The stage was set for a cow and a witch to fall in love. The stage in query was contained in the actors’ minds and alternated between a shoddy, makeshift replication of a Romeo and Juliet backdrop and a glamorous setup ripped straight from Magnificence and the Beast. One improper line might have remodeled the budding romance into an unspeakable tragedy, however with the best stability of emotional honesty and empathetic listening, Asterion the Minotaur and Hecate the witch walked away glad.
That is Stray Gods at its most interesting. The issue is that Stray Gods is so typically not at its most interesting.
The self-styled “city fantasy role-playing musical” from developer Summerfall Studios and Dragon Age author David Gaider follows Grace (voiced by Laura Bailey), a directionless school dropout who instantly inherits the powers of a Greek Muse after her new pal Calliope (Ashley Johnson) dies a surprising loss of life. The opposite Greek deities, referred to as Idols within the trendy world, suspect Grace of the homicide, and she or he has to seek out the true perpetrator in seven days — about seven hours of real-world play time — earlier than the gods execute her.
Every quantity contains a number of key moments the place you determine what lyrics Grace sings subsequent, which normally has some impact on her relationship with the individuals concerned. These selections give rise to certainly one of Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical’s extra complicated design selections, although. Selecting a character trait at the beginning locks you out of sure color-coded dialog subjects (and sure endings to the whole sport), however you’re free to decide on any line in a track, even when it’s against your dominant character alternative. The concept of musical improvisation is tantalizing within the potentialities it suggests for role-playing, however as a mechanic, it seems like an afterthought.
That degree of flexibility might have enhanced the “role-playing” side of dialogue in the remainder of the sport by supplying you with extra affect over Grace’s actions. Limiting it solely to songs makes it really feel extra extra like improvisation, with Grace wildly devising what to say subsequent with only a shred of context and inspiration for steerage. And like many improv units, the outcomes range considerably. Whereas many outcomes have a significant impact on Grace’s relationships, others really feel superfluous — virtually like filler.
Fortunately, Stray Gods’ setting is compelling in myriad different methods. It lends itself to some magical moments and intelligent juxtapositions of the legendary and the trendy: Persephone owns a nightclub, a haven for all who lengthy to be free, established after she gained her personal freedom from the underworld. Apollo’s oracle is a smart-talking hacker referred to as Oracle. He thinks she’s a supernatural being and values her otherworldly abilities of laptop literacy. She simply thinks he’s a weirdo.
It’s a fantasy that falls aside below scrutiny, although, because of plot inconsistencies and a few careless writing that riddles the script. Pan acts like he’s by no means seen a human residence if you first meet him, but it surely later seems he lives in a luxe penthouse. Apollo supposedly doesn’t know what computer systems are, however in some way managed to arrange a high-speed web community for Oracle. In essentially the most evident case, Persephone is set to pin Calliope’s homicide on Grace for a lot of the first act, after which, seemingly on a whim after their track battle, Persephone says she discovered it fairly exhausting to consider Grace was responsible. I might chalk this as much as the gods’ capriciousness — however the Idols’ refusal to alter performs a key function in Stray Gods’ plot.
Basically, Stray Gods handles huge revelations unconvincingly. Take Apollo, for instance. He jogs my memory of Whats up Dolly’s Dolly Levi, one other character who regrets years spent in a depressive rut, dominated by worry of the unknown. Dolly’s awakening occurs throughout “Earlier than the Parade Passes By,” a soul-stirring quantity the place you possibly can really feel Dolly’s dedication to wake her spirit up in every little thing — the tempo, the melody, the gradual addition of latest accompanying devices, even the quantity. When she reemerges with a vibrant decision to stay a full life irrespective of the associated fee, you haven’t any alternative however to consider it.
It doesn’t matter what route you are taking by means of Apollo’s track, the factor that erases centuries of remorse and inaction and convinces him to assist Grace is an easy line of throwaway dialogue. If solely life have been so easy. Stray Gods simply doesn’t have the emotional depth to drag off a lot of the character transformations which are central to its plot.
The forged present process these transformations is a mixture of impressed concepts and odd selections. Grace is a likable if uneven lead whose story facilities on fixing godly conflicts greater than it does her personal emotional turmoil. Grace leaps into the Muse’s function and leaves her anxieties behind, hardly ever stopping to mirror on her new life and even Stray Gods’ (and Greek theater’s) largest theme — the facility of artwork to cleanse the feelings.
The devious Pan, grudge-bearing Persephone, and compassionate Aphrodite simply steal the present with their nuanced issues and powerful deliveries. Troy Baker and Felicia Day, the actors who painting Apollo and Athena, give unusually flat readings that solely emphasize how bland their characters are, so allying Grace with the aforementioned compelling deities is sensible.
A energy of musicals is the flexibility to discover feelings that defy mere spoken phrases. Some mirror these feelings with a poetic bent, whereas others take pleasure in spectacle and impact; one of the best do each. However most of Stray Gods’ first act seems like a primary rehearsal. Overly simplified compositions drag out notes and subjects alike, retreading concepts introduced up in dialog with out including something new. The behavior regularly fades within the second act and past, although. Summerfall and composer Austin Wintory throw a number of gems into the combination, together with the sumptuous quantity between Hecate and Asterion the Minotaur, in addition to a charged duet between Pan and Grace. However Stray Gods can’t keep constant — it’s a number of clusters of standout musical moments punctuated by lengthy, uninteresting stretches of downtime.
That stated, the vocal performances are virtually universally very good. Laura Bailey delivers constantly highly effective notes, and it’s against the law towards artwork if we don’t get to listen to Allegra Clark (Hecate) and Merle Dandridge (Aphrodite) sing in some capability once more. The standout for me is Khary Payton as Pan, whose gravelly efficiency because the suspicious satyr nonetheless performs in my head lengthy after the credit rolled.
Considered one of my favorites is Pan’s introduction, “Morning Fades,” a jazzy quantity with a tender undercurrent of sleaze that tells you extra about his character than any of the overly lengthy dialogue segments that bookend it. My first time by means of, I picked lyrics in step with Grace’s intelligent, calculating traits and ended up with a disappointing expertise. Grace solely rehashes her suspicions of Pan, and Pan saved repeating how Grace wants him — each subjects that Stray Gods covers extensively earlier than the singing begins.
The second time I performed by means of the scene, I had Grace aspect together with her greatest pal, Freddie, and the 2 of them hijacked Pan’s personal track, turning it right into a scathing rebuke of his predatory habits. The extent of management Stray Gods affords in these moments is fascinating and teases new methods to discover role-playing in video games — particularly by means of music. I simply want Stray Gods lavished the identical consideration to role-playing on its different songs, the place each path felt rewarding or altered the end result in a significant means.
Stray Gods is formidable in its objectives, and whereas the street Summerfall and co. take to achieve them is tough and uneven, I gained’t be forgetting Grace’s story anytime quickly. It’s a intelligent format, and the unfulfilled potential makes me excited for future makes an attempt to meld video games and theater.
Stray Gods will probably be launched on Aug. 10 on Nintendo Change, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Sequence X. The sport was reviewed on PC utilizing a pre-release obtain code offered by Humble Video games. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media could earn commissions for merchandise bought by way of affiliate hyperlinks. You’ll find extra details about Polygon’s ethics coverage right here.