Stray Gods has me completely divided.
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Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical (Reviewed)
Developer: Summerfall Studios
Publisher: Humble Games
Released: Aug 3, 2023
Price: $30 USD
Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical is a short murder mystery visual novel that follows the legends of the Greek Gods, or what remains of them in this story.
It is your responsibility to help them in their time of need while also deciphering the mystery surrounding them and why things are unfolding the way they are.
This is a stomach-churning opera musical mixed in with the mystery and story, and it's necessary for me to emphasize this here and now; it's not for everyone.
It contains some pretty excessive but well done choreographed musicals, with some genuinely charming voice actors but it is also a hit-or-miss in terms of their intended demographic, generally coming off as "Cringe" at times while also a lack of direction for what they want the flow to be at the exact moment for each an every musical.
Story
Strong but tedious to put up with due to the incessant musicals
You follow a tight-knit group of recently graduated college students. While rehearsing for their band that they had all put together. They are close friends who want to stay together, which is why they formed the band in the first place, to avoid drifting away.
However, when the main protagonist Grace encounters the last Muse, Calliope the Muse who presides over eloquence and poetry, a chain of events begins to unfold.
Though she is unaware of this at first. Grace becomes her last hope for escaping her fate and preserving her line, regardless of Graces opinions in the matter.
The gods, you see, have been dying off one by one over the years, and they fear the mortal realm, and mortals alike, because of their invulnerability to their strength and weaponry, they fear being disclosed to the world once more, since if they are discovered, they may face annihilation by the very thing they fear the most.
It's a fantastic story.
I really wanted to appreciate it more than I did, but the continuous jump cuts to horribly crafted songs that just don't match the tone or flow prevented me from doing so. Throughout my entire gameplay, I was booing them. While occasionally loving the lyrical choices and flow of certain songs, the music was infuriating at times, but, it did demonstrate quality and fluidity out of nowhere which took me by surprise.
Issues
It just felt lacking and way to focused on the pointlessly off-flow musicals
It's an intriguing concept, and the story piqued my curiosity, but the muse feels like one of the worst roles they could have possibly chosen to be the main focus. Due to her voice fitting only one vibe or style of music, which was rap / a diss track which they hardly ever used, focusing more on the lovey dovie opera style instead.
It's on par with high-quality visual novels I've played in the past, as I mentioned in my early impressions review. However, it's... lacking in many aspects that I'd like to see, as well as seeming shallow in many areas that should have been more focused on.
While the story centers on Grace, Calliope, and Freddie, what about her other friends who show once and then disappear? I would have preferred to see more progressive bonding among the entire group rather than just the lesbian pair or with the gods.
Replay-ability
The is no option to return to previous sections of the game without wiping everything. There is also no ability to skip the musicals in any way shape or form. This makes for a pretty slow and boring replay factor to see the alternative endings, if there are any, it could all be smokes and mirrors to give the illusions of choice.
I get that this is because the outcome is different each time, but games I have played like AI Somnium Files and others handle this fairly well by branching them on a tree, which you can return to at any time from a specific point, rather than a full wipe.
Choices
They didn't seem to make an influence on the actual music as I had hoped.
The symbol for kickass made me always anticipate that the tone of the music would change to be more violent and savage, but I was faced with mixed feelings since each time I chose. The tone of the song stayed the same or changed completely in a way I would never expected, which just didn't fit the vibe at all. It seriously interfered with my ability to put up with the singing.
I understand. Calliope. The muses. Singing. It all fits together nicely but it could have been better with a more streamlined understanding of what the symbols meant.
But it just felt like a musical was being shoved down my throat by folks who were past their prime in terms of their accomplishments, you know? Ruining the story with bad song lyrics and repeating the same lines over and over as if it were the 1970s, when it was more suitable and the standard for many bands and musicians at the time.
A lack of SFX
You'd think the game would feature some sort of SFX to help immerse you in the plot.
There isn't much to hear. If lightning struck the sky, there would be no rumbling or sound. If the characters moved across the screen in a comic book frame by frame skip fashion, they used footsteps to depict them approaching or leaving you.
So why cut corners on the rest? It just doesn't make sense for a game that focuses on music and sound to remain silent for the other portions of the game not covered by a big musical precession. Which shows a overwhelming lack of effort put forth.
Gameplay
Nothing really changes
In between the musicals and dialogue where you get to understand the gods for who they are and not for what we perceive them to be in the history books, it's a light novel with some choices that just feel lacking at times, and rewarding at others.
If you expected to piece together the story and figure out things on your own, you should reconsider. This game feels more like a front for the developers' real-life passion for singing than a completely fleshed out game centered on the intricate story writing and composing. I truly do believe the music drowns out the story.
I just wish there was more to it than a small number of choices that didn't seem to make a difference aside from the more critical ones like life/death. You're just following the linear path with minor diversions along with hit or miss musicals.
There is no combat, or action or tension, just slow an novel like.
Conclusion
I love and really hate this game
There has to be a fine line grasp of what the developers wanted this game to be.
I played it all the way through to the finale, not because it was flawless, but rather because the story was great and engaging enough to get me through the musicals.
At times, the musicals had me expecting the next one would elicit feelings of joy, excitement, or grief, but this happened maybe once in the entire 6 hour playthrough.
Having said that. 6 hours seems insufficient. A lot of stuff I felt was missing or left out, and I wanted to learn more about specific people rather just the select few gods.
Hermes, for example, was a beautiful character portrayed as a transgendered FTM who, despite being very intriguing, was reduced to your personal chauffeur every now and then if you ever needed to access the realm of the gods. Upsetting.
Perhaps your decisions led you to know them and others better than the other gods. But doing so would require me to replay 6 hours of the same stuff with very little variation and no opportunity to skip over, so I'm afraid it wouldn't be worth my time.
This concludes my views of this game; while my opinions may be met with criticism, that is what distinguishes gamers; you don't have to like the same things as others, nor do you have to agree with them.
If you want to catch me on one of my streams or locate me on social media, you may do so at the following locations, I'm always playing something new.
- Pawkt
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