Pyre
Review

Pyre (2017) is an unusual mix of role-playing and action sports. It takes place in a fantasy world, where you guide a caravan of exiles during fantasy sports games called Rites. As you explore you build a party of characters who encounter other groups of exiles and compete with them in these Rites competitions.

Each Rite has two opposing teams at each end in three vs three matches. Controlling each character in turn, you aim to destroy the opposing team's pyre by launching a single glowing orb at it. Like other video game sports, there are various rules and mechanics to perfect and the characters have various skills that aid them like dashes or long-range projectiles.

It's an unusual combination of a deep (and verbosely written) fantasy world and a real-time sports challenge. You navigate the world by making decisions in the branching story that sees you meet, recruit and develop characters for your team. It creates a surprisingly emotional experience that is as peculiar as Dr Seuss and as competitive as Rocket League.

Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Pyre 3 years ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 10 months ago.