The gameplay is split between travelling across the vast expanse of the Downside and conducting sacred rites in order to eventually earn the freedom of your party members. The former is very heavy on reading between character dialogue and lore, so be warned, if it's not your thing. The cast is very diverse (in a good way) and full of intriguing and likeable characters in your crew and in rival triumvirates as well. Most of the choices you make in this part result in getting stat bonuses, money, experience, though once in a while you do get pleasant surprises and quite unique interactions.
The rites are kinda like magical basketball. There is a number of characters, and you can only pick 3 for any given match. Each bring something new to the table, their own set of skills, tactics, and synergies. Also, each arena plays a bit differently. At some point the rites do get a bit stale, but then the game introduces titan stars (think idols from Bastion and limiters from Transistor) and feats of glory which add some challenge for bigger rewards. Though, no matter the difficulty, the AI struggles to handle some scenarios and can be exploited because of that.
Now, though the choices in the travelling part are usually quite trivial, the same can't be said about those in trials. Once in a while you'll be taking a part in liberation rites, that allow the winner to send one of their characters back home from their otherwise permanent exile. Not only you'll have to face conundrums like "I really like this guy and he deserves to go home, but he is too valuable for my team", but sometimes you'll be tempted to throw matches in order to redeem your rival, at the expense of your own mates. Sometimes you'll get to know your rivals better after the liberation rite you won and regret that you didn't let them win instead. And it's quite sad, because the chance to face them twice in the liberation rites is low, if not zero. I feel It's relevant to mention here, no matter your choices, the ending leaves no questions about the characters unanswered, no matter what you'll get a satisfying and conclusive finale.
Now, the game looks fantastic, as do other games by SGG. The characters boast great visual design, it is perfectly implemented, the world and arenas look superb. The music seemed to me a bit weaker than in Bastion in Transistor (though it's entirely subjective and the game still has memorable tracks), but there are a couple of great ideas that work really well in the game and easily redeem this shortcoming. Remember how you could hum in Transistor, which added more dynamic to music, even if it was a simple gimmick? Well, here they really doubled down of this idea of making music more dynamic. Not only each team has their own themes, they are all layered, and during the match you'll hear a different variation during the dialogue, while controlling the ball, and near the enemy pyre with the ball. There is a theme for liberation rites, and it has its own spin (both in terms of music and vocals) depending on your opponent. Håñk, you get your own personal ending/credits song depending on the outcome of the story. Just how cool is that?!
So yeah, you see it what I'm getting at. It's a great game. Totally worth the asking price, as far as I'm concerned.
