Supergiant's best effort yet, “Pyre” is my kind of sports game, where the real drama is off the court. The Liberation Rite is by far the greatest feature – you can earn freedom for one of your best teammates, but doing so removes them from the roster. Will you hold someone back because you want them for future matches? Unfortunately, there's an awkwardness to the actual sporting events – showboating with one character is more intuitive than coordinating the team, undermining the mantra of “three act as one.”

It's testament to the skill of SGG to make me thoroughly enjoy a game with a genre that I don't like (sports and VN) and a theme I don't normally like (high fantasy). Even these things are implemented well (thanks to the option to muddle through with running backs and the tooltip explanations of fantasy words which every story would benefit from), character work is great, and yes the music & art by Darren & Jen is fantastic as always.

One thing I admire is the intent to not make winning the ultimate goal, but just playing. I don't know how well this works for everyone though. I personally couldn't separate myself from the winning mindset - I didn't savescum or was ever really able to "decide" to win anyway - which was done more successfully in Hades, though it had the massive advantage of being a roguelite. Maybe it takes more games that don't focus on winning before my mindset adapts. The Occupation, regardless of how cool it is, has a good chance of not 'winning' built into it, but that ending doesn't really make you feel good.

This ending is good, though. The characters really grew on me, and it showed in the end. Such a good journey. I should play it again, who knows if it'll happen.

supergiants best game to date and possibly unbeatable even by their standards. its depressing that its their least known and least played game. it deserves so much better. pyre is ultiamtely a game that was marketed and shown off VERY wrong. the game isnt a visual novel/basketball sports game. the fact that most people only know pyre as that is criminal. the game certainly is both of these things, but its so much more. the characters are endearing for the most part and have great arcs that fits each of their own stories and the overwhelming story so perfectly. the world is the best supergiant has ever made as well. the downside is the best area they have ever made and the cart you travel in is amazingly detailed, that each character has a different thing in the cart and that depending on who you are about to talk to, they will have different activities. the game has a lot of readable lore ingame but i didnt really read it and still got the gist of things well enough that it kept me involved the entire time. and that last song. its probably my favourite moment in gaming period. just letting the credits roll over the best ending song in any game to date (possibly ever) is a fucking feeling and a half. play it. you wont regret it