In my pantheon of publishers, I’m beginning to think that Humble Games deserves a spot at the table. The last few original games they have released have been stellar. From the horrors of Signalis to the Metroid-like experience of Ghost Song, and even the mesmerizing and delightful Unpacking, Humble Games has been really knocking it out of the ballpark lately. And their hot streak continues with Stray Gods.
Stray Gods from developer Summerfall Studios is an oddly satisfying branching musical novel that puts story first, but also character control firmly in the hands of the player. The game is engaging as it is beautiful, and it brings a new and wonderful version of a branching visual novel to life in the most spectacular of ways.
Go swish some salt water in your mouth and throat, go sip on some honey-based tea, and don’t forget to practice those scales. You’re in for a musical ride with this review.
Story is key
The story of Stray Gods is intriguing. You play Grace, a songbird that has lost her passion for music and is in dire need of finding a new vocalist to complete her band. While she hum-drums past auditions, she is met by a magical muse named Calliope, who helps her find the right tunes to get her songs and emotions kicking in the right key. Inspired by Calliope, who wouldn’t be a good muse if she couldn’t inspire, Grace leaves the failed audition room to return gleefully back home. While at home for hours, and reveling in her newfound fondness for tunes, she is yet again met by Calliope who this time doesn’t bring joy with her, but rather a fatal wound that will see her pass on the floor of Grace’s kitchen.
With her last few breaths of life, Calliope admits to Grace that she is a God and that she is going to pass her soul onto Grace and have Grace take over the duties of being a Godly resident muse. Grace barely has time to grieve for her fallen new friend, when she is yanked from her reality and pulled into a room full of Gods who mostly believe that Grace killed Calliope. Grace is given the task of proving her innocence, which she must do in a week, or face death.
I didn’t know what to expect from this story when I first launched the game. I knew there was going to be music, but I didn’t expect the impactful and intense drama that came with it all. While the first act of the game is unbelievable and sort of goofy, acts two and three are absolutely some of the better video game story acts I have come across in some time.
Everything about Grace’s impending doom feels real. You feel bad for her, and you’re just as lost as she is when it comes to proving her innocence and figuring out who murdered Calliope. I didn’t think this premise would hook me as fast as it did, but, wow, it hooks quickly. When you get a full dose of everyone’s story and why they are who they are, you really start to see the characters in this game take shape. I’ve seen $200 million dollar movies that couldn’t develop their characters and story this well. Looking at you, DCEU.
Anyway, I think somewhere around act two I thought how cool this game would be as a movie or a show. It really has some David Lynch Twin Peaks type of vibes to it, as you don’t get a lot of solid clues on who the killer might be, rather you’re just given loose assumptions. You will see quickly how enticed you are to point fingers at Gods or mortals who might have lent a hand in Calliope’s death. The second act just explodes with possibilities, and it gives you more shape and insight into how the Gods (idols) function in their secret world, and the problems they must deal with as immortals.
By the time act three arrives, good lord, you’re really invested. I don’t like giving too much away, and I know I’m only scratching the surface with the story because it’s branching, but regardless of your path, you’re going to be entertained.
Gameplay branching
Complementing the story of Stray Gods is how the story is interactively handled. Recently, there has been a large influx of branching narratives, especially in the visual novel genre, and some of them are even well done. If you’re not familiar with the concept of branching narratives, it’s where the game gives you choices in dialogue, and depending on which choice you choose, the story changes ever so slightly. LucasArts and BioWare really perfected this with Knights of the Old Republic and dug deep to make the branching mechanic an intricate part of that gameplay. The type of gameplay is incredibly complicated when you’re in the planning phase, and I haven’t seen another game of KOTOR’s type that has gone into such detail with story shift as it was known for doing.
