Review: Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical

I like musicals, and I like

roleplaying games, so when I learned about Stray Gods, I got very excited. Then I learnt that it was inspired by Greek mythology, and my heart sank a little. Usually, media inspired by a mythology fails to hit the mark. This can be due to several factors: different interpretations of the source material, adapting the stories to make them more accessible to a modern audience, a lack of deeper research - you get my drift. I am well aware that I can be picky when it comes to media about subjects I’m passionate about. In fact, I think we are all guilty of that (Just ask my housemate about the Jurassic Park franchise). Stray Gods kicked my sceptical ass in the - well, ass.

I shall warn you now, there are spoilers ahead.

Let’s set the scene: Grace, Freddie, and their two bandmates are looking for something different, something new, something inspiring. Grace is feeling lost at sea - a feeling we can all relate to, and not an uncommon theme in Greek mythology, when in steps Calliope. I am immediately interested and may have uttered the words “Eeeee!! Calliope!!” Was I excited to see a character who is less well-known in Greek mythology? Yes. Was I also excited because my first D&D character was named after her? Also yes. Tragedy ensues, and Grace finds herself being put on trial for Calliope’s death. Huh, judicial proceedings, something prized by fifth-century Athenians. Grace has seven days to prove her innocence to a small group of Greek deities, and she meets a few others along the way. I should also add that this is all happening in the modern world.

That’s the basic premise of the game. I have missed out some of the larger plot points because I’m not about to spoil everything for you, but that is the general gist of the game.

A few more moments that made my little historian's heart happy were when Athena refers to herself as Palas Athena, when the Minotaur is actually named Asterion, and Persephone owns a company called Kore Enterprises. The use of the colour blue in relation to Athena also makes me happy.

The gods we meet along the way are Hermes, Athena, Apollo, Persephone, Aphrodite, Pan, Eros and Hecate. There are also a few other figures from Greek mythology, the aforementioned Cappliope and Asterion, as well as Medusa and Orpheus. There’s even an Oracle! Although this Oracle is a hacker who uses the screenname Oracle. I enjoyed the characterisation of each of the gods. Bearing in mind that the story is set in the modern world, which means the gods have had plenty of time to change and develop, they have lived full lives in the last 2500 years 

Now, let’s get on to the gameplay and the songs. There are 23 songs in total, you’ll experience 14 of them on a single playthrough, and there are 44 different variations. That’s right, your choices in-game can change the songs. The songs are by no means masterpieces, but they are enjoyable nonetheless and very well performed, and the fact that they’re dynamic increases replayability. You'll also unlock different snippets of lore about the Idols (Gods) with different choices.  There were a couple of moments where I almost ran out of time when picking an option during a song, but that’s a “me being visually impaired” issue rather than a game issue.

My final verdict? If you, like me, enjoy music, mythology, and games that are more on the casual side, I think you’ll really enjoy this. A playthrough of the base game takes 5 to 6 hours, which makes it the perfect alternative to binge-watching a show on a lazy Thursday when you’re procrastinating writing an essay.

Right, if you’ll excuse me, I have a DLC to play through and a few achievements to get.