How Pyre fuses mechanics and storytelling

[@Solenyisup]

Wow, I just clicked on a pyre video because I love this game , during the whole video I thought you were something around 100-200 thousand subs. But making such high level content at a hundred is amazing ,carry on!

[@Oblivion9996]

They were only at 100? Wow, I agree the quality is great, good to see them earn the viewership they deserve because they made it to 400k

[@SoShiBias]

Gonna add something that is the Rites system is not a glorified thing to justify gameplay as well. There's reason why it exists, the aura meant something personal, losing is the part of the course etc. I'm just so impressed by Supergiant, they present something so unique yet able to tie them with mechanics and everything make sense.

[@ArchitectofGames]

That's a really good point! I forgot that even the stats and auras have a narrative justification.

[@blackknightjack3850]

@@ArchitectofGames Well, maybe not Oralech's. I remember looking at his speed and thinking that was VERY uncharacteristic for a demon. Seemed like a pretty good hint that he was the final boss if the narrative reasons weren't clue enough.

[@rockanderson5764]

Just noticed your Fae is called Bae. Great taste.

[@aliathegamer1700]

I totally forgot that you get to name the human girl. I named her Xae cause it sounds cool and forgot that most people probably called her something else.

[@jackiecozzie4803]

@@aliathegamer1700 same...I replayed the game and got so confused when I named her different and she wasn't called "Chae" anymore

[@goldy7657]

Pyre might be just one of my favourite games ever. I have this habbit of going into games without watching any trailers or anything, basically not knowing what I'm getting into. Pyre honestly amazed me with everything. I would gladly play it again and again, but I just don't want to ruin my first experience with it, change the ending or choices I made. I highly reccomend for anyone to just try it.

[@blackknightjack3850]

For me I just didn't like the controls. If they were a lot more fluid I'd probably spend more time trying to get all the achievements.

[@NZPIEFACE.]

My favourite parts about Pyre was just staying in the Blackwagon and messing around with stuff... Every time you touched something for someone who left, it just made me feel glad that they're gone, but also sad as I lost their little bit of banter. As you progress, the Wagon slowly loses its life, and you can feel that the end is drawing near. Also, Pamitha is best girl. Have you even tried drinking her stuff?

[@ungovernableatoms2433]

Just don't mess with the bell

[@Late0NightPC]

In my playthrough I saved Bertrude, Volfred and Gilman for the very last rite. Bertrude wanted to stay in the Downside, while Volfred, as great of a guy as he was, would have been much better on my team, as his zoning skills made every match super easy. Gilman was the one I wanted to send off, so he could finally reclaim his honor. However when he rejected it and told me to take the trip home, I realized that he learned that honor wasn't something you gain by doing things, it was something you give to yourself, and that he had finally found his honor once more. so I painfully chose myself, as Oralech had his chance, lost it, and hadn't earned another chance.

[@gabrielkazanowskinetto1658]

So nice to see this old video and how much the channel has grown

[@KnekoKcat]

103 subs on Aug. 8, 2017? You now have 32k... a lot can change in less than a year.

[@KnekoKcat]

26k in a month... Exponential growth is insane.

[@FerousFolly]

We're on 77k now

[@egorrakoed1331]

Aaaaaand it's 111k now

[@elsasslotharingen7507]

Needs to be at 500k

[@aliathegamer1700]

@@elsasslotharingen7507 past halfway now!

[@stevenneiman9789]

I really love Undertale for similar reasons. It doesn't even present the appearance of great depth the way it sounds like Pyre does, but it uses gameplay-integrated moral choice and likable characters to tug at the heartstrings even if the moral choices are really no more nuanced than the spare/harvest thing from Bioshock.

[@TheSentinel909]

Thank you so much for this video - I am a game designer and these are all things I wanted to say and or write but never got around to doing. Now I can use your hard work as an example :D

[@Avalenzy]

Your content helps me appreciate my favorite video games in a whole new light. Thinking about the mechanics and narrative methods of my favorite games only make them better

[@esuelle]

Found your channel just recently, I really hope it continues to grow! Your videos are great.

