Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical sets a new standard for what interactive story games can be, expertly adapting the concept of branching narrative choices into the musical realm. The game is the debut release from Summerfall Studios, which was co-founded by former Dragon Age head writer David Gaider, and is published by Humble Games, which has previously helped release critically-acclaimed titles like Slay the Spire and Unpacking. Though a handful of small technical issues occasionally break the immersion, Stray Gods is steeped in captivating mythology and engaging musical numbers that create a roleplaying experience like no other.

In Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical players assume the role of Grace, a young woman who's just left college and is struggling to find her place in life. Things quickly descend into chaos for Grace after she's blamed for the death of the Last Muse, Calliope. Finding herself beside Calliope when she es on, she inherits her eidolon - a sort of magical essence of her soul that grants Grace unique musical powers. Though initially sentenced to death by the Chorus of Idols who decide on all mythological matters, the group eventually grants her one week to find Calliope's true killer and prove her innocence.

Related: David Gaider & Liam Esler Interview: Stray Gods, A Roleplaying Musical

Stray Gods' Main Mechanics

Calliope's eidolon essentially allows Grace to inspire musical numbers at will; while she can't force anyone to do anything they don't want to, she can often elicit others to share previously hidden emotions or memories that aid in the murder investigation. While there have been many games where choices really matter, Stray Gods takes this concept to a different level by adding musical composition to the mix. Within each song, Grace will be presented with a series of timed choices that dictate where the score and lyrics lead - a scene could veer into a ballad or an aggressive rock number based on what the player does.

Some choice-oriented games are guilty of going long stretches without giving players ways to participate in conversations, but that is thankfully not the case with Stray Gods - there are plenty of choices within regular interactions as well that help keep things feeling engaging and immersive. At the beginning of the game players choose between three traits - Charming, Kickass, or Clever - that allow for certain unique dialogue options that are grayed out for other personality types. This is one of the many ways the title incentivizes replays - the ability to say something tough or flattering during an encounter can completely change the trajectory of the conversation, and in turn the investigation.

Stray God's Characters & Narrative

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical explores what the lives of the Greek gods would look like thousands of years later. The struggles of adapting to the modern world, the emotional toll of watching mortal friends and lovers on, and the struggle to find purpose in a world that has long moved on from old legends are all concepts delved into by an intensely intriguing cast of characters. Alongside the Chorus - which consists of Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, and Persephone - players will also get to interact with Idols like Pan, Hermes, and even Medusa.

As players get to know each character, they'll learn the interesting ways in which their true backstories differ from the familiar mythological stories; there are particularly engaging routes taken with narratives surrounding things like the fate of Hades and the Underworld. Each character is masterfully voice acted, with a talented cast featuring critically-acclaimed names like Troy Baker as Apollo and Felicia Day as Athena. Players can even romance some of the Idols, which peppers in a fun extra layer to conversation and the way things can unfold with each playthrough.

Stray God's Visuals & Composition

Scored by Austin Wintory, who previously produced works like the interactive soundtrack to The Pathless, it's unsurprising that the music of Stray Gods is such a powerful piece of work. Though it captures some of the same feelings as musical theater, it's much more than that - characters are not so much putting on a production as they are baring their soul. In the review copy of the game there were some issues audio-wise when it came to dialogue mixing, making some characters much quieter than others; however, this was partially alleviated by a pre-release patch and a day one update is also slated to further address the issue.

Stray Gods' visual style may take some time to grow on players, but that's not to say it's bad. The game's scenes are reminiscent of As Dusk Falls with a comic book twist - things aren't fully animated but instead routinely shift through still frames, sometimes with moving backgrounds. This will likely be hard to adjust to at first for many, but by the time the game's second act rolls around, it's easy to be so immersed in the story that it seemed like a natural fit. It helps that the actual designs of the characters and locales are stunning, with uniquely stylized takes on gods and locales that are very captivating.

Final Thoughts & Review Score

One playthrough of Stray Gods takes about five hours, but one of the most impressive things about the game is its immense replayability. Different dialogue choices coupled with the huge amount of musical permutations mean that no two runs are the same, and it's hard to resist going back for more even after the mystery is solved. The title certainly isn't for everyone - those who completely abhor anything even adjacent to musical theater are certainly not the target audience. However, Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical presents an engaging story and song mechanics that feel beautifully personal, making it worth looking into even for players who don't consider themselves musical lovers.

Source: Summerfall Studios/YouTube

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical releases August 10 for PlayStation consoles, Xbox consoles, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. Screen Rant was provided with a Steam code for the purpose of this review.