I fell into this game--hard--for 2 days. I technically "beat" it (trust me, came as a shock to me when it happened) and I didn't even come close to filling the collection binder--which I figured must have meant SOMETHING, but it doesn't appear to be so. Really, though, this game wasn't honest to its thesis of being a game shop tycoon/RPG, and I was hoping to get that *Recettear: An Item Shop Tale* buzz, but yet again this is a game that falls FAR short of what seems to be that relatively simple but elegant system of a game made over a decade ago. Go figure. Mind you, this was a hard 3 star for me, because I had a lot of fun for a few hours, but it's haunting to feel a sense of greatness that was missed and will never be. Pros: - There's a sense of freedom in where you get your cards, which boils down to packs or to a variety of single cards that have differing values based on their physical aspects. - The story is Aussie and cute as all heck, if on the short side. - The differing art styles of the card sets are really cool--with the exception of one or two, which just suck and are ugly. - When you first start, the releases of new sets are exciting and open up the complexity of the game nicely. Cons: - It's short. Like, really short. - No price decisions, besides going with the flow with different values and trends. This cannot be overlooked, it really hobbles your ability to feel like you're running a shop and just makes the day feel... rote. - The shop is all that exists. All hail the shop, around which the world does not exist. You even do all of your inventory shopping online--which is fun at first to open packages up from. It would have been neat to have different delivery options at least, alas. I would add that not being able to upgrade in a more meaningful way sucks. Might as well have had vending machines, as well, for as little as the different customers make a difference. - The story is just okay at best, and at worst it is just confusing and weird.
Rare is when a game exceeds my standards for a game I am willing to finish, and then becomes a high benchmark. This game is a perfectly balanced piece of gameplay, storytelling, and immersion, I must applaud the team for creating a game that's lingered in my mind even a year since I last played it. And it has the true mark of mastery--I ended feeling fulfilled by the game but I wished for more. Pyre is a game that makes you work outside of its truly novel and breathtakingly fun battles, causing you to deal with the logic of why you make choices, ranging from where you are going next to who you are going to pick for each role. Interacting with the story and the choices makes you an active player in the game, even outside of the battles. It's also an emotional journey that offers surprising depth, all packaged up beautifully by some of the most unique and gorgeous art style that I've ever seen in a game, made all the more beutiful because it is functional and translates fully into the battles, not to ignore the well-made soundtrack and sound design, minimalist voice work that doesn't grate on my ears like other game's voice work does. It's also not to ignore the perfect character writing that doesn't pull too much attention away from the experience of the game but also doesn't provide the player with one-dimensional paper dolls to care about. The battles feel like a sport that I would love to watch if it actually existed, and each one never failed to have me on the edge of my seat, at first because I was trying to get my RPG-minded brain to wrap around an action style of gameplay and then because the stakes presented in the story had me truly dreading failure.
A beautiful story told economically and steeeped in a a near-perfect mixture of sorrow and wonder. The mechanics of the game serve that narrative exceptionally well without detracting from it or prolonging the experience past the point when it would no longer be effective. This is not the type of game where the gameplay itself is the focus--the well-told story is the star of the show.
