Tyranny

Probably the last truly original and experimental Obsidian game.

4.4 hour of gameplay.
4 hours was that of reading through everything I could find while playing normally.
.4 hours was a mix between me figuring out where to go and a tiny bit tutorial of combat.

ill keep trying the game but honestly I found light novels more fun than this.
I was trying to play a video game not read text with multiple choice options that lead to the same result.

to be honest I mainly got the game cause I thought it would be something like baldur's gate series.

but at least baldur's gate had cool looking combat, it could be just that it was the tutorial but it felt like it was just a combat animation next to a combat animation and see whose health bar dropped to 0 faster....

If you like good RPGs that are well written, then this is a must-play. More so if you are even a little worn out on the tiresome do-gooder hero trope that plagues this genre (though I think you can still be a boot-licker in this game if you try hard enough.)

wanted to be evil. ended up yawning during combat because I have no idea what im doing.
kinda ruined the mood for me because i had no urgency or excitement to open the game up just to watch it combat JUST so i can get to the end and say I've completed it. honk shoooooooooooo

There are a few bugs here and there, and there's a bit of world-building to justify much of what's being presented, but there's still too much woke in this game. Too many Matriarchal figures, not just homosexual relationships but the modern definition of `Marriage` in an Iron-Age society... I haven't seen any instance of Pronouns just yet, so it's possible this isn't a Woke-Activist game, but it's still a Woke-Occupier game. As such, I'm not really inclined to recommend this game.

I mean, it's another C-RPG. If you can't get enough of the, go ahead because this has it all. Factions, dialogue choices, reputation meters, isometric combat, the works. Yeah, I guess it's interesting that you're technically playing the bad guy in this situation, but in terms of gameplay and even overall plot it doesn't affect all that much. It's still going on quests for people with side-missions along the way, and honestly I haven't been able to do anything THAT evil yet. Like, I've done things in KOTOR that I felt more guilty about than anything in this game so far.

Ahh, Tyranny, the tyranny. Sadly, could not complete it because the third/alternative path hurled a nasty gamebreaking bug (years back) at me (that was only fixed a few patches later on, iirc)...

iyi hoş ama çok sıkıldım ya içine çekemedi konusu hiç, ayrıca sonu da çok açık bırakıyo biraz yarım kalmış

really edges you with the abrupt ending. very cruel i wanted more :(

Smartly written narrative!

I've bounced off a number of CRPGs in the past, but this one - while mechanically simpler - was a lot more immersive and fun to experience. Recommendation: The "Gather Your Party" mod will let you run around with your entire crew and not miss any possible interactions/conversations. Makes combat easier, but the story is the real star here.

Another UNDERRATED game! So good in so many ways, one of the finest cprgs in terms of lore/ storyline and decision-making aspects! Combat is fun and one of few titles in crpg that has literal use of water-based magic and character. Built my character around using fists/ unarmed combat.

Cons: some puzzles are bloody frustrating but nothing that can't be solved if you put your mind/will to it.

GO PLAY!

Cheers!

Kinda liked the game, don't like that developer Obsidian ( / their Art Director Matt Hansen) openly admitted to racist practices in the company.

Fantastic game. Absolutely worth picking up when it's on a deep discount. I say that because this game was made when games were allowed to be good. Supporting Obsidian monetarily now feels wrong when they're forcing Avowed down your throat. But this game? Fantastic.

A Charming CRPG with good writing on both the macro and micro scale but looses steam towards the end of a playthrough, most of the time will take you about ~30 hours to complete. I beat this shortly after launch and decided to revisit the game in the last weeks, trying a new narrative path and looking into the corners that my past self ignored. Like many Obsidian games it feels like it was rushed as act one has great polish but it tarnishes out in the last act.

