Rising up, musicals had been an enormous a part of my life, from performing Charlie & the Chocolate Manufacturing facility as an elementary scholar to co-writing a rendition of Romeo & Juliet as a modern-style musical for the native space. As an enormous musical theatre fan, the thought of a musical recreation in Stray Gods is an thrilling thought.

Add on the truth that David Gaider, one of many lead writers for 2 of my favourite video games in Star Wars: Knights of the Republic and Dragon Age: Origins, is engaged on the venture as a part of his co-founded rookie indie studio Summerfall Studios, and it’s promising.

Stray Gods’ cinematic indie visible novel-style is exclusive, complementing attractive 2D character designs with strong voice appearing, and a typically skippable however nonetheless noteworthy soundtrack. The result’s an extremely distinctive journey recreation the place your selections matter, the storytelling clicks, and the colourful characters carry the sport, even when the musical component is a letdown.

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical (PC [reviewed], Change, PS4/PS5, Xbox)
Developer: Summerfall Studios
Writer: Humble Video games
Launched: August 10, 2023
MSRP: $29.99

Stray Gods strikes at a brisk tempo throughout its opening moments, rapidly introducing the protagonist of Grace, performed brilliantly by the great Laura Bailey. These opening scenes are arguably a bit too quick, introducing a number of characters after which displaying Grace because the prime suspect within the homicide of a modern-day Olympic god.

The crux of this story facilities round Grace making an attempt to resolve a homicide thriller, to save lots of herself from being convicted by gods like Athena and Persephone earlier than it’s too late.

It simply so occurs, although, that Grace now has the facility of a muse and might mainly flip any scene right into a musical. And that’s precisely what this story does over the course of the seven days Grace has to clear her identify.

Break a leg

To get it out of the best way, whereas I used to be excited at enjoying my first musical online game, the songs and performances don’t supply a lot to write down residence about.

To Stray Gods’ credit score, there are a variety of songs. Sadly, this additionally means there’s a variety of filler and throwaway songs, particularly firstly. You may’t skip ahead, both, in contrast to the dialogue, which made the awkward transitions, lack of intriguing music, and infrequently arrhythmic strains all of the extra noticeable.

An enormous a part of this comes from the intriguing thought of letting you management the songs. Very similar to interacting with the characters, you can also make selections throughout musical moments. You would decide to go for the “cool” line in a scene, or be a bit extra heartfelt.

One other time, you may select between a solo or doing a bunch quantity. This versatile nature might be the reason for a few of the inconsistency within the soundtrack, as the perfect musical numbers got here later within the story when the they had been fewer and farther between.

That isn’t to say that the soundtrack is terrible, as there are a few standout numbers. Two that come to thoughts are mainly any time that Khary Payton’s Pan sings, and a memorable duel between Grace and Persephone that’s nearly the only real instance of the choice-driven songs understanding slightly properly.

An ovation-worthy forged

However the musical components are solely a portion of the gameplay in Stray Gods. The remainder of the sport focuses on the core thriller and the legendary characters you meet alongside the best way. That is the place you possibly can actually see Gaider’s work, as these are the perfect characters I’ve seen in a very long time.

The participant has the choice to romance certainly one of 4 folks, every of which is excellent in their very own proper. Freddie is the basic informal greatest good friend who has a candy relationship with Grace. Alternatively, you would go for Troy Baker’s troubled and miserable Apollo.

Every of those fascinating characters grew on me over time, giving some strong romance choices worthy of competing with a few of Gaider’s previous works. Even exterior of the romance companions, the opposite characters you meet have terrific and detailed writing.

Everybody has their secrets and techniques you uncover slowly over time, and it’s exhausting to know who’s telling you the reality or what their agenda is. At its core, this can be a character-driven story, and it always offers its forged memorable moments to work with.

Decisions that matter

That is helped by the frequent selections you get to make within the dialogue. They appear to matter simply sufficient, corresponding to selecting who to facet with in arguments or what order to analyze leads in. There are even characters who reside and die in shocking methods, relying on the alternatives you make.

Stray Gods has sufficient materials to garner at the least one replay, to see how issues may have gone in a different way. There are even some emotional sequences price experiencing once more, together with mainly all the pieces surrounding Aphrodite’s disturbing, unforgettable storyline.

The core thriller isn’t a throwaway, both, with layers of twists and conflicting agendas. Whereas it was a bit predictable in some areas, there was sufficient to maintain me engaged from begin to end.

There’s nothing like Stray Gods in any respect. The daunting job of making a complete interactive musical is an admirable one. Even when the songs had been principally a miss for me, I’d wish to see it tried once more.

In spite of everything, you’ll discover a few of the most participating characters round since Gaider’s earlier stint at BioWare, and a worthwhile story on this sleeper hit. I do know I’ve my eyes on Summerfall Studios shifting ahead.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}