Stray Gods Review: In need of divine intervention

Lost in a song.

We’re currently in a golden age of unconventional musicals. Fresh off the back of Star Trek‘s first musical episode in franchise history — and coming after that because it moved itself out of the way of Baldur’s Gate 3 — is Stray Gods A Roleplaying Musical from Melbourne’s own Summerfall Studios.

Crowdfunded under the name Chorus An Adventure Musical back in 2019, the title is the brainchild of Dragon Age scribe David Gaider and full of big stars.

Marketing and titles aside, it’s easier to describe Stray Gods not as a roleplaying musical or adventure musical, but a narrative adventure musical. Playing as Grace (as voiced by Laura Bailey), you’ll soon meet Calliope (Ashley Johnson) and find yourself embedded in a mystery of mythic proportions. For the most part, you’ll watch as drama unfolds around you and choose from one of up to four options at that given point in time.

Your decisions in normal dialogue can be pondered for as long as you wish, though those needed in song are timed. Tied into all this is your initial decision to frame Grace as one of three archetypes that will provide variation in your response. Like with Fallout’s S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system, you’re essentially skill-checked with certain responses; you’ll be able to use the clever jibe but not the charismatic one, for instance.

Stray Gods conveys its story through animation, largely relying on still imagery — or slightly animated still imagery — to convey what’s unfolding. It goes without saying that Stray Gods‘ big drawcard is its music, and it’s here that the cracks start to show.

Stray Gods has never shied away from the influence that the Buffy the Vampire Slayer has over it, and it clearly shows. Summerfall teamed up with Grammy-nominated composed Austin Wintory to create myriad songs that sound like they could have come straight from Buffy itself (and sung by characters with horns on their head to boot). The problem is, I’m talking the boring songs from Buffy. Most of the soundtrack is bland; characters sing-talk with or over one another and most vocal performances mirror those of Alyson Hannigan as Willow. If that reference went over your head, let me be clear: vocal performances are largely weak, overly airy and emotionless. Insert your own “once more with feeling” pun here.

While performances in both Buffy and the recent Strange New Worlds outing aren’t perfect, they’re anchored by likeable, complex characters that convey real emotion; as such, you’re invested all throughout. With Stray Gods, something’s just missing and the end result feels hollow.

While I’ve already mentioned two big names in the world of video game voice work in The Last of  Us Part 2‘s Bailey (Abby) and Johnson (Ellie), that’s barely the tip of the iceberg. Other phenoms include Troy Baker (The Last of Us), Janina Gavankar (Star Wars Battlefront 2), Felicia Day (The Guild), Rahul Kohil (Gears 5), Anjali Bhimani (Overwatch) and even star of musical theatre and screen alike, Anthony Rapp (Rent, Star Trek Discovery). While the latter certainly has musical chops, I think it’s fair to say that some of the other actors are better known for their acting.

As I listened to what was on offer — including a messy doo-whop session between Bailey, Gavankar and Khary Payton as Pan — I couldn’t help that think that most of Stray Gods‘ focus (and budget) was spent securing those talents. Payton and Rapp are the most consistent of the singers, with Rapp absolutely nailing his sections and showing all-important range as both a singer and actor. While Laura Bailey is sometimes wobbly as a singer, she’s amazingly strong for the most part, properly cementing you in the moment as Grace. When it comes to straight-up acting, Ashley Johnson practically steals the show with her work; in contrast, Felicia Day seems to be bored and phoning it in.

Big names do not singers make, and this is coupled with a distinct lack of polish. Audio issues range include some performances being far louder than others, clipping, and songs that forget to play a character’s vocals even when subtitles are suggesting they should be singing.

Perhaps worst of all, there are some glaring issues with Stray Gods’ interface. On Xbox, it’s at times extremely unclear as to what menu option you’re hovering over. Summerfall would be better placed to make all menus like the one pictured above; hollowed-out options when not selected, and full of colour when you’re about to select them. Otherwise, most other menus use a partial neon blue highlight that sometimes gets lost amongst other visual flairs.

This all said, a majority of the issues I’ve described above were acknowledged by Summerfall and have either been flagged as repaired in a mid-review patch on PC and PS5, or planned for a day one patch on Xbox and Switch. Timings of the review embargo and other commitments mean I’m taking Summerfall at its word (that, and I can’t confirm fixes on Xbox by the time this will be published).

Issues with polish extend beyond simple bugs. You’ll quickly notice a repetition in visuals; characters have a very finite set of poses, and you’ll quickly spot this. Some of these visuals are heavily pixelated to boot, likely blown up far beyond what their animators intended. One location in Act 3 even looks as if it wasn’t finished and has a very rough sketch look and feel.

Visuals aren’t too bad on a 1080p screen, and presumably would look best on the Switch’s unique form factor, but flaws are glaringly apparent in 4K. You can see a great example of this in the image above — it was live in 4K and capped by yours truly in 1080p; if you click it for a larger view and focus on Grace, you’ll see what I mean… and also how a smaller version of the same image can be far less offensive to the eye.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Issues aside, Stray Gods is mostly well-written and offers a compelling story with complex characters. Its premise is sound, and its pacing tight.

That’s not to say there aren’t issues with the writing, and they’re tied to the interactive aspect of proceedings. I still scratch my head and wonder how a charismatic option for a likeable character can be “but that’s not fair!” There’s an attempt at replayability that adds variation to the narrative and to the songs within; bonus points for that, for a loading system that lets you revisit old checkpoints, and for the ability to speed through dialogue (but not songs) so you can see every branching option without wasting time.

Stray Gods is truly a mixed bag, full of strong actors, average singers, clever storytelling and weak songs. There are points of brilliance mixed with cringe-worthy presentations, making this one hard to recommend because of its inconsistencies. If you’re itching to play regardless, I’d strongly suggest those players pick it up on either PC or Switch because of the one-two punch of visual and interface issues. I can certainly vouch for the issues plaguing the Xbox version, and I’d wager the PlayStation version would be similar.

Stray Gods The Roleplaying Musical is available now on Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5 and Switch.

Stray Gods was reviewed using a promotional code on Xbox Series S & Xbox Series X (primary) and Windows PC via Steam (secondary), as provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.

Stray Gods 10 August 2023 PC PS4 PS5 Switch Xbox One Xbox Series S & X   Buy on Windows PC via Steam Buy on the Microsoft Store