The musical RPG Stray Gods needed more rehearsal time
The stage was set for a cow and a witch to fall in love. The stage in question was inside the actors’ minds and alternated between a shoddy, makeshift replication of a Romeo and Juliet backdrop and a glamorous setup ripped straight from Beauty and the Beast. One wrong line could have transformed the budding romance into an unspeakable tragedy, but with the right balance of emotional honesty and empathetic listening, Asterion the Minotaur and Hecate the witch walked away happy.
This is Stray Gods at its finest. The problem is that Stray Gods is so often not at its finest.
The self-styled “urban fantasy role-playing musical” from developer Summerfall Studios and Dragon Age writer David Gaider follows Grace (voiced by Laura Bailey), a directionless college dropout who suddenly inherits the powers of a Greek Muse after her new friend Calliope (Ashley Johnson) dies a shocking death. The other Greek deities, called Idols in the modern world, suspect Grace of the murder, and she has to find the true culprit in seven days — about seven hours of real-world play time — before the gods execute her.
Each number includes several key moments where you decide what lyrics Grace sings next, which usually has some effect on her relationship with the people involved. These choices give rise to one of Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical’s more confusing design choices, though. Picking a personality trait at the start locks you out of certain color-coded conversation topics (and certain endings to the entire game), but you’re free to choose any line in a song, even if it’s opposed to your dominant personality choice. The idea of musical improvisation is tantalizing in the possibilities it suggests for role-playing, but as a mechanic, it
Read more on polygon.com
