After making two terrific action RPGs, the people behind Bastion and Transistor are throwing a curveball with their new game Pyre. Now they’re making a party-based RPG in which the battles play out like three-on-three sports competitions. You’ll see how that works in the video above, as Supergiant developer Greg Kasavin walks us through a demo of the new game.
Pyre is making its playable debut this weekend at PAX East in Boston, where anyone who enjoyed Supergiant’s last two games will recognize the quality of the art direction but may be surprised by the gameplay. This isn’t a game about killing clusters of enemies. It’s about dunking on them.
In terms of story, we control a trio of exiles who roam a mystical purgatory, competing with other exiles day after day in an effort to cleanse their souls. The battles, as it were, involve your party facing off in arenas against rivals, as you each try to drop a single orb into your adversary’s pyre. You use many familiar sports game actions like jumping, dashing and passing. You can steal the ball, too. Between competitions, you engage in party chat, unlock new abilities and move through a magical land.
Pyre may not be what you were expecting, unless you merely expect Supergiant to be creatively bold. They’re definitely being bold. The game’s PAX East demo feels polished and was fun to play. The full game will be out in 2017 for PS4 and Steam.