Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical Review (PS5): An Ambitious Experience

Summerfall Studios’ Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical is among the most original video games of the 12 months. Making a musical is already a colossal endeavor. However turning one into interactive artwork altered by participant selection? Much more daunting. Whereas it doesn’t come collectively as easily as one might hope, there’s sufficient promise and payoff to make this a profitable experiment.

Nonetheless, Stray Gods doesn’t make a very robust first impression. Regardless of some nice character design and artwork, the dearth of precise animation makes exchanges awkward as characters simply bounce from expression to expression. It’s caught in an uncomfortable place, the place there are much more transitions than a regular visible novel, but it surely by no means seems to be really fluid. Lack of conventional animation isn’t at all times a foul factor — The Manner of the Househusband used a ton of favor to show its restricted animation right into a energy somewhat than a weak point — however this turns into an annoyance you get used to somewhat than an enthralling quirk.

Issues get higher as soon as the story kicks into excessive gear. The story mixes Greek gods with a contemporary setting — akin to Fables/The Wolf of Amongst Us — and has a compelling homicide thriller at its coronary heart. On prime of that, there are a wide selection of musical numbers and a forged that options among the finest voice actors round. There’s genuinely so much to love right here when you make it previous the offputting lack of animation.

The thought of an interactive musical is kind of bold and is price celebrating, even when it doesn’t all completely work in addition to you hoped. The music consists by Austin Wintory of Journey fame (the PS3 recreation, not the “Don’t Cease Believing” band) and lives as much as his excessive customary. The vocal performances additionally impress, with Laura Bailey displaying that she has an exceptional singing voice. All the opposite expertise can carry a tune as nicely — Khary Payton’s Pan and Troy Baker’s Apollo are two specific highlights.

Nonetheless, the songs don’t absolutely come collectively. The lyrics are positive and get the character’s feelings and factors throughout, however they’re not all that catchy or poignant. The world and what characters must say in Stray Gods’ regular conversations are much more fascinating than what’s sung. It additionally doesn’t assist that the songs can really feel fairly disjointed musically because of the interactive ingredient. Gamers can select the tone for various sections of a music, which doesn’t at all times gel.

When not singing, the sport is a fairly primary visible novel with some gentle journey recreation components. You’ll decide places to go to as you examine a homicide, select components to examine, and who to speak to. The world-building might be the strongest side of the sport itself, with the historical past between characters feeling fairly fleshed out. It’s additionally simply enjoyable to see these larger-than-life mythological figures in modern-day settings.

There’s additionally a number of replay worth right here, because the participant’s decisions influence each the story and the songs. Sure dialogue choices are locked behind no matter trait you select early on. There are romance choices to discover, and the character dynamics at play are genuinely fascinating. With a lot that may change in a run, I need to see how in a different way the thriller can play out. Stray Gods is certainly a recreation I’ll wind up giving one other playthrough or two because of this.

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical Overview: The ultimate verdict

Humble Video games’ newest providing is a extremely fascinating inventive experiment. Whereas it didn’t depart me pondering that roleplaying musicals would be the wave of the longer term, I’m glad Summerfall Studios went for such a wild thought. The tip result’s uneven but nonetheless fairly pleasant. A compelling thriller is bolstered due to some nice music and powerful performances by its forged. It’s a disgrace that the animation and songwriting can’t match the standard of the opposite components, however Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical continues to be nicely price testing.