When adapting a sport into a video game, storytelling is usually not a top priority. Developers of games like Madden or FIFA are more interested in the simulation aspects and, despite some recent attempts to add a story mode to these franchises, it is never the main focus. Pyre on the other hand, tackles the idea of having a story-heavy sports game by creating their own sport, one that works well with the story it's trying to tell along with its visual-novel and RPG mechanics.

The sport itself is some sort of magic basketball, in a fantasy world full of different races, each bringing its own skills and play styles (being very quick, able to fly, earn more points per goal, etc). In many ways, Pyre tries to be a more pure sports game, the matches have narration and there's even some sort of championship going on with seasons and rankings. The game even has a separate local multiplayer mode.

You embody a faceless character which acts as some sort of manager and travels along the world with a party of players, playing against other teams and gathering new members along the way. They're not just playing for the sport though, everyone participating in the championship is an outcast, expelled from society and now being forced to live in some sort of limbo, with the hope of being able to return by winning the matches, or as the game calls them: the rites.

What makes it interesting though is how each character has its own backstory and motivation to return (romance, revenge, family and so on). By the end of each season, a final rite is played and the winning team can choose one player to be released back into society. The stakes get really high here as winning means being able to see the characters story arc getting fulfilled, while losing can mean letting a rival get out, sometimes bringing bad consequences to the story.