Reactivity to your choices is possibly one of the best in RPGs but it seemed to be at the expense of the length of the game, but encourages replays. Setting is amazing as its the early iron age and you are the enforcer of an Evil Empire conquering the last embers of resistance. The Evil actually makes sense and the two main factions of Kyros' forces have different approaches but have their own logic and reasoning for being that way. There is even a prologue of what your character did in the initial conquest of the region that has implications all the way to the last hours of the game. Some jank as this was more a AA game with lots of areas that look very familiar in small encounter or dungeon maps and the dungeons themselves are kinda tedious.

The Bastard's Wound DLC adds welcome companion quests for your first 3 party members but the Wound area itself kills most of the pacing as it mostly involves backtracking through its dungeon multiple times with new keys being found, on my next replay I am likely going to skip the region completely. I recommend playing as a mage as the lore skill is king and spell crafting is an amazing mechanic. Overall a 7/10, lots of reading but its good stuff.

I waffled between posting a negative or positive review on this one. As I did get 42 hours of fun play out of it.

BUT!

This game is not finished. The ending is left WIDE open. I finished the game and was really, really confused that it was done. I honestly thought there would be 1-2 more acts left in the game. It's as if you are reading a great, great fantasy book and are about half way through the book and are truly looking forward to reading the rest of the book. You come to a fairly large climactic moment which is begging for followup and closure. And as you turn the page you realize that the next page is blank. So you flip to the next page, and that one is blank too! You keep desperately flipping, not believing that it can be true, and then you realize that the last half of the book is blank pages!

This is Tyranny, a great book - half-full of blank pages. It's a travesty. And there should be warnings to new players that this is happening.

I know i usually am very critical (but fair) with my criticisms on RPG's especially ones seen last few years, but seriously, this one at least mostly hits the mark for once. resembling a sadly far-gone story writing structure in place for hundreds of years. MC is boss. power fantasy is in, mild or large based on your feel. but your guy is not just pushed along as a plot device or living weapon used by person or faction to serve their interests.

you RP someone important, interesting, and powerful. being a simp is still in for god knows why if someone wanted it. but you feel in control of your actions, opionions and objectives. you know... like a protagonist. outside 1 major branching point that splits 1 time a few ways, choices don't REALLY matter, but npc's WILL react and outcomes can change based on respect scores. but as long as you R not crapping all over all major npc's, ( you can still express anger/dislike threaten) they will still serve you at game's end. you can also just lay waste them all too. the freedom to feel in control, centered, in and of the plot and say what you want.

now the bad
companions are not you're usual DnD candyland RomCom with happy hour events and into the sunset endings. game is dark, companions R too. no romance. obsidian don't like em. Badass path a.k.a. anarchy is very disapointing. as an independant, you have no quests. just chasing down a few artifacts and tough talking + roughshodding your competion for kingly glory. it's pretty quick compared to simpy paths.

endings.
typical obsidian fashion, NWN2, POE2, ect ending is bad for player. 1 line, no real epilogue for you. something generalized. no matter the path. some might offer a little padding but the main goal you might have kept stating for yourself to npcs throughout (namely rebel path) becoming king ain't possible. while it might weakly state you rule, it is quickly rebuffed by following facts: on anarchy, you have a homer simpson 'doh, i forgot to plant my flag on conquered lands' moment. rebel they just take it all from you and let you keep your crappy tower so you can give them lifetime free security work. and tho they are YOUR people now, they won't serve as your vassels or standing army. towns (like lethians crossing, half gate) stay independant no matter your actions.

still a lot of fun and likely the last we'll see of traditional RPG storytelling protagonists leading their own plot, being relevant to it or it's tasks and trappings or just leading anything for that matter. savor it. and for 30 bucks, this enjoyable dystopian power play against all tyranny but yours, you can also experience.

This game is like playing a Brandon Sanderson book, impeccable writing, amazing story, and its a shame this game hasnt seen a sequel.

