Former Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider has a new game coming from his new studio, and while it is officially an RPG, Gaider says it's not the kind of RPG you're probably thinking of.
Gaider revealed Summerfall Studios back in 2019 with co-lead Liam Esler, and its debut game, Stray Gods, is now just weeks away following a small delay intended to make room for Baldur's Gate 3. Not unlike Gaider's Dragon Age history, Esler is known for work on Baldur's Gate and Pillars of Eternity, so there's some serious RPG pedigree at Summerfall.
In a Twitter thread handling "expectation management" for what some people perceived to be a "full-on RPG," Gaider said the studio's RPG pedigree does come into play with Stray Gods, but in a different way.
"First off, yes, there's a lot of room in the RPG genre for all sorts of games," Gaider begins. "I think, however, there's an idea of what a 'classic' RPG like Baldur's Gate 3 (or Dragon Age) includes: inventory, combat, level ups, the whole 'walking simulator' deal. Stray Gods is not that."
Stray Gods is billed as a role-playing musical game starring Greek gods. And when I say musical game, I don't mean there's a lot of emphasis on the soundtrack. It's a game about musicals – the actual stage performances. Gaider adds that while it's "first and foremost about the roleplaying .. the real stars of the show are the branching, interactive musical numbers - something that's never really been done in games before."
"So is it an RPG? That's the closest tag on Steam. Visual novel? There's a lot of breadth in that genre too, but - much like with RPGs - there's an understanding of what visual novels do and that doesn't tell the full story either. Thus, we settled on 'roleplaying musical.'" (For the record, Stray Gods is coming to all major platforms, not just PC via Steam.)
Gaider says Summerfall knew Stray Gods would be hard to categorize, and he was candid about how niche it is in response to other Twitter users. "Not everyone cares for musicals, but it really is the focus here," he said to one fan who determined Stray Gods might not be for them.
"The very last thing I'd want is for someone to play the game thinking it'll be something it's really not," Gaider said to another follower. "There is, after all, a lot there to love. Or we think so, at any rate."
Stray Gods does have one beloved RPG hallmark: lots of attractive and romanceable characters.
