attain a spot of emotional understanding and catharsis. It transforms what in any other case might need been easy conversations into intense battles of emotion, all sides bouncing off each other with rigorously crafted improvisation. And simply as these musical numbers will be humorous and joyous at instances, they may also be completely heartbreaking. Nonetheless, they’re at all times memorable and culminate in a musical finale that’s constructed from all of the music and emotional connections that you just managed to create. Lots of the scenes in Stray Gods are going to take a seat with me for a very long time, particularly those the place it appeared like there was no actual proper reply to the tough morally grey questions being requested, resigning me to information Grace as finest I may and hope for the perfect. It sometimes labored, nevertheless it simply as usually did not. No matter how I pushed Grace to behave, the outcomes at all times had an impression on what occurred within the music subsequent and the way the end result of the interplay in the end influenced the route of the story.
That mentioned, it is not simply your vocal performances that decide your destiny. Between performances, you will be tasked with chasing down clues behind Calliope’s homicide, deciding who to speak to and in what order, and investigating crime scenes. The moment-to-moment gameplay of crime scene investigations is a tad too simplistic to provide a rewarding problem-solving expertise, which is my one main gripe with the sport. When Grace is investigating an area, you are given a listing of things to have a look at and also you simply maintain clicking by till you arrive on the clue Grace is in search of. Fortunately, these moments are few and much between. The remainder of the sport is conversing with characters, and gathering clues relying on who you select to speak to and what info you belief to share with them. Typically Grace must lie or maintain again on sharing info to protect a relationship and be taught one thing vital, and different instances being aggressive or truthful or charming is the best way to go. There’s precise technique and consequence to your investigation with regards to speaking to people–the foremost crux of the game–and that fulfills the fantasy of being a musically-inclined crack detective.
Early within the recreation, you get to decide on whether or not Grace is an particularly Kickass, Intelligent, or Charming particular person, and this opens up distinctive dialogue choices that additional form how particular person relationships play out. It is simpler to show your price to the in-your-face disgraced Queen of the Underworld Persephone if Grace has entry to Kickass choices, for instance, whereas a Intelligent Grace can go toe-to-toe with the secretive goddess of knowledge Athena or the mischievous god of chaos Pan. These dialogue choices do not appear to have as impactful an impact on the story as an entire, however they do inject some welcome replayability into Stray Gods if–like me–you wish to see all of the completely different ways in which every music can play out and also you need how Grace interacts with folks to be barely completely different playthrough to playthrough.
Stray Gods can also be only a nice recreation to have a look at and hearken to. Emulating a comic book guide look and artwork fashion, it incorporates a whole lot of motion in its scenes, rapidly shifting the place and stance of various characters and objects so as to add a frenetic pull from shot to shot. It helps information your eyes throughout the display screen, creating a way of motion with what is basically a whole lot of nonetheless pictures. This additional personalizes sure characters, lending narrative weight to how they transfer and act. Apollo plods by scenes with a drained discomfort, for instance, whereas Medusa nearly appears to slither along with her extra rhythmic and weave-like actions. However extra importantly, it provides to the spectacle of every musical efficiency, drawing inspiration from the likes of Broadway or Okay-Pop music movies to create a lovely animatic-style cinematic expertise. Each musical quantity is a spectacle that additional reinforces the significance of every selection you make but in addition helps you perceive the vibe that you just and the opposite singer are creating primarily based on what decisions you make.
It definitely helps that Stray Gods has an unimaginable vocal solid, a lot of whom can draw you into the following musical efficiency inside just a few notes. Probably the most notable standout is Laura Bailey (The Final of Us Half II’s Abbey and Marvel’s Spider-Man’s Mary Jane), who completely dazzles as Grace, weaving back-and-forth between musical genres and giving the protagonist a lovable spunk. However there are many different enjoyable surprises as nicely. Anjali Bhimani (Overwatch’s Symmetra and Apex Legends’ Rampart) is phenomenal, completely killing it as Medusa throughout my favourite musical variety of your entire recreation. And each Rahul Kohli (Midnight Mass’ Sheriff Hassan and Harley Quinn’s Scarecrow) and Allegra Clark (Apex Legends’ Bloodhound and Dragon Age Inquisition’s Josephine Montilyet) carry cute vitality to the monstrous Asterius and Hecate, respectively. I may go on, however the level is that the pool of actors for this recreation is a gifted one, and every imbues their very own character with vitality that is concurrently recognizable and but brand-new.
And there is an intriguing ingredient to that divide. As an example, Bhimani hisses with monstrous glee with regards to Medusa, however there’s an underlying sense of self-hatred and concern as nicely. The primary part–the monster–matches the widespread preconception of Medusa however the latter doesn’t. As you meet increasingly more characters, you will see how all of the actors use their musical performances to nudge sure questions into your mind, convincing you to go uncover what has modified about these well-known legendary figures. And the will to tug on these threads and unveil extra of this world compels you ahead with earnest curiosity, having the doubtless supposed impact of drawing you additional into the overarching thriller of each who killed Calliope and why. As you higher perceive who these folks have been and what they’re now, the reply to these questions turns into ever extra compelling to pursue.
Stray Gods: A Roleplaying Musical is without doubt one of the coolest video games I’ve performed shortly and I think about its strongest moments will sit with me for fairly a bit. Having seen cluttered whiteboards that present a glimpse of the huge branching storylines in some RPGs and visible novels, doing one thing like that however for songs–a technique of communication that doesn’t comply with the conventions of conversations at all–is extremely spectacular. However the of us over at Summerfall Studios managed to drag it off, making a recreation that explores the extraordinary therapeutic energy that music can have in our lives and wrapping all of it up in a compelling homicide thriller the place the results of your decisions can have drastic results on a weakening Greek pantheon simply making an attempt to outlive within the modern-day. It is a unbelievable visible novel and I can’t wait to play by it once more.