Tyranny presents a unique narrative that is often unexplored due to the subject matter usually being a personification of malevolence. There is odd writing decisions that take the immersion out of it, and the expository dialogue becomes bothersome at times. The combat is okay, it shines in the spellcraft system. 7.5/10

Nice cRPG. It has an interesting story with choices that matter and great replayability. On the other hand, the combat system IMO sucks. You control 4 characters with wide variety of abilities, but the combat is real-time, not turn based. You can automate them, but the combat AI somewhat sucks, so I ended up pausing the game all the time and personally ordering everyone. At that point, it would be better just to have turn based combat. Also, the combat is not tactically challenging at all (I haven't played on highest difficulty though). If you don't screw up character build and get decent gear, you basically can't lose. 90% of my combats looked like this: Tank rushes in, taunts everyone, and my mages cast and cast and sometimes heal my tank. That's all. Had to personally manage them though, otherwise they would end up attacking random enemies. When I compare the game to other cRPGs with turn-based combat, for example some Larian's games, it clearly sucks.
Also, skill leveling system sucks, because you basically cannot change the composition of your squad. Your companions currently not in your party level with you, but they don't level their skills, so they end up having high levels with low skills and therefore very weak. You basically have to choose a squad in the beginning and then stick with it.

TL;DR If your main concern is story, go for it.
pros: story, choices that matter, replayability
cons: combat system, combat AI, skill leveling

I was looking for a game that gave the player lots of freedom and where the players choices make a large impact on the gameplay and story. This game over-delivered. I was a bit wary since it is a game from 2016 but it in my opinion stands toe to toe with games like baldurs gate 3. Not that you will like this game if you enjoy baldurs gate 3 but in their own respects they are both masterpieces.

The only warnings I would give is that this game does require a lot of reading. It had limited voice acting. And there is quite a bit to keep track of in terms of menus and whats going on in the world. There is also a decent bit of micromanaging.

If that doesn't dissuade you then this game is a deep and rich story where your choices have huge impact. More impact than ive seen with any other game ive played. The level of power and cool shit that you are able to wield in this game is also the best out of any other game ive played. Would absolutally reccomend.

I just finished Tyranny and while the experience was enjoyable, I would say it is not for everyone.

What I liked:
- The writing is strong
- The companion quests are good
- The game is short enough that replayability is definitely on the table
- The setting and plot is unique and very strong
- The spell creation system is cool
- The art is good (some of these backgrounds are unreal good)

What I disliked:
- The combat is far too frequent
- The combat doesn't feel like it has any weight -- abilities are spammable but lack any punchiness
- The stats are wonky
- The UI is awful -- you can't even customize where you can see all of your abilities and have to "drill down" to see them. I even had a bug where they would "disappear" but my party member would spam spells on his AI that he didn't even have assigned.
- The itemization is awful and I had a very difficult time telling what's an "upgrade" and what's not.
- The game is a little too easy on the "normal" setting

Overall, this was a unique experience and setting and as a fan of the cRPG genre it's definitely a game worth playing. If you are not a hardcore cRPG enjoyer, however, I would steer clear and play things that are a bit more mainstream.

Why did i wait so long to get this?!?!? An amazing game companions with depth, many legendary items and much more. Already doing my new game plus play-through.

gud game

it's like, pretty fricken fun

My monkey companion touches her nipples, and makes gestures at me a lot. She's not allowed to sleep with the rest of the camp anymore.

Really underated crpg and can stand up there with best of them

This review comes after 57 hours and two full plays through the game. The Good: -excellent writing, great story -interesting and fun combat mechanics -great music -good art The Bad: -short, and wee bit anticlimactic -oddly easy in the midgame (even on POTD) I'll say off the bat that the path you choose to play will greatly influence your experience of this game. I allied with the Disfavoured on my first play, and took the Rebel Alliance path on my second...I FAR preferred the rebel path. Tyranny's greatest disappointment is oddly also one off its strengths: the game is short, maxing out at 30 hours on a completionist run. However, this allows for great flexibility in the game paths you can take, and excellent replayability as a result. I had plenty more fun on my second run, and I'm looking forward to starting a solo character for my third. If you liked Pillars of Eternity (I loved it myself), you should not hesitate to pick up Tyranny. But. as I mentioned in my Pillars review, if you don't have patience for reading dialogue and don't feel like using your imagination, stay away from this game.

