History VideoGame / Pyre

Unlike previous entries from Supergiant Games, combat in ''Pyre'' plays more like a basketball game where you control a party of three to jump, pass, tackle, or fire their Auras with the aim of putting a Celestial Orb into the opposing party's Pyre until it is doused, and stopping your opponents from extinguishing your Pyre in turn.

* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: Downplayed in Versus Mode. Using the preset Masteries gives some characters combinations of Masteries that would be impossible to get with player-assigned Masteries, but you can play with any of those characters.

** PlayedForLaughs when you can't refuse to help Hedwyn decide what to cook.

* EldritchAbomination: All the Titans, whose remains are at each of the Celestial Landmarks you visit for the Rites. Especially Yslach, whose physical form was merely bound. Other characters say he's just sleeping, and one day he'll come back to devour the world.

* FreudianTrio: The initial three Nightwings.
** Jodariel is the Superego: the most obsessed with succeeding in the Rites, she sees you (initially) as nothing but a means to an end.
** Rukey is the Id: the nicest to you, but also the most impulsive one, living day-to-day.
** Hedwyn is the Ego: the mediator between the other two, his opinion of you is mixed: he sees you as a friend, but expects you to pull your weight.

* TheGhost:
** [[spoiler:Hedwyn's Harp sweetheart, Fikani.]] She's mentioned repeatedly, multiple characters have conversations about her, she's the core of [[spoiler:Hedwyn's]] motivation to return home, and she [[spoiler:even co-leads the raid on the hideout of Archjustice Androbeles IX with him]] in some versions of the finale, but our only glimpse of her on-screen is a tiny portrait in the mouse-over popup for her name.
** Likewise, [[spoiler:Erisa, the blacksmith's daughter and former Nightwing who tried to murder Oralech and take his place in the Falls after a Liberation Rite]]. Her actions hugely affect the backstory of [[spoiler:the original/True Nightwings]], but like [[spoiler:Fikani]], all we ever see of her is a mouse-over portrait. Doubles as a PosthumousCharacter.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The titan Unfathomed Plurnes was impaled on the prow of the ship that it sunk.

* {{Jerkass}}:
** From the moment he speaks, you can tell that The Voice does not like you ''or'' the Nightwings.
** Sandra, the apparition in the Beyonder Crystal. The greatest compliment she gives you is telling you you're not an idiot.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Sandra does eventually warm up to you. She just initially keeps you at a distance because [[spoiler:she has been used for training by many, many people who abandoned her when they were done with the Rites. You are the first to actually talk to her and see how she is doing. She even tries to cut off the relationship because she is scared she will get attached, then you will leave like everyone else. However, if you keep attempting to talk to her, she will ask you to take her with you right before the final Rite commences. In the epilogue, she is pretty cheerful while tearing into the vague stories written about her.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Over the first half of the game, the Voice begins to warm up to you, saying that one day you may even take his place as the voice of the ritual. [[spoiler:But then when Volfred, a previous teammate of the Voice when he was an exile, joins your ranks as a party member, the Voice becomes even worse in his mocking of the Nightwings, repeatedly wishing for their failure.]]

* NiceGuy: Hedwyn. While he makes it clear you'll have to prove your worth to the group, he also clearly sees you as a friend and defends you.

* PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler:Erisa, the former Nightwing who died in the Fall of Soliam while trying to murder Oralech and take his place]], thus affecting the entire plot of the game. [[spoiler:She's only mentioned in dialogue about their past, and we don't even get a good look at her aside from her tiny popup portrait.]]

* SoundTest: An interesting and diegetic example. When the Minstrel properly joins your caravan, you can find his lute. If you click on it, you can play any song in the game on it. However, it'll be an acoustic version of it, as if you were playing it on the lute.

* ObviousRulePatch: Some species have restrictions on which non-legendary Talismans they can equip to prevent game-breaking or awkward interactions, with no lore justification (unlike the Legendary Talismans).

* ObviousRulePatch: Some species have restrictions on which non-legendary Talismans they can equip with no lore justification (unlike the Legendary Talismans).

** You can [[spoiler:mind-control Oralech into liberating you instead of himself if you lose the final Rite to him]] - [[KickTheDog one of the few unambiguously evil decisions in the game]]. The option to back out says that your conscience is shouting obscenities at you. Go through with it and [[spoiler:the last thing you see before you ascend is the shock on the anointed Nightwing's face]].

** PlayedForLaughs when you can't refuse to help Hedwyn [[spoiler:decide what to cook]].

** Similarly, you can't leave when [[spoiler:Volfred]] tells you YouCanTurnBack. Either Hedwyn will interject, or there is no dialogue option to accept.

* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: Downplayed in Versus Mode. Using the preset Masteries gives some characters combinations of Masteries that would be impossible to get if you chose player-assigned Masteries, but you can play with any of those characters.

* YouCanTurnBack: [[spoiler:Volfred Sandalwood]] says this to the Reader twice, once when you first meet him and he implies that he will take over the Nightwings, and once when he cynically assumes that the Reader only helped the Nightwings because [[spoiler:they don't know that they can't be freed through the Rites]]. In both cases you have a number of dialogue options, [[ButThouMust but you can't actually accept.]]

