Laura Bailey has been infamous in the gaming community ever since she portrayed Abby in The Last of Us Part II, even receiving death threats from toxic fans, but now it seems she’s finally trending for all the right reasons as she receives praise for her vocal talents, which are on full show in the upcoming Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical.
The trailer for the game elaborates on what it means by “roleplaying musical,” which would be that the characters are literally singing and it seems to have RPG elements. It also introduces us to Bailey’s character, who has to prove to a bunch of Greek Gods that she is innocent of a murder she’s been accused of, and she must do so by singing — sound like a fun time? It sure looks like it will be. Fellow alumni from The Last of Us also make appearances, including Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, and yes, they’ll both be singing.
Fan response to the game trailer has been almost entirely positive with many praising the concept and, lo and behold, giving some well-deserved praise to Bailey for once.
The voice actor received a lot of negative backlash in 2018 after her character in The Last of Us Part II was revealed. She proves the voice for Abby, the antagonist to Ellie, whilst also being the protagonist of her own story (players play as both Ellie and Abby throughout the game). There wasn’t anything wrong with Bailey’s performance as the “villain” that made fans hate her. It was simply the character’s actions within the story and people not being able to separate fiction from reality that caused all of the negativity to be directed towards her. The beginning of the second game is notoriously controversial amongst gamers and a few decided to lash out at anyone they could for the creative decisions that were made. Even Neil Druckmann wasn’t safe.
It’s high time that Laura Bailey be recognised for her amazing contributions to the industry. The praise she’s getting right now indicates that most have moved on from Abby and the feelings they have towards her. She demonstrates her talents brilliantly as the voice of the protagonist in what we’ve seen of the game so far.
The game itself looks amazing, it comes from the mind of David Gaider, the lead writer of titles such as Dragon Age and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The art style is unique and the songs sound fantastic. The whole idea behind it is so fresh and unique that it will certainly be a hit when it finally releases.
Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical is set to be released on Steam on the August 3, but you can add it to your wishlist right now.