Instead of firing his aura, Gilman can detonate a trail he leaves behind him, banishing any enemies he passed in the last few seconds. One of my favorites is the slithering worm knight Sir Gilman, who's naturally the fastest member of the party.

Most of the races can jump and fire their aura in a straight line like an energy beam, but there are plenty of exceptions and twists on that basic setup.

Each character in your party comes from one of the Downside's races, with a unique skillset and stat distribution and a simple skill tree to level up as they gain experience. This aura disappears while holding the orb, so winning the Rites comes down to how you use those auras offensively and defensively, and how skillfully you can avoid them by jumping or sprinting around enemies.īuilding your team for the Rites is where Pyre most resembles an RPG. Each character also has an aura around them that will 'banish' or briefly knock out the enemy if it touches them. Rukey can briefly sprint at a much greater top speed, but deals less damage. Larger characters like Jodariel move slowly but do more damage to the pyre. Most times, choosing a destination on the map just results in a minor buff or debuff to one of your party for the next round, an effect I found all but meaningless. There's disappointingly little connective tissue between the two modes. Each team's goal is to douse the opponent's pyre, which starts with a hundred hit points and takes damage as a character flings or runs the ball-orb-into its flames. Instead of interspersing narrative sequences with puzzles, Pyre instead switches over to the Rites, a 3-on-3 competition that's basically wizard basketball. Pyre is more visual novel than RPG, though you do assemble a party of characters as you progress.

Within a few hours I'd seen all of the Downside, but felt like I'd interacted with none of it. Unlike The Oregon Trail or a more traditional RPG, there is no survival mechanic, there are no quests or sidequests, no minigames, no cities to explore and really no exploration, period.

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