Pyre

I don't recommend playing this game on Medium difficulty, because then I think your choices don't really matter. You'll win every fight and get the super goody good ending that everybody else got. Then you'll forget about the game and move on to your next dopamine hit. But the game could make you feel so much more than just empowerment and satisfaction that you can get from any other game.

I recommend playing Pyre like so:
- Start on Medium difficulty.
- When you meet a new friend, increase the difficulty to Hard.
- After each win, enable a Titan other than Yslach.
- After each loss, disable a Titan.

The fact that losing a fight in this game doesn't result in a "Try again, go back to checkpoint" is the unique selling point of this game. You can lose, and the story will move forward, taking that loss into account. The fate of your allies and enemies will go in different directions, and that's amazing to watch. THIS is the unique thing about this game. But if you win every Rite because the game is too easy, you miss out on this whole aspect!

I wish there was no difficulty selection, and no manual restarting of Rites, but instead an automatic difficulty adjustment happening sneakily in the background as I play.

A beautifully-told and engaging story about unlikely allies embarking on a journey to achieve salvation and enlightenment through the ritual power of 3-on-3 basketball

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.

An underrated entry in Supergiant's catalogue, absolutely worth a playthrough and likely another after that. Clever mix of RPG and sports game with a visual novel whose story directly impacts and alters the gameplay. Loaded with endearing characters and intriguing worldbuilding, along with all the audiovisual delights you can expect from these devs.

Pyre is a game that asks the important question: "What if sports were a metaphor for spiritual redemption, and also involved a magical talking dog?" You play as the Reader, a banished exile who assembles a team of equally banished weirdos to compete in the Rites, a series of mystical competitions that are, essentially, fantasy basketball with fire.

The world of the Downside is a vibrant, hand-painted fever dream. Imagine if someone crossbred a medieval tapestry with a prog-rock album cover, and then populated it with a cast of characters that are equal parts tragic and hilarious. You've got giant, stoic tree-bearded dudes, sassy harpies, and of course, the aforementioned magical talking dog, who is probably the most well-adjusted member of your entire crew.

The Rites themselves are a blast. It's a unique blend of strategy, action, and sportsmanship (sort of). You hurl an orb into the opposing team's pyre, while also trying to defend your own, and occasionally banishing your opponents to the astral plane. It's fast-paced, it's frantic, and it's surprisingly tactical, requiring you to balance offense, defense, and the ever-present threat of getting your face dunked on by a winged fury.

But let's be honest, the real joy of Pyre comes from the characters and their interactions. Your team is a motley crew of outcasts, each with their own unique backstory, personality, and reason for being banished. As you travel together, you'll forge bonds, engage in witty banter, and maybe even develop some unexpected rivalries. It's like a really weird, really heartwarming road trip, but with more chanting and fireballs.

The story is surprisingly deep and emotionally resonant, exploring themes of redemption, sacrifice, and the nature of freedom. But it's also punctuated by moments of levity and absurdity, reminding you that even in the darkest of times, there's always room for a good joke (or a well-timed dunk).

Pyre is a game that's hard to describe, but easy to love. It's a sports game, it's an RPG, it's a visual novel, it's a fever dream – and it's all of those things wrapped up in a beautiful, hand-painted package. Just be prepared to explain to your friends why you're so invested in the fate of a magical talking dog and his quest for spiritual enlightenment through competitive orb-dunking.

Pyre is a Golden example of a Beautiful Narrative driven game with interesting gameplay where the outcome of your battles alters the story and the events that unfold.
I dont think I have ever seen someone create a unique sports game where the sole focus is the story instead of the core mechanics. Not to say that the gameplay is not developed, but I would say that playing the sport is more of a second thought than the meat of the whole experience, which is the narrative. The game plays kind of like basketball but instead of characters moving on their own, you can only move one at a time and they all have different abilities that allow you to move across the field and take out your opponents, as well as strengths and weaknesses. You can also buy things that your team member can equip to boost their stats and aid them. Your members also Level up independently and when you level up you get to unlock different abilities for each of them that further aid you in your conquest.
Typically in these types of games, you are encouraged, if not sometimes required to win every single match to progress. However in Pyre, you can win or lose matches and the story will continue with your members giving different comments depending on the outcomes that have unfolded. I honestly enjoyed so much how every character interacted with one another. Some don't like each other as much but end up warming up with one another, others give out comments on certain teams that you fight against and then everyone always talks about the end goal that they all have and their purpose. There is so much dialogue and just so many different conversations that can happen between them or even between the teams you fight that I never ran into a single repeated line. Even other characters that you meet that are not part of the sport make comments about certain aspects of the events that are occurring while you play. This game has so many different dialogues that you will not see everything in just one playthrough.
The games art is also so beautiful, SuperGiant Never seems to fail at creating breathtaking games with their beautifully drawn Backgrounds and positioning of things where you can see the different layers on the screen. The character designs are also so amazing and incredibly detailed with all of them very clearly standing out from one another. The music as well just like all of their other games is so good with certain people having their own themes and even the music dynamically changing while you play against certain opponents.
This game is such a work of art that you have to experience it for yourself. Some people say that it gets repetitive because of the gameplay and as much as I want to agree with those people, you have to keep in mind that the design of this game is mimicking that of a sports game. You don't change a sports rule in the middle of a game, its supposed to be consistent, plus there are these constellations that you can invoke before a match where it makes the game harder giving the enemy team an advantage. If you turn these on and constantly change your team members, you get a lot of variety from each match while keeping things fresh.
Buy this if you want a game that is very story focused which unique characters and interactions.

I've been putting off reviewing this game for far too long.
In 2017 I was at one of my lowest I had ever been mentally, even games I enjoyed couldn't keep my attention or fill me with and kind of emotional response, and I felt like my options and reasons to be around were dwindling. At some point my brother mentioned a game he got but hadn't really tried and for some reason I decided to download it and see if it could do something for me. 9 hours later I was crying and ready for a second play through.
Pyre is always my go to recommendation for a game, the game play isn't for everyone but the story is spectacular, and I usually can't focus on reading stories in games. This was my first Steam 100% and for the longest time my only until Hades came out. I can say confidently this game saved my life, and I've heard similar stories from others. It's truly something else