Bug-ridden, poorly-balanced travesty of a game that has one of the worst UIs ever to be created in the history of CRPGs. Embarrassingly bad.

This game is fantastic! The magic system alone is worth doing a play-through. Highly recommend!

A fantastic RPG that excels at storytelling. I enjoyed the playthrough and feel that any that enjoyed Baldur’s Gate or Neverwinter Nights will enjoy what this game offers.

One of the best CRPGs ever, hope for the part 2 :)

Great premise, good game. Haven’t encountered technical issues but somehow it feels incomplete. Some parts feel shortened and railroaded, especially when it comes to the ending. The UI “works” but icons are like from an initial draft. Environments are New Vegas kind of brown. The spell system is amazing but there is not enough content to explore it in full. The “we really need to cut things to get it shipped” kind of vibe. Since initial RPG decisions literally reshape the world, I guess the idea was to make a huge bet on the replayability but New Game Plus is hidden behind a DLC. The premise is so great because Chris Avellone designed a lot of it and I think he was supposed to be a director on the game but left the studio. Obsidian doesn’t own the IP so sequels are out of the picture. A lot of this sounds like a mess and honestly it’s amazing that the game is out and wasn’t canceled. Overall though, it’s worth exploring.

Rad

For all it's flaws, it's a rather incredible RPG. I wouldn't say that the writing is necessarily the best - there's hits and misses when it comes to execution - the plot, ideas and psychological exploration are worth endless praise. It's not really a game you can appreciate on a single playthrough, though.

Unfortunately, one playthrough can give an impression that you've seen all there is to see, discuraging the player from trying again and finding out just how much content there actually is. If you do buy it, get ready to give it several runs, with different perspectives and goals in mind, and you will be very glad you did.

One of the shorter CRPGs out there but a good one. I played it multiple times with different endings and after my first two runs I began to play solo, which was very fun. Shame it never really got much attention and there probably won't be a part two.

The underrated and barely known gem where choice and consequence rules.

It is shorter that similar titles, but do not mistake the shorter playthrough for less overall content; go for another playthrough, make different choices, and see what you've missed!

This has been one of the best table top RPGs I've played in a long time. A interesting story with a diverse cast of characters that you will grow to love. A large amount of story defining choices that will craft you an unique end. There are many skills and abilities to choose from to create your own unique character. You want to be an unarmed person who can uppercut your foes into the high heavens? You can and more, definitely give this game a shot if you enjoy this genre. I played this game from start to finish on the hardest difficulty armed with nothing by my hands. 10/10 would play again.

One of the best RPGS of all time, and probably my favorite pure RPG. There is no game like it. Real shame we won't get another, the story and world need to continue.

If you want a game that makes you make tough, meaningful decisions, and lets you play either truly good to truly evil with no punches pulled, this is the game for you.

solid gameplay, the factions and alliances make it interesting to play

Lots of content. The base game can take a long time depending on how you build your character and who you add to your party. The best part is that you can replay the game differently several times. Choose a different side, switch sides partway through, switch up which side quests you follow. There are at least 4 different endings to the main story plus dozens of side plot endings which depend on how you interact with the many different groups and factions.

One of the top five in the genre. Seriously underrated for some reason. The story is top shelf and if you wanna go magic as a primary, it has a fantastic magic system where you build all your spells how you want. A must own really.

Tyranny does some very interesting things, most of which stem from its core premise: you, the player, begin in a position of significant power, and with that comes respect and authority. This power only grows as the game progresses, which is reflected both narratively and mechanically.