Now, Stray Gods does a superb job of bringing an extremely complicated branching narrative to their story. As you play through, Grace is met with different responses that shape relationships within the game. For example, when Grace meets the ever-bitter, and rightfully so, Persephone, she is greeted with hostility and spite. As you get to know Persephone’s background, her struggles, and her downright abusive (physically and mentally) life, you’re given choices on how to respond to her comments. Grace can be rude or downright mean back to Persephone, which shifts the story in a different direction, possibly damaging a potential relationship with her fellow God, or she can sympathize with Persephone’s struggles and go down a different path with trying to understand her. How you choose to go with dialogue responses dictates the relationship or lack thereof that Grace might have with Persephone. Even some dialogue choices cancel out potential ones. And every character that Grace meets comes with this type of fork in the road on various levels. This added gameplay mechanic forms another layer of intensity on top of a murder mystery story that is more thrilling than boring. You’re going to get many layers from this precious onion.
When you’re not bonding with characters or destroying potential relationships, the game has a singing component to it. While not every song is gold, most of the music you get here is well-written and very well performed. The branching mechanic even pulls into this portion of the game, where you can choose how or what to sing. That branching narrative, much like the dialogue, shouldn’t be taken lightly, as it can shift the way the narrative moves. As the game starts the musical portion of gameplay, will bring players choices of how to sing. The ‘how’ here means you can go into a song lyric aggressively or emotionally at times. What way you choose to deliver the music equals even more choices and shift in story. For example, I can tell you the final act has a lot of meaningful choices that determine the ending of Grace’s journey. Again, I don’t want to get too much into it, but the choices, even in music, are effective and will hook you in the right way. Plus, the music is catchy, which makes you even more invested in the gameplay. It’s toe-tapping stuff, even when it’s emotionally powerful.
The fault of most branching narrative mechanics in games is that the dialogue can get way too wordy. Truth be told, I was very worried about this when the game started. I didn’t know if I was about to sit down for a good read and try to stay awake, or if it was going to be normal dialogue that real people speak. Thankfully, it was normal dialogue that seemed to get its point across in a standard human conversation sort of way. The characters spoke like real people and delivered the drama without being over the top. As previously stated, it was like watching a show or a movie unfold before me. The dialogue was meaningfully delivered, and it didn’t waste a word. It’s easy to fall into entertainment when it feels like the characters aren’t overexplaining themselves. It was the right amount of dialogue for the right amount of story. It didn’t deliver anything more or less than what was required.
Beyond the above, there really isn’t much else to Stray Gods’ gameplay. It’s music and story-centric with a strong branching narrative backbone to keep the player engaged and interactive with the game. It’s one of the more entertaining games I have played in this genre, and I hope to see more of this title as sequels should be considered. The game leaves you wanting more by the end, and there is more than enough room for additional stories to branch off of this initial offering.
Presentation that is simple, yet beautiful
While most games in this genre want you to live within a 3D environment and go exploring, see KOTOR for details, Stray Gods knows that bringing good art to a great story doesn’t require too much animation. It’s like a fancier version of Tom Goes to the Mayor, except more serious and far more beautiful, but the movement is along the same lines. Anyway, you get comic-like art that is full of expression and creates/molds the characters just as well as the story that carries it all.
Now, the best part of the presentation? The acting. Laura Bailey absolutely nails the role of Grace. She sells the wandering lost character and triumphs in her growing viciousness and self-reliance. She is one of the bright spots in this cast, and there are a lot of lights in the room. From Khary Payton’s Pan, who is mysterious and relaxing, to Janina Gavankar’s Freddie, a friend you would always want in your corner, everyone brings their best to bring these characters fully to life. And I didn’t even mention Troy Baker’s Apollo and Felicia Day’s Athena. There you go, I mentioned them. Unsurprisingly, they both deliver as well. Anyway, this is a helluva cast that delivers their passion and performance, while also properly propping up one helluva story to hook the player.
Everything is alive and kicking in the presentation department of Stray Gods.
On that note, let’s wrap this review up.
Conclusion
Stray Gods from developer Summerfall Studios and publisher Humble Games is a beautiful and engaging musical branching narrative game that succeeds in delivering a powerful story with compelling characters. While not every song in the game is gold, the music that accompanies the gameplay mixes well and makes for one of the more entertaining gaming experiences of 2023.
