Pyre E3 2016 Trailer, Previews and Gameplay Footage
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Supergiant Games' upcoming action-RPG, Pyre, has been the subject of some coverage at this year's E3 2016, which all seem to focus on its very unorthodox sports-like conflict mechanic. Before we start rounding up the previews and interviews, though, here's the latest trailer:
The Rites themselves are Pyre's version of combat, but involve two teams of three defending burning ritual pyres. Players try to wipe out the other team's pyre by seizing a glowing orb, and either tossing it or carrying it into the other team's pyre. When holding the orb, players can manipulate the orb-carrier into moving, passing the orb to a teammate, throwing the orb into the pyre, or performing special movies - Jodariel has the strongest attacks and slowest movement, while Rukey hits the lightest, though is by far the quickest. Players can only control the orb-carrier on offense, but can switch between exiles on the fly when the other team has the orb. Your team plays defense by attacking and obstructing the opponent's orb-carrier, but other teams can employ passing and special moves just like yours. After competing in Rites, the three exiles gain "enlightenment" (basically experience points) and can improve stats and learn new special skills in character-specific skill trees. And if you lose the Rites, it's not game over. Pyre has no fail-state that requires players to restart or go back to a previous save point. Losing a Rite is a setback, but it will never generate a permanent Game Over screen.
Visually, Pyre is stunning. The Rites are dimly-lit struggles illuminated by the iridescent orb and colorful burning pyres; each world map screen is a jewelry box of colorful skies and terrain. The movement of the exiles during Rites and the caravan during travel is jaunty. There are several zones to travel between (as opposed to a single, contiguous world map) but only the first zone was shown in the demo. Darren Korb is performing Pyre's soundtrack, and it sounds similar to his work in Bastion and Transistor. This is hardly a complaint, as both of those games had stellar soundtracks and sound design. The textured, gravelly voice of Logan Cunningham also returns to Pyre, where he serves as the announcer and commentator for Rites. Previously, Cunningham was the old narrator in Bastion and the voice of the sword in Transistor.
The rites play out like a sport. You and the opposing team compete to plunge an orb into the other team’s flame, thereby weakening it. Each team has three members, usually consisting of small, medium, and large characters. In the case of my team, those roles were filled by Rukey, Hedwyn, and Jodariel, respectively. How many points are taken off the other team’s flame is determined by the player’s size. Bigger characters take off three points, whereas smaller characters take off only one. The catch is that whoever plunges the orb into the flame is absent for the next round. So while you can try and slowly guide Jodariel there to deal the most damage, doing so could potentially leave your defense wide open.
Playing defense is primarily a game of positioning. You can only control one character at a time, so while one is rushing toward the orb, the other two remain stationary to guard your own flame using their aura. Aura is a field that instantly knocks any member of the opposing team out of the game for a few seconds if they pass through it. The range of their aura corresponds to the size of the unit. The bigger they are, the larger their aura is. You can bypass it by jumping over it, however, or by firing off some magic of sorts (but only if you’re not carrying the orb).
And finally, while the gameplay footage dates back from PAX East, I think it still might be worth posting this 20-minute video from the folks at IGN:
