Perhaps the purest form of art imitating other forms of art. This is a video game that is in love with musical theater and seeks to emulate musical theater. At the same time, Stray Gods can only ever exist as a video game, as the core idea of an interactive musical can't work in a non-interactive medium. There is no way that a stage adaptation could fully incorporate the idea of a "player" whose choices directly impact the sound, lyrics, emotional texture, and in some cases genre of song while the song is being performed. Similarly, because almost every song is necessarily framed around a clash between two or more characters, there is purposefully very little room for other staples of the medium, like character songs, ensemble showstoppers, entr'actes, and the like.

It is an imperfect game representing an imperfect musical and it is through those imperfections that its beauty shines. This is a project that clearly had a lot of love going into it from everyone working on it, from the writers, to the musicians, to the vocal talent, to the artists, that love and passion is clearly on display in every moment of this game.

It is not without flaws. There is a bug that has been known to wipe saves that they haven't managed to get a handle on, some of the sound leveling could have been more finely tuned, and perhaps most importantly, there is one scene whose premise and execution is....very very very on the 'tasteless' side (Aphrodite's Party), but overall this is a unique experience that anyone with more than a passing interest in musical theater should not miss.

Also don't ask me to explain how but Anthony Rapp as Orpheus is typecasting.