The narrative is, overall, very well done. The world is fascinating, the characters feel realistic and complex, and the way that the player is regarded by other characters reflects their authority at all times.
Notably, it supports a variety of playstyles along the "evil" spectrum, so if you wanted to you could be a raving murdering lunatic, or you could play a more "realistic" evil of seeing the insurmountable might of the Overlord and seeing rebellion against their order as futile and destructive. Without spoiling anything, there are numerous moments that have the player make awful decisions or cause extreme destruction, which can only be accomplished in a setting like Tyranny's - so it's good that the developers made use of that.
That's not to say the narrative is flawless; some parts definitely fall flat where they should have shone, and other parts feel rushed, incomplete, or otherwise in need of more explanation and attention, but these negatives are firmly outweighed by the well-executed instances as well as the setting in general being unique and interesting.

The gameplay and combat are serviceable; the pathfinding is occasionally irritating and you'll end up fighting most combats the same formulaic way, but it does the job. RPG elements (leveling up, perk selection, skill increases etc.) are generally simplistic and weak.
I didn't really use the magic spell creation system (just as a byproduct of party composition), but it'll be attractive if you like combining spell parts to create 'custom' spells.
I feel like only about two skills, maybe three, got used; I can't even name the other ones. Training also trivializes any of your skill increases from other places, which is an issue that's exacerbated by the poor in-game economy and item selection / distribution.

It's a real shame that Paradox owns the IP here, as the disparity between Paradox and Obsidian (in conjunction with the generally niche popularity of Tyranny) means that this IP is unlikely to ever see the light of day again, which is the strongest point of Tyranny. With a different format (ex. turn-based) or a bigger budget and marketing, a sequel to Tyranny could do some absolutely fascinating and unique things.

TL:DR, the narrative, world, and writing are great. Gameplay and combat are serviceable. Skills / skill use, perks, items / economy are weak. Overall worth playing just to see the unique parts of Tyranny's setting.

In 2024 still a very good RPG with meaningful decisions, super cool spellcasting and intersting story and characters

Gameplay is utterly droll, but the story is very interesting.

Honestly a shame this hasn't garnered a sequel. An interesting world clearly set apart from Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder with a bronze/iron age aesthetic. Game play is pretty simple, real time w/pause combat fans of the OG Baldur's Gate will enjoy and interesting narrative that leaves plenty to explore and discover. Most of the characters are well fleshed out and provide compelling interactions though none more so than Barik; I think the game overall could've benefited from longer acts or more of them but overall a strong narrative that just could have had a touch more depth. 7/10 highly recommend for fans of the genre.

I like the game even though it's kinda rushed toward the end

great game crpgs are my favorite and this is a good one

Incredible game

Honestly, I absolutely loved the setting and the story. It feels very unique in its portrayal of an iron age empire conquering a fractured country of city states. However, the combat is rather easy, the quests are few and far between, the exploration is sparse, and the ending leaves quite a bit to be desired.

A few steps short of greatness

It could had been one of the great cRPGs of all times, but...

1. the combat system is not too good (cooldowns are such a lazy design).
2. the so-called Conquest mode for character creation should have been part of the game.
3. the spires management and upgrades are a neat idea, but the way it was implemented made it all quite pointless.
4. the magic system is great, but just like the spires it's not well integrated into the game, you can win all battles without bothering with it, so it ends up losing a lot of its appeal.
5. the game feels like several good ideas implemented in a hurry, resulting in an inorganic final product, way too much of the content feels like an afterthought.
6. inventory system is barely serviceable, items are mostly pointless, habilities are mostly boring (you'll find yourself waiting for the same couple of ones to cooldown, spamming them as fast as possible, and that's mostly what you'll do... if you do turn off party AI like I did, otherwise you'll be mostly cringing with your party goofing around).
7. not a lot of enemy variety.
8. ....

I could go on and on listing all of Tyranny's shortcomings, but despite all its flaws it's still a worthwhile game. It offers an above-average story and more importantly, it succeeds in making you feel like your actions matter and that you're deciding the fate of Terratus, providing you with good reasons to care for the world, the NPCs, the lore and even the elements that were poorly implemented.