[@quibily]

I adooooore this game and appreciate your analysis. You've got a new subscriber! I'm in the middle of my second playthrough--which I started about two days after my first playthrough! I wanted to know more about the characters I'd liberated early on. The world-building is fascinating! The strength of the game as you explain in this video is also, ironically, one of its weak points, too. The characters are unrealistically agreeable and just trust you to their fate--except maybe Rukeyser, who tries to reminds you as much as possible how much he wants to be chosen to go home! I rather wish we could have seen the characters clashing over who gets to go home. They can't possibly all be saints. Anyway, I understand why they made that decision. Video game design usually are a decision between giving the player autonomy and the characters autonomy.

[@joshford256]

Did you actually only have 100 subs? How? You are so great!

[@tomsko863]

You're doing a wonderful job with these videos. As long as you speak slowly and clearly, you're doing great.

[@0PlaylistMaker0]

I just finished Pyre and was so excited to go back to one of your older videos to watch this 101 subscribers, huh???

[@LaughingTeapot]

101 subs almost one year ago. Probably around a million next year. :) People appreciate your high quality content, Adam. Keep it up!

[@ArchitectofGames]

It's been a wild ride. Thanks for the support!

[@19dash95]

Have you considered playing Transistor, the previous game from Supergiant games? I would highly recommend it! Keep up the good work!

[@subprogram32]

I think this might be one of my favourate analysis channels already. :3 I don't know if it's the slightly more humuorous tone and/or talking about games I really wanted to see talked about but it's great regardless. :D

[@ArchitectofGames]

Thanks for all the kind words! It means a lot to get feedback like this, especially when you're running a tiny channel like this one.

[@subprogram32]

No probs! I do make specific efforts to give my feedback for smaller channels whenever I have any. Especially cos I might want to make my own gaming channel one day once i have better tech, and I try to be the commenter I would like to have. :P

[@ramnewton]

I clicked on this video 4 years back. After the spoiler warning, decided to play the game before watching this vid. Here I am after finishing this absolute gem of a game! ❤ Edit: you had a 101 subscribers at the time of making this video? You are brilliant, love your breakdowns. I'd even venture to say your videos are more entertaining than GMTK's to watch!

[@ValboaCross]

When I watched this video i thought you had 467K views, then i saw the actual view count as 467 and my jaw dropped. Holy shit man you deserve way more views and subs, and you're getting a new sub.

[@maxducks2001]

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the many reasons why Pyre is my favorite game of all time.

[@Vamper946]

I'm a recent subscriber but you're absolutely brilliant game analyst/critic and you provide a really interesting perspective on games I have and haven't played. I'd love to hear your take on the paradox sim genre which I'm a big fan of and where they've been able to monetise, expand or stagnate.

[@dakotadawn5789]

Rukey when it was the last and I had decided who to send made me legitimately cry

[@a.dennis4835]

1:06 -1:33 So, I have not really played Pyre since I had too much trouble with the tutorial (yes, I know am an absolute loser for this). However, this system sounds like it would frustrate the type of players you describe. If you are just interested in the story, you'll probably get annoyed by how the gameplay get in the way. If you are just interested in the gameplay and don't care for the story, you'll get annoyed by the story you have to slog through to get to the gameplay. So in order to enjoy the game, you would need to both like the story and gameplay.

[@blackknightjack3850]

For me I wholly committed to the plan because the fact that the game continued as normal even if you lost a match made me think that the game really was going to have the rebellion fail if I made the wrong choices and the whole point of the rebellion is to make sure others don't get punished the same way. I found that way more important than saving the people who were unjustly thrown into the Downside. Better to save more people from having to get accustom to suffering than fewer people who already have if you are forced to choose between the two.

[@silverstar4505]

When the voice told me someone in my group was a traitor, I made a concious descision to ignore it. Most of the squad had no reason to betray the plan, and the voice was already somewhat suspicious. I'm so glad I did. I'm only sad I lost 2 of the liberation rites.

