STRAY GODS ORPHEUS DLC would have been a better sequel than DLC

Recently Stray Gods the role-playing musical have released their first DLC: Orpheus on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. The story follows a recently returned-from-the-death Orpheus as he tries to find his place in the world with the help of our adorable Hermes.

The game had the same great graphics and voice acting as the original, but it lacked emotional depth. While Stray Gods was simply not enough to play through once, Orpheus didn’t keep drawing me in the same way.

Ultimately, I think it was just a lack of character time. I think the DLC could have been better as a fully fleshed out sequel game rather than a short mini-story.

The quality of the game is still great. If you liked the overall gameplay of Stray Gods, then this is the same. If you don’t know, the game is a musical visual novel.

Throughout the songs you make choices to take the song in a variety of different directions. My all-time favorite song was during a scene where Orpheus is trying out for speed dating. It was light, fun, and you can take it in a variety of different directions with each new person.

I liked that you could use past save data to influence certain conversations. I really wish there was an option to choose which ones those were. For example, I didn’t have a save file that left Orpheus on the throne in Hades, so I would have had to play Stray Gods again to make that happen just to see how things go in this DLC when that choice was made. I don’t mind playing Stray Gods again, but there are only so many save files.

Overall, I felt like the game was unsatisfying. The story was so rushed because it was just DLC that when I got to the end I felt like I had gone nowhere. Literally the first time I played I got to the end and was surprised that it was all there.

I felt like Orpheus didn’t really go on a big character journey and his relationship with Hermes didn’t really do much. Hermes for his part just directs different people to Orpheus to help him, so while they’re very supportive and clearly care about what happens to Orpheus, Hermes felt like they were trying to be more subtle.

I would have liked to have had a scene with Orpheus and Hermes actually doing stuff together, maybe even a song between the two with Hermes showing Orpheus all the things the modern world has to offer. I also think there was a major character missing, Persephone. I know they discussed things in their song in Stray Gods, but I would have liked to have seen her appear in all of this.

This brings me to my main thought, this would have been a phenomenal sequel to Stray Gods rather than DLC. Following Orpheus’ journey across an entire game would have alleviated the story concerns I had.

At the end of Stray Gods, Persephone mentions that things are changing in Hades, which would be a good starting point for this new story. Exploring both Hades and the modern world with Orpheus would have been a lot of fun and could have had some really interesting story moments.

And let’s face it, seeing Orpheus burned by the god Hades just to save his kingdom, possibly together with the goddess who killed Hades, is the kind of story this DLC’s Orpheus is going for.

All in all, the quality of this game is as good as Stray Gods. Everything was perfect, the story was just a little weak for me.

While I will be returning to Stray Gods many more times, this DLC didn’t grab me in the same way. Orpheus is a great legend that ultimately deserved a full game. I’d give it a 7/10 because the quality of the graphics, voice acting, and music helps make up for some of the other issues I had.