Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical Review – Role Playing Musical

There is no point in delaying the expression of admiration that the Rogue Gods inspired in me. Summerfall Studios’ debut garnered attention long before its release, when the developers pitched the game’s musical concept, and when we heard the duo Laura Bailey and Ashley Johnson tease a smiling idea of ​​what it would be like. if Ellie and Abby, the characters, sang together, which the actresses portray in The Last of Us Part II. My interest was transferred to the game, but the final enthusiasm was not born immediately. Everything has matured in the over seven hours of story that Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical has to offer.

• Platform: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, X1, XSX (verified version) and S
• Publication date: 08/10/2023
• Developer: Summerfall Studios
• Publisher: modest games
• Genre: interactive musical
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Data to download: 6 GB
• Game time: 7 o’clock
• Price: 30 EUR (Steam)

If you’re wondering what the authors mean by this musical, literally. The game is dominated by music from start to finish and across all experience levels. First of all, it is beautiful, thanks to the composers, among whom the name has not disappeared Austin Wintory, which you can relate to, among other things, the soundtrack to the film “The Journey”. Equally important are the singing performances. I already mentioned Laura Baileywho sings the most as a representative of the main character, but it is definitely worth mentioning another voice known not only from Naughty Dog games, Troy Bakeractress Janina Gavankar (Iden Versio – SW Battlefront II) or excellent Anthony Rappalbeit in a very episodic role.

Definitely “just singing well” would not be enough. First of all, I really felt like I was watching a musical. Musical numbers are part of the narrative, conveying either specific and important information, or revealing the thoughts and feelings of the characters. Both are equally important to the progress of the game. The soundtrack works with leitmotifs, and the musical theme from the beginning of the story becomes not only a kind of jingle, but also symbolizes a kind of catharsis, denouement. Hearing it is a reward.

Not to mention, the player has a lot of control over the musical numbers. The decisions made during the song are some of the most important ones that can determine the fate of the characters, as well as fundamentally change the wording of the song. The protagonist, Grace, who we put ourselves in the place of, can usually take three approaches – charismatic, logical, and kind of rough and aggressive. While I spent most of my time playing the “nice” and understanding Grace, trying to have a rap battle with a former crime queen has something to do with it.

It is musical and classical dialogues that take up so much time that there is nothing else to do. Gameplay comes down to tracking and decision making. The only slightly different content is environmental exploration, but it happens through a menu on the side of the screen. Here and there on the map you can choose the order of visiting individual locations. No loop break song, dialogue, song, dialogue, and so on and so forth. do not wait

But that’s not really a complaint on my part. I am extremely grateful to the creators for avoiding including the fast paced events that permeate the interactive movie genre. In addition, I believe that the events taking place on the screen (and, again, music) will not allow the player to slip into the idea that he would also like to “play”.

The whole concept of the musical explains the personality of the main character, who becomes the last muse, and it is in singing that her supernatural power is hidden.

On top of all that, the story is great. Over the course of three acts, my impression and involvement in the events surrounding the Greek gods in the modern human world only grew. The whole concept of the musical explains the personality of the main character, who becomes the last muse, and it is in her singing that her supernatural power is hidden – with the help of music she can penetrate the hearts of others. There are moral dilemmas here. To what extent can I influence the intentions, thoughts and emotions of other people? When to intervene in the name of the greater good, and when to leave the fate of man in his hands? You will undoubtedly ask yourself such questions in several intense scenes.

This helps the quality of the texts and the script. The characters come to life in their conversations, and despite the fact that there are quite a few of them, I managed to develop a certain relationship with each of them. Not always necessarily friendly, some characters I was suspicious of, others I changed my mind about. Thanks to the great characters and the good work of the creators behind the keyboards, especially the late scenes can evoke really strong emotions. I won’t lie, at some point (along with loud music) I was on the verge, which usually doesn’t happen to me.

For a long time, I was under the impression that the dialogue didn’t directly address the journey of Grace and her friends. And though I’ve only played the game once, I think that one way little will change when you play again. Events can happen in a different order, but most of them seem to happen. On the other hand, what can really be influenced is the relationships with the characters, which are fully manifested at the very end of the game. With a system applied to player decisions, it can remind you of Life is Strange: True Colors and even remotely the second Mass Effect. Relationship building will also vary depending on the choice of the three benefits corresponding to the approaches mentioned above. As you play, you will unlock two of the three, each unlocking a random special answer.

The developers have chosen a comic style for Stray Gods, which is hard to find fault with. The art is nice and matches the changing mood of the story (the game does a really good job of mixing humor and serious moments). The characters are not animated, only their positions change abruptly, like in the comics. The shape is strikingly reminiscent of last year’s As Dusk Falls, similar doors there are endowed with smooth animation. Unlike the drama from Interior Night, the new musical also features hand-drawn environments. After all, scenes in Stray Gods are a bit more static.

Unfortunately, the graphics suffer somewhat when the characters get too close to the camera. Especially on a large TV screen, it was impossible not to notice the dubious resolution, which was noticeable mainly in the faces. However, to be honest, I played on the Xbox Series X without the patch that improves the quality of the image and is available for the PlayStation and PC browsers. Before the release, the authors promise to improve slightly annoying gamepad controls and fix sometimes unbalanced sound. But none of the problems fundamentally change my overall impression of the game.

At the climax of the third act, I just sat open-mouthed, wearing headphones, and automatically mumbling dialogue based on the character I created “my” Grace in seven hours of playing. I intentionally retype the title length because I originally expected a shorter and more intimate session. Instead, in the context of the genre, I got a full charge with a number of epic and heated moments.