Crit Hit Arlyeon
2023/08/13
A First Look @ Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical
Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical is an interesting addition to the narrative storytelling genre - as it takes the choose-your-own-adventure format that a number of players may associate with Telltale-esque formats, and turns it into a Broadway-style musical. And the brilliant thing in all of this, is that it meshes seamlessly with the narrative. See, the protagonist, Grace, finds herself stuck in the midst of a murder mystery - one where she's the prime suspect, due to the victim dying rather literally on her doorstep. While already a problem, it's further compounded due to it being Calliope, The Last Muse, a member of the now dwindling Greek Pantheon. With only a week to prove her innocence, she must rely on her wits - and the vestiges of the muse. Namely, the ability to force those she encounters to sing from the heart. That said, that's hardly the extent of Stray gods' cleverness. As I mentioned earlier, this title belongs to the interactive fiction genre - with the typical trappings of making choices in order to progress forward through the narrative. That said, very early on in the game, you'll be given the option between a trio of Character Traits, being Charismatic, Clever, or Kickass - which provide access to dialogue options that would otherwise be barred to you. Here's the thing, though- these dialogue options -also- apply to the musical numbers, changing up the overall tone, and even imagery of those segments to a considerable degree. Admittedly, the song segments might be slightly stressful for some folks- since they are wholly comprised of timed dialogue elements- but, that decision ultimately feels like the correct one, given that it allows for a sense of musical flow. On the other side of things, you can actually disable the timed segments which crop up in the midst of normal dialogue. That said, while I mentioned that there's a certain brilliance to how it addresses the matter of player agency, this is also where the experience starts to fray. You won't necessarily notice it during your initial playthrough of the game, but once you loop around to the second, it becomes rather apparent that regardless of your choices, the outcomes turn out largely the same. While there are certainly elements that can go awry as you progress, these ultimately don't do anything to direct the course of the story one way or the other - having more of an influence on the final act and the ensuing epilogue, then anything else. That said, I do want to be clear here- this isn't an attempt to dissuade someone from trying it. On the whole- Stray Gods remains a fascinating and altogether solid first entry for Summerfall studios. That said, it would have highly benefited from a more efficient means of navigating the story and it's permutations, rather than locking players into playthroughs where it will take a notable amount of time to start making choices that feel impactful. Especially given that you're unable to skip the song segments, which adds a significant amount of waiting time if youre truly intent on seeing everything.
Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical