Pyre is the third game from Supergiant Games – an indie development studio with a reputation for crafting exceptional games. They were responsible for Bastion. They were also responsible for Transistor. It seems like this group of talented game developers can do no wrong, and now we’re all eagerly awaiting their next effort; Pyre.

Pyre is a very different game for Supergiant. While Transistor was something of a departure from their previous game, it still had echoes of Bastion all throughout it – from the narration to the character design and general art style and the soundtrack. Pyre, though, is something else.

“We wanted to make a game that had a larger cast of characters than what we have been able to do before. Our previous games Bastion and Transistor are kind of focused on these rather solitary feeling journey’s at times. We wanted to make something that kind of could often have a more upbeat feel, like a fantasy road trip kind of thing as you go across this vast land, and have this group of characters that has to pull each other through these tough situations.”

The characters in Pyre are a band of exiles looking to escape from a mystical purgatory. To do this they must win a series of ancient competitions that almost plays like three-on-three football. Combatants on both sides must launch orbs into their opponents pyres to damage them.

The game is split between these matches and the exploration of a rich and vibrant fantasy world. The band of exiles travel between matches in a caravan, across an overworld full of colour. In these travelling sections you’ll constantly be making decisions on how to spend your time – whether to study the ancient rites, whether to forage the world for supplies, and all of these choices will have an impact.

“We want the decisions to feel very expressive for the player. It’s not necessarily putting the player under a ton of pressure, like these kind of life or death situations at every turn. It’s more like who do you want to get closer to? How do you want to spend your time right now? What aspects of your characters do you want to improve right now?

Pyre is definitely nothing like what has come before, at least not from Supergiant Games. The game is due out in 2017 on PC and Playstation 4.