This Musical RPG’s DLC Has Songs And Singing That Blow The Base Game Away
In musical theater, sequels are few and far between, and when they do exist they usually arenāt very good. For example, youāve probably heard of Phantom of the Opera, the massively successful show from Andrew Lloyd Webber, but you probably donāt know anything about its sequel, Love Never Dies. Thereās a reason for thatāit kind of sucks! So when 2023ās Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical dared to test its luck with the release of the Orpheus DLCāset after the base gameās conclusionāI was surprised to say the least. What shocked me, however, is just how much better than the original release Stray Gods: Orpheus manages to be.
Upon its release last year, I found Stray Gods to be an extremely tedious and messy game that failed in almost every way to fulfill its goal of melding RPGs with musical theater. In my review, I wrote that the game ānever understands the intricacies of how musicals tell their stories,ā and that it gave āthe impression that while the team had a passion for the idea of a roleplaying musical, nobody had the necessary skill set to execute it.ā Much of this fell on the star-studded castāmade up of voice acting heavyweights like Laura Bailey and Troy Bakerāwho may be able to act but canāt convince the audience that they can sing, not that they were given good material to work with. To the credit of developer Summerfall Studios, Orpheus pares down the base gameās lofty ambitions and feels like an attempt to address all of its pain points to make something better.
Having the perfect lead goes a long way
Image: Humble Games
Following the conclusion of Stray Gods, which follows the Greek gods in a modern-day world where they all sing like professional pop stars, Orpheus picks up on the loose threads of its titular bard. When we last saw Orpheus, he was alone in the underworld, brooding by himself. The DLC gives him a chance to go back to the land of the living, which sends him into a bit of an existential crisis about what he is doing with his life. What follows is a brisk one-and-a-half hour character study. If you played the base game, you may be shocked that Orpheus gets top billing in the DLC, but it is the best decision Summerfall could have made.
Orpheus is voiced by Broadway legend Anthony Rapp of Rent fame, who outsung everybody else in the base game with his single song. Rapp was the one saving grace of Stray Gods, and the Orpheus DLC gives the gameās best performer a chance to shine. Rappās performance as Orpheus is immediately charming; heās a performer with an incredible stage presence, even in a video game. Where Stray Godsā attempts at humor always fell flat, Rapp was able to get a laugh out of me more than once just in the DLCās opening. Not to mention that the man can sing.
Deciding that his new mission will be to fall in love again, Orpheus gets roped into a round of speed dating by Hermes. This setup turns into a truly show-stopping number titled āA New Love.ā It reflects a far better approach to songwriting than the tunes in the base game, featuring a wonderful chorus that Orpheus continues to return to in between progressively worse and worse dates over the course of the night. We even get some fun switch-ups to the musical style, as each new date changes the song around. But after every fun detour, Rapp brings back the audience with his wonderful voice. Itās Orpheusās equivalent of an āI wantā song, the thing that tells viewers what the main character will be working toward through the rest of the show, and itās something the base game never gave to Laura Baileyās Grace. āA New Loveā is by far the best number in Stray Gods, period, across both the DLC and the base game. Yet even this shining moment has its stumbling points.
Familiar issues hold Stray Gods: Orpheus backJust like in the base game, Orpheusās core gameplay gives you the chance to switch up your singing style mid-song. This occurs through a BioWare-style dialogue wheel and is meant to help emphasize the āroleplayingā part of the gameās title. In execution this never works smoothly, and every time you change the style itās a massive speed bump that ruins whatever momentum a song has. That remains true for the Orpheus DLC, and sadly brings down āA New Loveā at its best moments, not to mention the song just keeps going forever until itās outstayed its welcome.
Image: Humble Games
To make matters worse, the Orpheus DLC hits its height with āA New Loveā near the beginning and only goes downhill from there. The remaining few songs bring back more inconsequential side characters from the bae game, all of whom have voice actors with less singing skill than Rapp. We get a glimpse of something great, and the remainder of the DLC never delivers on that again. Even Rappās final number feels half-baked. I donāt think this is a failing on the part of the songwriters in the same way it was in the base game, though; the team has clearly developed a better sense of how to deliver musical-style tracks since then. Rather, the systems that they were forced to retain from the base game have held back what progress has been made.
By the time the curtain closes on Stray Gods: Orpheus, Iām left conflicted. The DLC is a stunning improvement over the original game, thanks to a smart choice of lead and some excellent songwriting. However, the dialogue-wheel-esque system for changing song style remains as flawed as ever, and it means Orpheus still canāt reach those original ambitions of melding musical theater and RPGs. Still, the team at Summerfall Studios should feel proud of how well it addressed the issues in the base game. Stray Gods: Orpheus might not be musical greatness, but it is the rare musical sequel that Iād recommend over its predecessor.
Stray Gods: Orpheus is now available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
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