The different characters have various skills that aid them in the Rites, such as dashes or long-range projectiles. A character traveling with the orb is vulnerable to being temporarily banished from the Rites if an enemy's aura touches them, which would drop the orb at their feet.

The player only controls one character at a time by passing the orb among the three. Each team attempts to destroy the opposing pyre by launching a single glowing orb at it, which steadily whittles away at its health. Rites takes place on a field with two columns of flame, or pyres, at opposite ends and the three exiles facing off against three opponents on a top-down perspective. Through the land, the party encounters other groups of exiles, which starts the Rites, the game's combat system which was described by Marty Silva of IGN as a mix of Defense of the Ancients, Rocket League, and Supergiant's previous game, Transistor. In addition to guiding the exiles during 'Rites' which resemble a sports game, the Reader must determine how to help support or improve the party, by performing activities such as scavenging for supplies, learning more of the world's lore, or mentoring the exiles to improve their abilities. The story is told through on-screen narrative passages that include a hyperlink-type system used by the player-character to explore the story further. The game takes place in a high fantasy setting. It was the third game developed by Supergiant following Transistor (2014) and it received generally positive reviews upon release.

Elements from sports games were incorporated to the title's gameplay.

It was released in July 2017 for Microsoft Windows, Linux and PlayStation 4, and in August 2017 for macOS. Pyre is an action role-playing video game developed and published by Supergiant Games.

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