Back in August of last year, I had the pleasure of reviewing Stray Gods, a visual novel – musical. I had never seen a game like this before in my life, and it was just a blast to take in the engaging narrative, compelling characters, and musical talent that went into it. It was truly something special and I highly recommend checking it out, if you haven’t yet.
Nearly a year later, the good folks at Summerfall Studios have released a DLC following the footsteps of Orpheus, a dead God, and his adventure back into the world of the living. Does it hit all the right notes? Musically, absolutely. Gameplay-wise? Check! The story? Not so much.
So, get that honey ready for your singing voice, and let’s get our notes in tune for this review.
Story and motivation
I’m not the type of reviewer who enjoys beating around the bush with their reviews, so let’s get right into the crux of the issue here – the story and its motivation for the player. Giving the player reasons to go on the adventure and a connection to buy into the adventure is vital for a game of this type. Keep that in mind as I blabber away here.
The story of Stray Gods – Orpheus begins with Orpheus coming out of the belly of Hades, a place where he spent his time playing a lonely game of chess with the river man. His exit is thanks to Hermes, who wants him to find true love since his love left his life most tragically. His adventure into the world of the living and his second chance at redemption sends him on a whirlwind through modern dating life and gives him time to reflect and find himself along the way. It’s a worthy tale of sorts, depending on how you feel about it.
And that is the issue for me here, I just couldn’t connect with Orpheus as much as I could with Grace. The reason is solely that there wasn’t enough time for character development before we had to go with Orpheus on his adventure. And while he is on the adventure, and the player is trying to connect with him and his plight, the game is over before we get there. We didn’t care about him because we didn’t have time to care about him. His being plucked from Hades and pulled into the real world and immediately given marching orders to find true love was a bit fast. Once he gets going and he hits all the right places to find this true love, the game ends. It was a fast experience and I’m not sure what the rush was to get this over with. I just wanted this DLC to slow down.
It’s as if the devs wanted a reason for more music, which I can support because the music is great in this series but didn’t fully think through properly constructing the story’s multi-act narrative enough to make it all fit. Unlike the original game, the story just couldn’t connect the dots enough to make the adventure feel like something meaningful or memorable.
To explain this a bit more, let’s discuss the original game’s story. Stray Gods found a lost soul with Grace who was looking for herself and at the same time urgently trying to solve a mystery of a muse’s death before Grace suffered her end at the hands of a suspicious set of gods. That story balanced music, progression, character development, a big reveal, and redemption by the end. It was an amazing tale that brought a meaningful set of acts and some fantastic music, both of which danced together with purpose. Every aspect of the gameplay construction for that visual novel fit together gorgeously.
For Stray Gods – Orpheus, this isn’t the case. The music was right and good, but the story just felt not thought through. We don’t know Orpheus well enough to understand why he is having a problem connecting with love, and what scars were left with his true love’s death. We don’t know what made him who he ended up being at the beginning of this game, and we can’t connect with him well enough to get there. Grace’s story gave us a glimpse at her life and the reason why she felt lost in both her career and her life. We were there long enough to connect with her and were dragged with her through her story. Orpheus just kind of ‘is’ with this story and we’re asked to go with it. That just doesn’t work for me narratively.
I need my characters completely developed and I want to know their mindset before the music begins. Again, we’re just thrown into his misery and his shift from dead to alive happens so quickly. I hate to say this, but I wanted to see a bit more suffering and struggle before he was given a solution. Make him wallow a bit. Make him play chess with the river man and then go back to his room and have reminders of who he lost. Establish his world before you turn it upside down. Grace was done this way, but Orpheus fell short.
While the music did get paired with the moments just fine, the moments were not earned and some just simply were silly. The best part of this story is Orpheus’ sad interaction with Medusa, where we get to know her a little bit better and her nightly ritual that is more empty than fulfilling.
Anyway, this game needed both the narrative and music to be in sync, and to live up to the original title. If it could achieve that, then it would have continued a series that features a well-built story that complements perfectly placed music. As this DLC’s story stands, it didn’t.
Gameplay Elements
The gameplay of Stray Gods – Orpheus is similar in construction to its big brother, where you fall into songs during the story and are allowed to choose branching narrative choices that affect character responses and story shifts. That aspect of this game was done well, and it still works when the story works. If you haven’t had the pleasure of playing this type of game, the branching narrative aspect is a neat and unique way to push along a visual novel. The choices you get to make truly affect the game’s story shift. It gives you control, something most visual novels have as an afterthought.
Anyway, as the gameplay elements in Stray Gods – Orpheus stand, they’re just as good as the original title that came out last year. I’m grateful for this because it works well. When the DLC was released in June, I honestly couldn’t wait to get my hands on it to play this type of gameplay again. There’s so much room for replayability and to make a story truly engage the player. You want games like that, and this gameplay construction nearly guarantees that it will happen.
I think that Summerfall Studios is top tier with this gameplay construction, and I hope that they continue to expand, or maybe do a sequel to the original title. There are so many different stories to tell, plus you could go the prequel route with all the gods to even make this musical universe bigger.
Anyway, that’s my DLC review experience with Stray Gods – Orpheus. Let’s get this conclusion going.
Conclusion
Stray Gods – Orpheus from developer Summerfall Studios falls short of the original game Stray Gods. The DLC is a shorter game that contains a more compact and less meaningful narrative, while still featuring great music and wonderful gameplay elements like the original release. If you accept those terms, you might like Stray Gods – Orpheus.