[@dakotadawn5789]

One of my favorite moments is when you go crazy with the bell Rukey will come and complain but say he’s just joking and if you keep doing it he’ll tell you he really means it this time and if you continue more next time you come back you’ll find that he removed the bell

[@terraequum]

I really liked this, liked and subbed

[@Nawer_Rapter]

Spiler alert I picked myself to go out, i wanted to "see" the revolution's results and so. But what truly matters in that last choice is Oralech. If you don't chose him, he just commits suicide in the same way he "died" the first time, and this time he seems to die for real, becouse he never appears again. I felt it like the most horribly made choice in my life, just the way I felt in Bastion with the only 2 really hard choices it gives to you. SuperGiant are really good at pointing at you dirlectly say "well, what do you think?" and making you the complete responsible of whatever happens. Also I hate I can't just release my dear Lonesome Bard, he is like a bored god who has lost hope in humanity and seeing the Plan growing up was something that woke him, made him more human. He deserves better. Played the game to watch this, also a fan of SuperGiant's work, but, wowie, this was the most expensive (both time and money like) game they have. Good work on it, exactly the same I was discussing around the game.

[@TeaserTravlein]

I LOVE THIS GAME. #SUPERGIANTGAMES YOU ARE AMAZING

[@Akbar_and_Shaa]

Looks at video hears 101 subs looks up and sees 102 thousand subs. WOOHOO

[@sjsamphex]

I'm deaf. Can you please upload your script into the caption tool?

[@ArchitectofGames]

Just uploaded them! hope that helps. Unfortunately because all of my other scripts are all over the place I can't do it for my older videos, but people are free to go through and caption them themselves if they want. I'll make sure to put captions on everything I make in future, thanks for alerting me to this!

[@sjsamphex]

Thanks Adam! subbed

[@rocktheusa]

Are there any specific older videos of his that you want subbed? I could do one, possibly two.

[@dakotadawn5789]

Godspeed Rukey Greentail

[@ninalyne9944]

I intentionally lost every liberation rite to see if it would let me abandon the Commonwealth and make a new society for future outcasts. I was disappointed that Volfred's plan succeeds no matter what, but at least it seemed to hint at my idea.

[@kanamekun]

some people just want to watch the world burn

[@familiarbit5319]

Today i remembered why i still have 10:28 as my background

[@Caulin_]

Wow 103 subs. Now you have 60,000+

[@TheTheoser]

Daaaamn. Only 57 comments? You have grown quite a bit

[@benzur3503]

I kept the exact same characters with me in the end but not because I mistrusted volfred, just that his plan could work with or without him, his goals were not dependent on his own freedom. I still think his seed won me the game

[@blackknightjack3850]

With me I kept him with me until the final battle because he explicitly told me not to let him go too early or the plan might fail. I also figured it'd be more meaningful if he were the last to leave anyway.

[@emanuelpiza]

Hi pal! Here's a test you can make: Remove the 1 or 3 dollar tier and see how it impacts the distribution of subscribers among other tiers. I believe it could ramp up your monthly Revenue growth. Thank you for your content. I love it.

[@Cataphract1236]

Wow, 101 subs to 306k. That is crazy

[@johnmalvent2189]

Subbed. Decent analysis and you taught me a new word; ludonarrativity. However I think you're a bit too lenient with praises. This level of narrative interaction with mechanics should be the norm. It's honestly a bit base, ie; the choice of throwing a rite due to storyline concerns is extremely shallow. It's akin to a dialogue tree choice. If you want a better example of what I'm trying to get at, look at brothers. That game literally uses it's mechanics (controls, specifically) to link physical action to emotional connection, emphasizing the narrative. Not trying to detract, you've done good work and I'm interested to see what else you've done :D

[@SqualidsargeStudios]

Wow i am none of those 4 types in that diamond thing

[@toastertoes3843]

Sandra best wifu

[@AnimeAngel4312]

Yeah, Pyre is easy *True Nightwing flashbacks begin*

[@QuestionableObject]

1000 times the subcount later.

[@l33t9r0u93]

10:49 hahaha

[@elsasslotharingen7507]

Good boye

[@BRamz_121]

lol 101 subs.... ;)

[@benzur3503]

I released myself to release Sandra

[@skirk248]

I shouldn't have watched this... who do I pick...

[@Duckamoly]

I think most of the people here are explorers

[@KENIII26]

SECOND