Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical Review

ign.com:

We’ve seen some unusual genre combinations, but Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical immediately caught my eye for being a supernatural murder mystery visual novel musical; as far as I can tell it’s a one-of-a-kind video game, but an idea that we can only hope will become more common because of how boldly bonkers it is. There’s a magical moment when characters – both mortals and the gods of Greek myth – burst into song and you can choose your response, which impacts how your character feels, affects how other people respond, and even changes the lyrics of the tune you’re helping create. Musical battles evolve to a whole new level when you can decide who sings and how they’re expressing their emotions. Inevitably, the initial thrill of choice starts to wear off the more you play, and the story and characters’ predictability make the overall experience fall a little flat, but even so, it has plenty of wonderful art and top-notch voice acting to keep you entertained through it all.

You play as Grace, voiced with moxie and flair by The Last of Us star Laura Bailey. She’s a college dropout who finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time and falsely accused of murdering a muse of the gods. Just as you’d hope for in a musical, which depends on every character being able to belt out a tune, the voice acting is rich across the board. Every line is voiced, often by recognizable talent. Bailey is joined by her The Last of Us colleagues Troy Baker, Merle Dandridge, Ashley Jonson, as well as stars of the stage and screen like Felicia Day, Rahul Kohli, and Anthony Rapp.

For such a fantastical story, though, I was a bit underwhelmed by the overly safe interpretation of the characters. If you’re going to explore Greek mythology, I