Bastion creator Supergiant Games has revealed its latest project, announcing that the “party-based role-playing game” Pyre is due to launch for the PlayStation 4 and PCs via Steam in 2017. Taking place within a “vast, mystical purgatory,” Pyre centers around a band of travelers who seek to absolve their sins and return to their homeland.
“At the beginning of the game, your luck has almost run out when several masked wanderers find you and revive you from the brink,” developer Supergiant explained. “With your help, they seek to learn the truth about the Rites, a secretive competition through which the worthiest exiles can return home, absolved of their transgressions.”
While few details regarding Pyre‘s storyline have been disclosed, Supergiant suggests that player choices will determine the fate of its starring cast: “As you journey across the Downside in the wanderers’ custom blackwagon, you’ll meet a variety of characters of all shapes and sizes, and learn what’s in store for each of them should they prevail in the Rites. Your actions will determine who returns to glory, and who remains in exile to the end of their days.”
Pyre has an overhead view of the action during gameplay, similar to the isometric perspective adopted by Supergiant’s previous projects Bastion and Transistor. Thus far, it’s unclear whether Pyre features action-oriented gameplay in the vein of Bastion or turn-based mechanics a la Transistor.
Developer Supergiant Games made its debut in 2011 with Bastion, a combat-driven action game featuring running commentary from an ever-present narrator. The company followed up on Bastion‘s success in 2014 with Transistor, a sci-fi action-RPG that adopted a more strategic approach to its gameplay.
Pyre will be publicly playable for the first time at PAX East (booth #8212) over the course of this coming weekend.
