Stray Gods is a Campy, Engrossing Visual Novel With a Song in its Heart

Developed by Summerfall Studios and published by Humble Games, Stray Gods: The Role Playing Musical was originally released in August 2023. Additional content known as "Stray Gods: Orpheus" was released in late June 2024 on all consoles. For the purpose of this review, I will only be reviewing the base game as I have not played the DLC yet.

Stray Gods tells the epic tale of Grace, a young woman and college dropout who feels directionless. After meeting a mysterious young woman named Calliope, Grace returns home only to have a fatally wounded Calliope die in her arms. From here, Grace finds herself becoming the last Muse, accused of murder by a chorus of Greek gods. Now, she has seven days to prove her innocence and find the true killer or be sentenced to death.

One of the first notable features in Stray Gods is the animated sequences. Consisting of 2D hand-illustrated visuals created by art director Benjamin Ee and illustrator Jess Lee, watching the animation feels almost like looking at a comic book. Characters are drawn realistically so that facial expressions and movement feel true to life. The designs are diverse in terms of race, gender, and body type and also vibrant and detailed enough to show facets of each character's personality.

Characters are drawn realistically so that facial expressions and movement feel true to life.

Speaking of the characters, they are a pretty lively bunch. Grace will be relatable to anyone who has felt stuck in life, while her female best friend Freddie is cool, optimistic, and knowledgeable about Greek mythology. Then, there are the Greek gods themselves. Hermes is a cheerful nonbinary Asian messenger with magic doorways. Persephone is a tough-as-nails club owner with a soft side. Aphrodite is beautiful, soulful, and deeply troubled. Orpheus is vindictive and musically gifted. These characters and their personal stories are dynamically enhanced by a stellar international voice cast that includes Laura Bailey, Erika Ishii, Merle Dandridge, and Anthony Rapp.

Moreover, the characters, story, and animated sequences are brought to life through fabulous musical numbers that change lyrically and genre-wise depending on the dialogue you select out of a series of timed, color-coded choices. The musical numbers are also affected by the color-coded traits you select for Grace at the beginning and climax of the game, which range from charming (green), kick-ass (red), or clever (blue). On my first playthrough, I chose the Clever trait, which made the song "I Can Teach You" into a fun jazz track. On the other hand, the kick-ass trait turned this song into an angry solo jazz number.

In addition to making choices during musical numbers, the dialogue choices you select influence which characters you romance. Some choices come with heart options that allow you to flirt with a character and at some point, you get choices with an exclamation point. Choosing the right one allows you to romance a character and later get a musical number. There are four romance options, including Apollo, Persephone, Freddie, and Pan. I romanced Freddie on my second playthrough and found their courtship poignant, down-to-earth, and sweet. However, other players might want to consider using a guide if you are going for a certain character to ensure that you pick the correct dialogue options, as it is possible to get locked out of romancing a character if you pick the wrong ones.

This brings me to the last two prominent aspects of the game. The first is the ability to reload your save from specific points in the game. If you dislike a choice you make in one musical number or a dialogue option, you can reload the chapter it is in and do it again. While you can't hit the "Y" button and fast forward through musical numbers you've already done, you can do this with the dialogue lines.

For those who want to do multiple routes, the replay value is very high. There are multiple save slots available for different playthroughs and the ability to skip dialogue lines assists with this. Not to mention, the rewards are worth it as you get to romance different characters, see what happens if you side with certain characters, and hear different versions of the songs.

All in all, this game is a campy and engrossing visual novel with a song in its heart. Visually striking animation, charismatic characters, and dramatic musical numbers come together to tell a magical story about gods learning to be human and finding a new place for themselves.

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