This review originally appeared on Backlogged
Star Rating: 4.5 Stars
Probably my second favorite Supergiant game right now, after Hades, but ahead of Bastion. This isn't saying too much, since I've only played like, 5 minutes of Transistor.
A pared down basketball-adjacent sports RPG is a really interesting choice. Each character plays different and learning their idosyncracies is key to ... Not progressing, but doing... Not well... but... Winning I guess?
The game doesn't stop on a loss, the narrative keeps rolling, and it all effects the ending. Well almost all, I don't know if losing a random match before the Liberation Rite does anything, but losing that one can affect the ending.
And BOY This game be doing a lot on the ending front. In Supergiant fashion, all the joy and happiness and liberation is also tinged with a heaping dose of bittersweet feelings. It carries this feeling of hope and dread throughout. It's really quite incredible. This might be one that grows on me as I sit with it.
Also in Supergiant Fashion, the credits sequence is ambitious just in it's... Modularity I guess? Each character gets a short verse, and it refers to if they were freed or not, including yourself. That's 18 different chunks that get used to mix and match to make a closing credits song that matches YOUR specific playthrough.
It can start slow, but man, it feels worth the effort.