* WeWereYourTeam: Inverted. If [[spoiler:the leader of an opposing Triumvirate ascends]], they will not regroup in time to face you again.

* CharacterTiers: Enforced in Versus Mode when you use the preset Masteries; the characters don't all have the same number of Masteries.

You have been expelled by the Commonwealth into a harsh realm called the Downside, only rescued from certain death by the strangers Hedwyn, Jodariel and Rukey. Their only hope, and yours, of regaining freedom lies within the mysterious Book of Rites, which only you can read. You are tasked with carrying out the Rites described inside, which involves co-ordinating your team as their Reader, following the stars to each Rite, and engaging in ritual fights against other travelling triumvirates, so that you might win back your freedom.

** Sandra was imprisoned in the Beyonder Crystal for a grievous attack on Soliam Murr, and the Scribes by extension. Her possible statuses when you examine the crystal include "Blaspheming" and "Blaspheming more than usual".

* TurnsRed: All of the triumvirates have unique effects when you do enough Pyre damage in your first Rite against them and when you face them in a Liberation Rite. These aren't always deliberate on their part and don't always work in their favor.

** The Fate drop Moon Signs which buff anyone who picks them up, or pray to Jomuer with such sincerity and resolve that your Exiles are shaken, increasing their respawn times.

** The Essence start from mid-field.

* LonelyTogether:
** What bunches the Nigthwings (and maybe other Triumvirates as well) into proficient team. Is arguably one of the main motives of the whole work since the game constantly plays with idea of freedom as something that can be found only in respectful coexistence and cooperation with others instead of mere ability of acting on one's whims.
** There are some pretty straightforward depictions in titular song lyrics:
-->''All are not the same\\
But three shall be as one''
-->...
-->''Strands may break alone\\
But twisted make a braid''
-->...
-->''Huddled in the cold\\
Backs against the storm\\
The timid and the bold\\
They keep each other warm''

* TurnsRed: All of the triumvirates have unique effects when you do enough Pyre damage in Liberation Rites against them. These aren't always deliberate on their part and don't always work in their favor.

** The Dissidents (unconsciously) infuse the Orb with their chaotic energy, reducing the Orb's gravity.

** The Fate pray to Jomuer with such sincerity and resolve that your Exiles are shaken, increasing their respawn times.
** The Withdrawn invoke Yslach, causing pools of ichor to appear wherever someone is banished.

* AintNoRule: Dousing the Pyre by throwing the Celestial Orb is this in-universe, based on the Voice's comments. In practice, it's one of the first things you learn.

* BeneathTheEarth: The Downside is literally under the Commonwealth. Exiles are thrown into the River Sclorian, which cascades down into the Downside.

** The Accusers were created by Gol Golathanian to be templars of justice. They are led by Lindel, a very corrupt cop.

** The Fate were created by Jomuer Many-Mane who valued faith and honor. While Dalbert is an exemplary example of the Fate's values, his adoptive son Almer, who doesn't put much stock in the Scribes and is very rude towards other triumvirates, does not.

** Volfred has a more subdued example: when talking about [[spoiler:Erisa murdering Oralech and dying herself while trying to ascend in his place]], he says he resists the urge to blame the way the Rites pit people against each other. But upon confirming that [[spoiler:you will face Oralech in the final Liberation Rite]], he gives in and curses the Rites for this match-up.

** By agreeing to help with Volfred's [[spoiler:revolution]], the Voice will call you and the Nightwings cheaters and terrorists with no respect for the tradition of the Rites. Volfred, on the other hand, [[spoiler:sees his Plan as a way of restoring the Scribes' original values]].

* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: Inverted. If [[spoiler:the leader of an opposing Triumvirate ascends]], they will not regroup in time to face you again.

* ThemeMusicOverride: Prior to [[spoiler:the final Liberation Rite of the age]], the theme of [[spoiler:the True Nightwings]] plays instead of The Old Ways, the usual theme that opens a Liberation Rite.

** After a certain point, you can ram the other triumvirates' blackwagons with your own for your own amusement.

** The [[spoiler:True Nightwings]] are bombarded by meteorites which banish anyone they strike.

** Rukey clearly has a crush on Pamitha. Pamitha for her part doesn't tip her hand either direction on how she feels about Rukey, although she does give him her helmet that apparently is of sentimental value to her if [[spoiler:she ascends before he does.]] [[spoiler:If both Rukey and Pamitha both ascend, in the ending they become very close drinking buddies, though the epilogue doesn't state whether they become closer than that.]]

** If you [[spoiler:lose the final Rite, you can mind-control Oralech into liberating you instead of himself]] - [[KickTheDog one of the few unambiguously evil decisions in the game]]. The tooltip for backing out says that your conscience is shouting obscenities at you. Go through with it and [[spoiler:the last thing you see before you ascend is the shock on the anointed Nightwing's face]].